State v. Anderson

886 S.W.2d 742, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 1769, 1994 WL 633996
Missouri Court of Appeals·Decided November 15, 1994·No. No. 63605·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

AHRENS, Presiding Judge.

Defendant appeals his conviction of first-degree murder in violation of § 565.020 (Supp.1990) and armed criminal action in violation of § 571.015 RSMo 1986.1 Defendant also appeals the denial, without an evidentia-ry hearing, of his Rule 29.15 motion for postconviction relief. Defendant was sentenced to one term of life imprisonment without possibility of parole on the murder conviction and one term of life imprisonment on the armed criminal action conviction, sentences to run concurrently. We affirm the convictions and remand for resentencing on the armed criminal action conviction.

Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the following evidence was adduced at trial. In April, 1990, Glenna Sweazea met and became romantically involved with the victim, Glen Foster. After Foster was later incarcerated for an unknown reason, Sweaz-ea moved in with Carl Stamper. Stamper later indicated to Sweazea that he had affections for her, but these feelings were not reciprocated. Several altercations resulted between Stamper and Foster, who had been released from prison.

According to the testimony of Sweazea, Stamper was feeling “threatened” by Foster’s continuing relationship with Sweazea. She testified that she overheard Stamper asking defendant to kill Foster and that defendant agreed to do so.

Sweazea stated that she saw defendant with a sawed-off shotgun the morning of April 6, 1992, the day of Foster’s murder, and that the defendant said “he had a bullet with [Foster’s] name on it.” Later that night Foster was shot and killed.

The police responded to the scene of the shooting, where Sweazea informed them of the conversation between Stamper and defendant regarding the killing of Foster. Sweazea also told police that defendant had a shotgun and that he said “he had a bullet with [Foster’s] name on it.” Defendant was subsequently arrested, transported to the police station, and advised of his Miranda2 rights.

According to the defendant’s typed confession he purchased a shotgun from someone on the street and sawed down the barrel. Defendant confessed that he shot Foster in the head after Foster had completed a drug sale. He admitted that he placed the shotgun in a doghouse and gave police officers the location. Police later retrieved the shotgun with one spent shell from the location defendant described.

After a jury convicted defendant, the jury assessed punishment for the murder conviction at imprisonment for life without parole and for the armed criminal action at imprisonment for ten years. Defendant was subsequently sentenced to life without parole on the murder conviction and life on the armed criminal action conviction.

Defendant filed a Rule 29.15 motion alleging ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to call a certain witness to testify on behalf of defendant.3 Defendant’s motion was denied without an evidentiary hearing.

Defendant argues in his first point that his oral and videotaped confessions were the products of an illegal arrest made without probable cause or a warrant and that the trial court erred by overruling his motion to suppress these statements. He contends that the arrest was based solely on unreliable information provided by Ms. Sweazea. De[745] fendant also argues that the arrest occurred in his home without his consent or a warrant.

When reviewing a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress, we will affirm the ruling if the evidence is sufficient to sustain the trial court’s finding. State v. Childs, 876 S.W.2d 781, 782 (Mo.App.1994). Upon such review, the facts and reasonable inferences arising therefrom are to be stated favorably to the order challenged on appeal. Id.

A police officer may make a war-rantless arrest if the officer has probable cause to believe the person arrested has committed a felony. Id. Probable cause to arrest exists where the arresting officer has knowledge of facts and circumstances based on reasonably trustworthy information which would warrant belief by a reasonably cautious person that the person to be arrested is committing or has committed an offense. Id.

Defendant asserts that the information police received from Sweazea lacked reliability. We disagree. The record indicates that Ms. Sweazea told police officers that she knew defendant shot the victim and where defendant could be found. She related to police the conversation between defendant and Stamper regarding their planned killing of Foster. She also told police about the gun she had seen the defendant possessing earlier that day and that defendant had said “he had a bullet with [Foster’s] name on it.” We believe these facts to be sufficient to warrant a belief by the arresting officers that defendant had committed a murder.

Defendant also argues that the warrantless arrest was unlawful because it was made in defendant’s home without consent and no exigent circumstances existed. Thus, he contends that his statements should be suppressed as fruit of this unlawful arrest. A search of the record reveals no allegation or proof by defendant that the arrest was made in the defendant’s home without his consent. We find the evidence to be sufficient to sustain the trial court’s ruling. Point denied.

In his second point, defendant argues that the trial court erred in allowing the videotape of defendant’s confession to be played to the jury during cross-examination which required defendant to comment on it. He suggests that this impermissibly bolstered the confession testimony at the expense of other evidence.

A trial court is vested with broad discretion over the extent and scope of cross-examination. State v. Coats, 835 S.W.2d 430, 433 (Mo.App.1992). We will not interfere with that discretion unless it is clearly abused. Id. Section 546.260.1 provides that a defendant who testifies on his own behalf “may be contradicted and impeached as any other witness in the case.” Such impeachment may be by evidence of a previous confession which is inconsistent with his testimony on the witness stand. State v. Rapheld, 587 S.W.2d 881, 892 (Mo.App.1979). In Rapheld, the defendant testified he did not commit the crimes he was accused of and was coerced and beaten until he confessed. The court held that this testimony put the accuracy and truth of his confession in issue and thus submitted himself to cross-examination and impeachment on the basis of those prior inconsistent statements. Id. In this case, defendant testified on direct examination that part of the taped confession was not true, and was “rehearsed” by the officers. On cross-examination the videotape was used to elicit inconsistencies between defendant’s testimony and his taped confession. We find no abuse of discretion. Defendant’s second point is denied.

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State v. Anderson, 886 S.W.2d 742, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 1769, 1994 WL 633996 (Mo. Ct. App. 1994).

886 S.W.2d 742 (State v. Anderson) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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