State v. Beasley

416 S.W.3d 357, 2013 WL 6818153, 2013 Mo. App. LEXIS 1540
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 24, 2013
DocketNo. ED 98930
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 416 S.W.3d 357 (State v. Beasley) 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 v. Beasley, 416 S.W.3d 357, 2013 WL 6818153, 2013 Mo. App. LEXIS 1540 (Mo. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

Introduction

GARY M. GAERTNER, JR., Judge.

Leland Beasley, Jr. (Defendant) appeals his convictions following a jury trial of three counts of child molestation in the first degree, four counts of statutory sodomy in the first degree, one count of attempted statutory sodomy in the first degree, one count of attempted statutory sodomy in the second degree, one count of promoting child pornography in the first degree, and three counts of possession of child pornography. We affirm.

Background

Defendant does not contest the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions. That evidence was as follows. Defendant was the owner of a gaming retail store called Gamestation Sector 19. He allowed people to play video games in his store for five dollars per hour, often allowing customers to stay after business hours in order to generate more income. Defendant also hosted lock-ins1 regularly at the store, during which customers could pay twenty dollars to play games all night, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. the next morning. Most of Defendant’s customers were teens and preteens. When kids attended lock-ins, their parents were not present; the only adults present were employees of the store, including Defendant.

K.N. was born in May of 1996. When K.N. was 12, he visited Gamestation Sector 19 and met Defendant. He lived close enough to walk to the store, and he would go whenever he had money to play video games, about three times per week. K.N. also attended multiple lock-ins. In December of 2008 while K.N. was at the store, he accidentally locked a padlock onto [361]*361a belt loop on the front of his pants. There were other kids and employees in the store at the time. K.N. asked Defen-' dant to cut the padlock off of his pants. Defendant had K.N. sit on a counter at the back of the store, where no one else was present. Defendant put his hand on K.N.’s upper leg and moved his hand up K.N.’s leg over KN.’s pants. Defendant then touched and rubbed K.N.’s penis over K.N.’s clothing. K.N. was scared and asked Defendant to stop. Defendant tried to put his hand down K.N.’s pants, but one of KN.’s friends, K.A., called, K.N.’s name from the front of the store, and Defendant stopped. Defendant quickly cut the belt loop of KN.’s pants. K.N. went back to the front of the store to finish his hour of playing time, and then he and K.A. left. K.N. told K.A. what happened, and then K.N. told his mother. K.N. never returned to the store after that.

K.N. later told his school counselor, Amanda VanHorn (VanHorn), about this incident with Defendant. VanHorn made a call to Missouri’s child abuse hotline that same day to report the incident. In response, police commenced an investigation of Defendant. Detective Anthony Cavalet-ti initially responded on January 5, 2009 to the middle school K.N. attended. Detective Cavaletti interviewed K.N. and several other boys who frequented Gamestation Sector 19.

One of these boys was B.N., who was born in June of 1996. He also frequented Gamestation Sector 19, both to play video games during the week and to attend lock-ins. He began going to the store when he was 10 or 11, and he got to know Defendant, who was always there when B.N. was there. B.N. would sometimes go to sleep in a chair during lock-ins. He also frequently stayed after the lock-ins were over in the morning. He would help clean up and then go back to sleep. On one occasion at a lock-in, Defendant laid down on the floor next to B.N. and told B.N. to loosen his belt. B.N. thought that was weird and did not do it. On another occasion, Defendant asked B.N. if he wanted to play a video game, and Defendant said that if he won, B.N. had to share his blanket with Defendant. On another occasion, B.N. saw child pornography that was saved on one of Defendant’s computers at the store. B.N. did not remember Defendant ever .touching him inappropriately.

B.N. also went on a weekend trip with Defendant and' two other boys, B.N.’s younger brother and R.I. R.I. was born in December of 1997. He also regularly visited Gamestation Sector 19 and'stayed for lock-ins. They went to Wisconsin Dells and stayed in a hotel. Defendant paid for everything on the trip. R.I. did not remember Defendant ever touching him inappropriately.

After concluding interviews at the middle school, Detective Cavaletti and Sergeant Tony Guinn went to Gamestation Sector 19. Defendant agreed to come with them to the police station to be interviewed. They also asked Defendant if they could seize his laptop, which was at the store, and Defendant consented. At the police station, Detective Cavaletti read Defendant his Miranda2 rights, which Defendant waived. Detective Cavaletti told Defendant there were sexual allegations against him. During their conversation, Defendant denied any inappropriate contact with any boys. At one point the officers mentioned K.N., B.N., and B.N.’s brother. Defendant said he had touched K.N. on his private area by accident, but Defendant had apologized and that was the end of it. Eventually, Defendant told the officers he needed help, and their eonver-[362]*362sation ended. The officers arrested Defendant for one charge of child molestation regarding K.N. and held Defendant in jail. Police also continued to investigate Defendant, trying to contact other boys who frequented Gamestation Sector 19.

Through this investigation, police spoke with M.L., who had told his mom about an incident with Defendant at Gamestation Section 19. M.L. was born in June of 1997. When M.L. was 10 years old, he went to Gamestation Sector 19 several times to play video games. He went with an adult initially, but after that he would go by himself. On one occasion, Defendant, who was sitting on a counter at the back of the store, sat M.L. on his lap and started rubbing M.L.’s upper thigh. Then Defendant touched M.L.’s penis over M.L.’s clothing. M.L. jumped off Defendant’s lap and left the store. He did not visit the store again.

Part of the ongoing police investigation also included listening to recorded conversations of phone calls Defendant made from jail. The day Defendant was arrested, he called one of his employees, Tim Douglas (Douglas). Defendant asked Douglas to retrieve several items from the store and take them to Defendant’s mother’s house. Defendant called Douglas an additional two times from jail, and Douglas then took the items to Defendant’s mother’s house the next day. These items included a green duffle bag, a black bag, a blue bag, a black metal box, and some electronic equipment, including a digital camera and a video camera.

Defendant also called his mother, Leslie Moss (Mother), from jail. He asked her to destroy disks that were in the green duffle bag and to throw away his medication that was in a blue pouch. He also told her to throw away the black box, because it was garbage and it was not his. On January 16, 2009, Sergeant Guinn went to Mother’s house to find Defendant’s items that Douglas had left there. Mother consented to a search of her residence. When Sergeant Guinn told her what they were looking for, she pointed the items out. The police seized the bags, cameras, and black box. They did not find any medication among these items.

In the meantime on January 12, 2009, Defendant’s ex-wife, Mary Helen Day (Day), called Sergeant Guinn. She told him that she had previously obtained a court order to take possession of the vehicle she and Defendant had owned during their marriage, which had been in Defendant’s possession since their divorce.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
416 S.W.3d 357, 2013 WL 6818153, 2013 Mo. App. LEXIS 1540, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-beasley-moctapp-2013.