Facts
- Fred Adams and two accomplices broke into a gasoline filling station in Campbell, Missouri, at night and removed property, returning for more.
- Night Marshal Clarence Green, City Marshal Rodney Brown, and two others arrived while the burglary was in progress; the three burglars fled into nearby woods.
- Brown pursued behind Green in darkness; a shot was fired from in front of Green, followed by several shots from an oblique direction, described as rapid and consistent with an automatic shotgun.
- Green suffered numerous shotgun wounds to the chest and face and died almost immediately; his flashlight and revolver were found near where he fell.
- During escape, Adams discarded weapons by throwing a rifle and revolver into a river.
- After arrest in Arkansas, Adams made statements to officers and later retraced the route with them, providing details used by the State as a confession connecting him to the burglary and the circumstances of the shooting.
- At trial, Adams conceded participation in the burglary but argued the burglary had been abandoned at the time of the shooting, that he was merely fleeing, and that another burglar shot Green.
- A jury convicted Adams of first-degree murder on a felony-murder theory and imposed the death penalty.
Issues
- Whether the evidence was sufficient to submit first-degree murder to the jury on the theory that Adams fired the fatal shot or was otherwise legally responsible.
- Whether Adams could be convicted of first-degree murder if an accomplice fired the fatal shot, based on a common design to use deadly force to facilitate escape after burglary.
- Whether the killing occurred “in the perpetration or attempted perpetration” of burglary when it happened during immediate flight from the scene.
- Whether instructions improperly defined the “perpetration” of burglary to include asportation of stolen property and the continuation of the crime until the burglars achieved unmolested dominion over the property.
Decision
- The Missouri Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and death sentence.
- The court held there was substantial evidence from which a jury could find that Adams fired the fatal shot.
- The court further held that, even if Adams was not the shooter, the evidence supported liability for felony murder based on a shared plan to kill anyone who threatened the burglars’ escape.
- The court held the homicide occurred in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of burglary because it was part of a continuous transaction, including immediate flight, and thus within the res gestae of the burglary.
- Any error in instructions suggesting burglary’s perpetration included asportation was not prejudicial; it narrowed the State’s basis for conviction and therefore favored Adams.
Legal Principles
- A first-degree murder charge may be submitted where there is substantial evidence the defendant either committed the killing or participated in a felonious enterprise under circumstances supporting liability for a killing committed in furtherance of that enterprise.
- An accomplice to burglary may be convicted of felony murder for a killing committed by a confederate if the evidence permits a finding of a common design to use deadly force to prevent capture or facilitate escape.
- A homicide is committed “in the perpetration or attempted perpetration” of a felony when it occurs within the res gestae of the felony as part of a continuous transaction, including immediate flight from the scene to avoid detection or arrest.
- Burglary is complete upon breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony; asportation is not an element of burglary, and an instruction adding asportation to the theory of “perpetration” is not reversible absent prejudice.
Conclusion
The court affirmed Adams’s first-degree felony-murder conviction and death sentence, holding the evidence supported liability either as shooter or as an accomplice under a common design, and that the killing during immediate flight was within the burglary’s perpetration as part of a continuous transaction.