McGuire v. State

523 S.W.3d 556, 2017 WL 2855210, 2017 Mo. App. LEXIS 684
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 5, 2017
DocketNo. ED 104028
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 523 S.W.3d 556 (McGuire v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McGuire v. State, 523 S.W.3d 556, 2017 WL 2855210, 2017 Mo. App. LEXIS 684 (Mo. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

KURT S. ODENWALD, Judge

Introduction

Brandon McGuire (“McGuire”) appeals the motion court’s judgment denying his Rule 29.151 motion for post-conviction relief. McGuire’s post-conviction motion asserted fifteen claims of ineffective assistance of counsel against defense .counsel. On appeal, McGuire argues that the motion court clearly erred in denying five of those ineffective-assistance claims. Under Strickland v. Washington,2 McGuire bore the burden to demonstrate that.defense counsel’s performance was constitutionally ineffective and "that McGuire was prejudiced thereby'. We are not firmly convinced that any of McGuire’s claims demonstrated both prongs of the Strickland test. Accordingly, the motion court did not clearly err in denying McGuire’s motion. We affirm.

Factual and Procedural History

I. The Underlying Crimes

On Halloween night, .’2006, ,16-year-old K.J. attended a party at a community center in St. Louis with her cousin. l!he two left the party, and.KJ. .arrived home around 10:00 P.M. K.J., however, did not stay at home long; she received a phone call and left shortly thereafter to catch public transit. K.J. was in a good mood when she left.

[560]*560A witness found K. J.’s body discarded in a dumpster the following, morning. KJ.’s bloodied jeans were unfastened and pulled down to her knees; her shirt and sweater were pushed up. Various parts of KJ.’s body were bruised, blackened, and cut. KJ.’s anus was bloody and torn. Based on her body temperature, KJ. had died of mechanical asphyxiation 6-13 hours before her body was found at 9:00 A.M. The injury to her anus indicated that she had been violated with an object sometime near her death, but while she was still alive. DNA swabs of seminal fluid found on KJ.’s body indicated the presence of both male and female DNA—the male was unidentified, but the female profile matched KJ. The police did not charge anyone at the time.

Almost a year later, H.T. was walking late at night down Broadway in St. Louis with some friends. H.T. was in her third trimester of pregnancy. A car pulled up alongside H.T., and the driver asked her if she wanted a ride. Being tired, H.T. accepted. The driver eventually drove down a dead-end street and stopped the car. The driver asked H.T. if she “dated.” H.T. took that to be an offer of money for sex. H.T. acknowledged'that she had “dated” in the past, but on this night she declined.

The driver lunged at H.T., grabbing her neck with one hand and covering her mouth with the other. The driver climbed on top of H.T., and she blacked out. When H.T. briefly awoke, the driver said, “I killed you, bitch,” and H.T. blacked out again. Next thing H.T. knew, she was lying in a puddle of blood on the street, naked from the waist down. Eventually, H.T. flagged down a car in the sparsely populated area. An ambulance was called and H.T. went to the hospital.

H.T.’s injuries were grave. The right side of H.T.’s uterus was torn, along with a main blood vessel, which resulted in bleeding to her abdomen. The tom artery also deprived her unborn baby of blood flow, and the baby died.3 A doctor who treated H.T. testified that her injuries were caused by a blunt object inserted and pushed up into her vagina. That doctor stated that it would be “almost impossible” for a penis to cause such injuries—any suggestion that, a penis caused H.T.’s injuries “bord[ered] on almost ridiculous.” Seminal fluid was found on H.T.’s clothing and was sent to a crime laboratory.

At some point before November 1, 2007, McGuire’s DNA was entered into the CO-DIS database.4 On November 1, detectives in KJ.’s case learned that McGuire’s DNA matched the male sample found on KJ.’s person. Shortly thereafter, detectives in H.T.’s case learned that her jeans contained DNA from her, McGuire, an unknown male, and traces of a fourth person.

McGuire was arrested and charged with eight crimes relating to both victims.5 Regarding KJ., the State charged McGuire with first-degree murder, forcible rape, and forcible sodomy. Regarding H.T., the State charged McGuire with forcible rape, forcible sodomy, first-degree assault, and kidnapping. The State also charged McGuire with second-degree murder for the death of H.T.’s unborn baby. The case proceeded to a jury trial.

II. The Trial

During voir dire, defense counsel asked a general question to the venire, and Juror [561]*561Tanika Hale (“Juror Hale”), who was an accountant, eventually responded following another juror’s answer:

[Defense. counsel]: Okay. Now, in the box, I anticipate there is going to be some very graphic testimony about things of a sexual nature, and I address this to everyone in the box at this -time and to the people in the front chairs. Will any of you have any difficulty in sitting and listening to testimony from a young woman concerning matters of a graphic sexual nature? And the reason I’m asking because some people will, you know, can get turned off and don’t want to listen, 'and if you do, if it’s going to bother you, and I anticipate there may be pictures, if it’s going to bother you, now is the time to let-it be known.
[Defense counsel]: .... Juror Number 601.
[Juror 601]: Yes. I would have a problem with that. The visual aids, I would have a problem.
[Defense counsel]: So you would think that you may be turned off to the point where you may not even listen to the testimony?
[Juror 601]: If it’s graphic like that, it might be a stopping point for me.
[Defense counsel]: So you would think that you may be turned off to the point where you may not even listen ■ to the testimony?
[Juror 601]: If it’s graphic like that, it might be a stopping point for me.
[Defense counsel]: I understand. Anyone else in the box that feels as Juror 601 feels, that there could be a point where the testimony or the pictures and something that’s put forth is of such a nature that it just turns you off and you can’t focus on that? Anyone in the pews to my right. Juror 810, please stand.
[Juror Hale]: I couldn’t do it.
[Defense counsel]: You couldn’t do it.
[Juror Hale]: No. [Emphasis added.]

No additional questions were asked of Juror Hale about her ability to weigh evidence of a graphic sexual nature. Neither party moved to strike Juror Hale, and she served on petit jury. • ■

After the State’s case-in-chief, which was presented in accordance with the facts stated above, McGuire testified in his own defense. During direct examination, defense counsel asked McGuire, “Ever been in trouble with the law before?” McGuire replied, “No.” At a subsequent sidebar, the prosecutor argued that defense counsel had- ■ opened • the door to evidence of McGuire’s prior arrest history, which would rebut-the testimony that McGuire had never been in trouble with the law. The' trial court allowed the prosecutor to inquire on cross-examination into the number of prior arrests, including the dates of the arrests. The trial court did not allow any evidence about the circumstances of those arrests.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
523 S.W.3d 556, 2017 WL 2855210, 2017 Mo. App. LEXIS 684, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcguire-v-state-moctapp-2017.