State v. Ralls

KENNEDY, Judge.

Defendant Ralls after a jury trial was convicted of stealing from the person (§ 560.156, RSMo 1969 and § 560.161, RSMo 1975). As a Second Offender he was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment by the Division of Corrections, and has appealed to this court. We reverse and remand for a new trial, for reasons hereafter explained.

The facts disclosed by the evidence are as follows:

On September 3, 1976, a warm, sunny day, witness Doris Smith, 65, had just come out of the Skaggs store at the Metro Plaza, a shopping center, at about 11:00 a. m., when a man passed her from the left rear,…