State v. Freeman

FLANIGAN, Judge.

A jury found defendant guilty of assault in the first degree, § 565.050, 1 robbery in the first degree, § 569.020, and armed criminal action, § 571.015, and assessed the punishment at life imprisonment for each offense. The trial court ordered that the sentences run consecutively. Defendant appeals.

In the early morning of December 27, 1983, defendant, armed with a gun, entered a Piggley Wiggley store in Sikeston and asked store employee Wesley Francis for change for a $20 bill. While Francis was complying with the request, defendant knocked him to the floor and took over $70…