State v. Boyce

887 S.W.2d 447, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 1792, 1994 WL 644105
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 17, 1994
DocketNos. 17667, 19211
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 887 S.W.2d 447 (State v. Boyce) 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. Boyce, 887 S.W.2d 447, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 1792, 1994 WL 644105 (Mo. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

MONTGOMERY, Judge.

A jury convicted James E. Boyce (Defendant) of robbery in the first degree and armed criminal action, §§ 569.020 and [449]*449571.015,1 on May 16, 1991. Defendant was sentenced as a prior and persistent offender, §§ 558.016 and 557.036.4, RSMo Supp.1993, to consecutive terms of 25 years’ and 20 years’ imprisonment, respectively.

In his direct appeal (No. 17667), Defendant contends that the trial court erred in (1) denying his request for a mistrial based upon the State’s failure to disclose that a rebuttal witness had previously identified Defendant as one of the armed robbers, (2) failing to sustain Defendant’s objection to the State’s peremptory strikes of two black persons, and (3) overruling Defendant’s challenge for cause of venireperson Walker.

Defendant later filed a pro se motion to vacate his conviction and sentence pursuant to Rule 29.15. Thereafter, his counsel filed an amended motion. In No. 19211 Defendant appeals the denial of that motion after an evidentiary hearing. The appeals have been consolidated. Rule 29.15(Z).

No. 17667

The sufficiency of the facts to sustain Defendant’s conviction is not here questioned. Therefore, a brief summary of the evidence will suffice. Around 3 a.m. on December 15, 1990, three black men, later identified as Defendant, Robert Bell, and Jerry Buck, entered the Wal-Mart store in Sikeston, Missouri, armed with guns and masked with panty hose covering their faces.

Upon entering the store one of the robbers grabbed Cynthia Ray, assistant Wal-Mart manager, and demanded money. Ray convinced him that no money was kept in the store after closing time. Two of the robbers then took Ray and another employee to the jewelry department where they broke into a display case and took numerous items of jewelry. One of the robbers struck Ray in the face after the jewelry was taken. While the jewelry was being taken, Brenda Stin-nett, another Wal-Mart employee, was held in the front portion of the store by the third robber.

The three robbers fled with the stolen goods and later split up the jewelry between them. Defendant gave two of the stolen birthstone rings to his girlfriend, Doris McCain. He told her that he had purchased the rings at the Cape Girardeau Wal-Mart store. She attempted to exchange the rings at the Charleston Wal-Mart store, but was unable to do so. The Charleston police later contacted McCain about the attempted exchange, and she gave them the rings. A Wal-Mart supervisor testified that the two rings were similar to rings taken during the robbery.

After Defendant was arrested, Sikeston Police Detective Gee questioned him. Defendant claimed that he bought the rings at a crap game and gave them to his girlfriend.

A few days later Robert Bell was arrested. He admitted that he committed the robbery with Defendant and Jerry Buck and led the police to many of the stolen items. Bell testified at trial to these facts and confirmed that all three men were armed. He testified that he was the man who grabbed Ray and, with Buck’s assistance, took the jewelry. He indicated that Defendant was elsewhere in the store while he and Buck took the jewelry.

Defendant did not testify at trial but offered the testimony of two alibi witnesses. Their testimony, if believed, tended to show that Defendant was elsewhere when the robbery took place.

Defendant’s first point claims the trial court erred in overruling his request for a mistrial during the State’s rebuttal case because the State failed to disclose information that Brenda Stinnett identified Defendant to the Sikeston police as one of the robbers. We conclude this claim of error is based on Defendant’s requested disclosure as provided by Rule 25.03(A)(1) although the legal file does not contain a copy of Defendant’s disclosure request. However, the docket sheet shows Defendant filed a “Request for Disclosure.” In addition, the transcript reveals that the prosecutor received the request because, in response to Defendant’s request for a mistrial, he advised the court, “I furnished the Defendant everything we had.”

In rebuttal, the State recalled Stinnett and she testified that she had identified Defen[450]*450dant to the Sikeston police after viewing his photograph in the Sikeston newspaper a couple of days after the robbery. That information was not disclosed to Defendant prior to her testimony. Stinnett, endorsed as a State witness, had testified during the State’s case in chief concerning the events of the robbery, but she was not questioned on her ability to identify Defendant as one of the robbers.

After Defendant presented his alibi defense, the prosecutor recalled Stinnett to rebut the alibi testimony. On cross-examination, Stinnett insisted that she called the police station and told someone that she could identify Defendant as one of the robbers. Stinnett thought she may have talked to Detective Hagen who had earlier investigated the Wal-Mart robbery. However, Ha-gen’s notes, supplied to Defendant, made no reference to such a conversation.

Whether the state violated the rules of discovery rests within the sound discretion of the trial court. State v. Engel, 859 S.W.2d 822, 829 (Mo.App.1993). When a party has failed to comply with discovery rules, Rule 25.16 makes available certain sanctions which can be imposed by the court. Remedies such as granting a continuance, excluding the withheld evidence, or granting other appropriate relief are among the available choices.

Defendant chose to request a mistrial regarding the alleged discovery rule violation by the State. However, declaring a mistrial is a drastic remedy and should be employed only in the most extraordinary circumstances. State v. Sidebottom, 753 S.W.2d 915, 919-20 (Mo. banc 1988), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 975 (1988). Furthermore, the denial of a requested sanction is an abuse of discretion only where the admission of evidence or testimony results in a fundamental unfairness to the defendant. State v. Castillo, 853 S.W.2d 381, 384 (Mo.App.1993). “The notion of fundamental unfairness in turn is to be measured by whether the evidence or the discovery thereof would have affected the result of the trial.” Id.

The instant case is similar to State v. Robinson, 832 S.W.2d 941 (Mo.App.1992), where, in rebuttal, the State was allowed to introduce defendant’s statements to police officers which contradicted defendant’s trial testimony. The report containing these statements had not been previously disclosed to defendant. In denying defendant’s claim of surprise and discovery rule violation, the court said:

Even if the trial court’s admission of this evidence was in error, the court’s denial of a requested sanction is an abuse of discretion only where admitting the evidence results in fundamental unfairness to the Defendant. State v. Adams, 791 S.W.2d 873, 878-879[15, 16] (Mo.App.1990). In this case it is highly unlikely that the outcome of the ease was altered or that the trial was fundamentally unfair. The evidence was overwhelming. Defendant admitted involvement in the robbery to police officers.

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State v. Winters
949 S.W.2d 264 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1997)
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943 S.W.2d 730 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1997)
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930 S.W.2d 456 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1996)
State v. Boyce
913 S.W.2d 425 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1996)
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896 S.W.2d 693 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1995)
State v. Davis
894 S.W.2d 703 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1995)

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Bluebook (online)
887 S.W.2d 447, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 1792, 1994 WL 644105, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-boyce-moctapp-1994.