STATE OF MISSOURI v. JASON RUBIN BRUCE

503 S.W.3d 354, 2016 Mo. App. LEXIS 1283
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 15, 2016
DocketSD34271
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 503 S.W.3d 354 (STATE OF MISSOURI v. JASON RUBIN BRUCE) 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 v. JASON RUBIN BRUCE, 503 S.W.3d 354, 2016 Mo. App. LEXIS 1283 (Mo. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

WILLIAM W. FRANCIS, JR., J.

Jason Rubin Bruce (“Bruce”), appeals the judgment of the trial court following his convictions for the unclassified felony of first-degree rape, two unclassified felonies of .first-degree sodpmy, the class B felony of first-degree burglary, and- the class C felony of felonious restraint. Bruce challenges the judgment of. the trial court in two points on appeal. Finding no merit to Bruce’s first point, but finding merit to Bruce’s second point, we modify and affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Factual and Procedural Background

Bruce does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support his convictions and we recite only those facts necessary to review his points on appeal. We view the evidence in the light most favorable to the judgment, accepting as true all facts and inferences favorable to the judgment, and disregarding evidence and inferences to the contrary. State v. Burks, 373 S.W.3d 1, 4 (Mo.App. S.D. 2012). The evidence adduced at trial is recited in accordance with these principles.

On November 7, 2014, Bruce surreptitiously. entered Victim’s residence while Victim was taking a shower. Bruce tied up Victim with shoestrings, then sexually assaulted her. Bruce untied Victim and forced her to sign-off of a computer video-chat that, unbeknownst to Bruce, had been running with Victim’s boyfriend. After Victim complied, Bruce tied her up again, put her in a closet, and ransacked Victim’s home. Victim asked what Bruce was looking for. When Bruce said he was looking *356 for Victim’s car keys, Victim offered to help find them. Bruce untied Victim and they both unsuccessfully searched for the keys. Bruce again tied Victim up, shoving clothing in her mouth so she could not speak, and shut her in a closet and then a bathroom. Eventually, Bruce untied Victim. He said that if she told anyone what he had done, he would kill her. Then Bruce left,

■ The authorities were notified, and Victim identified Bruce as her attacker. Sergeant Frank Hawkins (“Sgt. Hawkins”) responded to the scene. After speaking with Victim, Sgt. Hawkins went across the street to Bruce’s home, where he found Bruce sitting on the hood of his car. Bruce claimed he did not know Victim, but said he would be willing to talk to a detective at the police station, and that he would drive himself there.

At the police station, Detective Adam Meyer (“Detective Meyer”) met Bruce when he arrived. Detective Meyer introduced himself, and asked if Bruce would accompany him back to an interview room, which Bruce agreed to do. Bruce initially denied that he had ever spoken with Victim, and also denied having ever engaged in sexual'conduct with'Victim.

After Detective Meyer asked Bruce about whether his DNA or hair might be at Victim’s home, Bruce admitted to meeting Victim. He suggested they had met when Victim was walking her dog, and that the two had engaged in “some type of sexual relations” in Victim’s apartment. Detective Meyer asked Bruce why he had not been truthful from the beginning, and Bruce said he did not want his wife to find out what he had done with Victim. Detective Meyer indicated that he would not tell Bruce’s wife. Bruce then gave a more detailed account of, by Bruce’s account, consensual sexual acts he and Victim engaged in at- Victim’s apartment. These acts, Bruce- alleged, did not include vaginal sex or oral sex.

Detective Meyer and Bruce took a break so that Detective Meyer could get some water and Bruce could smoke a cigarette. Detective Meyer went outside with Bruce while he smoked, and then the two returned to the interview room. Bruce told Detective Meyer that he wanted to leave. Detective Meyer told Bruce that he could not leave, placed him under arrest, and read him his Miranda 1 rights. Bruce said he understood his rights, and agreed to speak further with Detective Meyer. He indicated that he was at Victim’s house in the late evening a few days before the assault, but denied going to Victim’s house on the day of the assault.

Forensic evidence showed that Victim’s DNA was found on Bruce’s boxer shorts the day he was interviewed, and ■ that Bruce’s DNA was on Victim’s body the day of the assault.

After the close of evidence,, instructions, and argument by counsel, the Jury found Bruce guilty of first-degree rape, two counts of first-degree sodomy, first-degree burglary, and felonious restraint. Having found Bruce to be a prior offender, the trial court sentenced Bruce to three life sentences.on each of the rape and sodomy counts, fifteen years on the burglary count, and seven years on the felonious restraint count, with all sentences to run consecutively. This appeal followed.

In two counts on appeal, Bruce asserts:

1. The trial court erred in admitting the statements Bruce made during police interrogation because they *357 arose out of a custodial interrogation without a Miranda warning; -and
2. The written judgment is in error in that it states that Bruce is sentenced to ninéty-nine years in prison for each of Counts I, II, and III because this conflicts with the trial court’s oral pronouncement in court that it was sentencing Bruce to life in prison for each of those counts.
Principles of Review
A trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress will be reversed only if it is clearly erroneous. The trial court’s ruling will be deemed clearly erroneous if, after review of the entire record, this Court is left with the definite and firm impression that a mistake has been made. This Court defers to the trial court’s factual findings and' credibility determinations and considers all evidence and reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the trial court’s ruling. Whether conduct violates the Fourth or Fifth Amendments is a question of law that this Court reviews de novo.

State v. Lammers, 479 S.W.3d 624, 630 (Mo. banc 2016)(internal quotations and citations omitted). The entire record, in the context of the review of a court’s suppression ruling, includes the evidence at both the suppression hearing and at trial. State v. Gaw, 285 S.W.3d 318, 319 (Mo. banc 2009).

Analysis

Point I: Bruce Was Not in Custody

In his first point, Bruce claims the trial court erred in admitting statements Bruce made during his police interrogation because they were obtained in a custodial interrogation without a Miranda warning.

A criminal suspect is entitled to Miranda warnings to protect his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, but only when the suspect is subjected to a “custodial interrogation.” Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 444, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966); State v. Werner,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
503 S.W.3d 354, 2016 Mo. App. LEXIS 1283, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-missouri-v-jason-rubin-bruce-moctapp-2016.