State v. Davis

After the Court of Appeals, St. Louis District, handed down an opinion written by Simeone, J., we ordered transfer of the cause to this court because of the one novel issue involved, i. e., whether or not a trial court may call a witness as the court’s witness in a criminal case. After considering that issue as well as others presented, we agree with the result reached by the Court of Appeals and adopt the opinion thereof without benefit of quotation marks.

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Introduction

Defendant-appellant, Lee Burl Davis,1 was charged, tried and found guilty by a jury and sentenced to life imprisonment for…