STATE OF MISSOURI, Plaintiff-Respondent v. JEREMY DAMON GUEST

CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 9, 2024
DocketSD37691
StatusPublished

This text of STATE OF MISSOURI, Plaintiff-Respondent v. JEREMY DAMON GUEST (STATE OF MISSOURI, Plaintiff-Respondent v. JEREMY DAMON GUEST) 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
STATE OF MISSOURI, Plaintiff-Respondent v. JEREMY DAMON GUEST, (Mo. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District

In Division STATE OF MISSOURI, ) ) Plaintiff-Respondent, ) ) vs. ) No. SD37691 ) JEREMY DAMON GUEST, ) Filed: July 9, 2024 ) Defendant-Appellant. )

APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF NEW MADRID COUNTY

The Honorable William Edward Reeves, Judge

AFFIRMED

Jeremy Damon Guest (“Guest”) appeals the judgment of the Circuit Court of New

Madrid County (“trial court”) convicting him of voluntary manslaughter, armed criminal

action, stealing, and unlawful use of a weapon following a jury trial. 1 Raising two points

on appeal, Guest argues the trial court abused its discretion by overruling the defense’s

objection when the State asked Guest why he was the only witness to testify about the

events in question (Point I) and further abused its discretion by overruling the defense’s

1 See sections 565.023, 570.030, 571.015, and 571.030. All references to statutes are to RSMo 2016, including all applicable statutory changes effective January 1, 2017, unless otherwise indicated.

1 objection when the State stated in its closing argument that an acquittal would tell D.H.’s

(“Victim”) family he deserved to die (Point II). We affirm.

Factual Background and Procedural History

In the early morning of February 16, 2020, Guest and Victim both attended a

party at “The Club House” in Marston, Missouri. A lot of people from the party,

including Guest and Victim, went to a Pilot Truck Stop afterwards, where they continued

talking and partying. Victim pulled his car up next to a gas pump, and Guest parked his

car right next to Victim’s car.

Another partygoer (“Eye Witness”) went to the Pilot Truck Stop after the party to

get a hot dog. As she parked and got ready to go into the store, she noticed there was

“kind of like a hostile type of environment” and “angry energy” occurring in front of her.

Eye Witness saw that Guest’s younger brother (“Brother”) had pinned Victim against his

car, and Guest was standing beside them. According to Eye Witness, Victim looked

“defenseless” with nobody fighting on his behalf.

Eye Witness looked for her wallet in her car, and, after she looked up, she saw

Guest had started “point[ing] around” a gun. When Guest pulled out his gun, Victim

was, in Eye Witness’s words, still “hemmed up” against the car. Eye Witness moved her

car and went inside the Pilot Truck Stop, and she then heard gunshots from inside the

store. When she went outside, Eye Witness saw Brother trying to get Guest to leave and

Victim lying on the ground.

Before the shooting, Victim’s girlfriend (“Girlfriend”) had gone into the Pilot

Truck Strop to use the bathroom when someone came in and said there was a commotion

outside. Girlfriend and Victim’s cousin (“Cousin”) then tried to get Victim back to his

2 car. Victim pushed Girlfriend away to protect her and to get his gun from the car. When

Girlfriend ran back to Victim, both Guest and Victim were “at the gun stance.” As

Girlfriend described it, Guest “had his gun pointed at [Victim], and by that time, [Victim]

turned around and pointed his gun back at him.” Victim told Guest to put his gun down

so they could fight with their fists instead. Guest responded, “no, I told you I was going

to kill you.” At that point, Guest started shooting Victim.

Guest first shot Victim in the arm. Victim tried to lift his arm with the gun, and

Guest shot again. Once Victim fell to the ground, Guest walked over, kicked Victim’s

gun away, stood over Victim, and repeated, “I told you I was going to kill you[.]” Guest

then picked up Victim’s gun and left. According to Cousin, Victim never fired a shot,

and Guest was “shooting and walking towards [Victim] at the same time.” Victim

sustained nine total gunshot wounds, and died from the gunshot wounds to his chest and

abdomen.

The State charged Guest with murder in the first degree (Count I), armed criminal

action (Count II), robbery in the first degree (Count III), and unlawful use of a weapon

(Count IV). His case proceeded to a jury trial on June 2, 2022. At trial, Eye Witness,

Girlfriend, and Cousin testified to Guest shooting Victim at the Pilot Truck Stop.

Girlfriend could not remember how many times Guest shot Victim, but said it was

“multiple times” and agreed there were at least four shots. The Assistant Chief for the

New Madrid Police Department testified that law enforcement collected 10 shell casings

from the crime scene, and the location of the shell casings indicated the shooter may have

been moving forward while firing the gun. At various points in the trial, the State played

3 a cell phone video of the events leading up to the shooting as well as two different

surveillance videos from the Pilot Truck Stop.

Guest testified that Brother had not pinned Victim against a car at the Pilot Truck

Stop, but “a lot of people start[ed] to come around Brother” while Guest was still in his

vehicle. Victim and Brother then “both had each other by the shirt.” Guest further

testified that he put his firearm down by his side as he ran over to Brother, several people

started grabbing at his hand with the gun, and Victim started coming toward Guest.

Guest said he only started shooting after Victim cocked his own gun and started bringing

his arm up. Under cross-examination from the State, Guest admitted he had a gun out

first before Victim.

Guest testified to a prior encounter he had with Victim at a card game five months

before the shooting. Victim allegedly stood behind Guest and started rubbing his hands

together and mumbling, which Guest viewed as a taunt. That situation escalated to the

point that Victim and Guest were “fixing to fight[.]” Guest also testified about a fight he

and Victim had in October of 2019, which was recorded and posted on Facebook, where

Victim asked, “what are you going to do[,] kill me” and Guest responded, “you think I

won’t”?

Also during cross-examination, the State asked Guest whether Brother was going

to testify. 2 The following exchange occurred:

[State]: Do you know if [Brother is] going to testify today?

[Guest]: I don’t know.

[State]: So the only people -- all these people that are out there and [Victim] and your brother have each other by the collar, all these people out there, and, the only person we’re hearing is from [sic] you, correct? 2 Guest endorsed Brother as a witness before trial, but Brother did not testify.

4 [Guest]: Yes.

At this point, the defense requested a bench conference, where it objected to the State’s

questions about Brother testifying:

[Defense]: Judge, I’m going to object and ask that in regard to those questions about, comments that we’re all going to hear from [B]rother be stricken. That’s essentially shifting the burden on to all witnesses and that’s improper, and so we ask that the comments by [State’s counsel] be stricken and the jury disregard those.

THE COURT: [State’s counsel]?

[State]: Judge, that he has endorsed this witness and if he’s saying that he’s doing this to protect his brother, his brother is an endorsed witness and the State is just asking if he’s going to testify and say that [sic] the things that he’s saying, and he was probably the only other person out there to verify to what he’s saying.

THE COURT: I think that you’re getting ready to move onto something else, aren’t you?

[State]: Yes, sir.

The trial court overruled the defense’s objection and request.

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STATE OF MISSOURI, Plaintiff-Respondent v. JEREMY DAMON GUEST, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-missouri-plaintiff-respondent-v-jeremy-damon-guest-moctapp-2024.