State v. Boydston

198 S.W.3d 671, 2006 Mo. App. LEXIS 1246, 2006 WL 2422827
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 23, 2006
Docket27210
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 198 S.W.3d 671 (State v. Boydston) 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. Boydston, 198 S.W.3d 671, 2006 Mo. App. LEXIS 1246, 2006 WL 2422827 (Mo. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

ROBERT S. BARNEY, Judge.

John Elmer Boydston (“Appellant”) was convicted by a jury of the Class C felony of burglary in the second degree, a violation of section 569.170. 1 He was found by the trial court to be a prior and persistent offender pursuant to sections 558.016 and 557.036 and was sentenced to twelve years in the Missouri Department of Corrections. In his sole point on appeal, Appellant maintains the trial court abused it discretion in admitting State’s “Exhibit 11,” a crowbar purportedly used in the burglary and found at the scene of the crime. Appellant contends the State failed to prove “Exhibit 11” was in fact the same crowbar a witness “saw the burglar carrying in the bar that night ...” or that it was in the same condition as at the time of the burglary. Accordingly, Appellant asserts the “[ajdmission of the crowbar was therefore totally irrelevant and prejudicial to [Ajppellant.”

Appellant does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support his con *673 viction. Viewing the record in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict, State v. Smith, 81 S.W.3d 657, 659 (Mo.App.2002), the record reveals that on July 21, 2003, Appellant was a passenger in his girlfriend’s car at the time she was arrested by Officer David Inman (“Officer Inman”) for driving away from a gas station without paying for gasoline. Officer In-man testified that Appellant was not arrested in relation to that incident. Officer Inman noted that he allowed Appellant to leave the scene of the arrest and to take a black bag containing “[a] bunch of tattooing equipment” with him when he left.

Later that afternoon, Appellant went to the Plum Crazy Bar (“the Bar”) in Hayti, Missouri, which is an establishment owned by Hoot Graue (“Mr. Graue”). Mr. Graue testified that Appellant told him that he was a tattoo artist and that he needed to earn some money to get his girlfriend out of jail. Mr. Graue said that Appellant was still at the Bar when he closed at around 10:00 that evening. After closing the Bar, Mr. Graue set the security alarm and motion detector, locked the doors, and went home.

Shortly after he arrived home, the security alarm company called Mr. Graue and notified him that the alarm at the Bar had been activated. Mr. Graue met Officer Justin Brown (“Officer Brown”) at the Bar and they discovered that several tiles had fallen from the ceiling; however, Officer Brown located no one inside the building. Mr. Graue reset the alarm and both Officer Brown and Mr. Graue left the Bar.

According to Mr. Graue, approximately fifteen or twenty minutes later he was again notified by the security alarm company that the alarm at the Bar had been activated. When he returned to the Bar, the police had not yet arrived on the scene. Mr. Graue unlocked the front door and entered the Bar. Mr. Graue saw Appellant standing by the lottery ticket machine holding a crowbar. 2 Appellant said to Mr. Graue, “I’m sorry,” and then he approached him with the crowbar in his hand. Mr. Graue grabbed a gun and shot Appellant in the leg. Appellant fell to his knees, dropped the crowbar, and then ran out the back of the building.

When police arrived, they were unable to find Appellant. Inside the Bar, the police discovered some dislodged ceiling tiles; several missing louvers from the rear of the building near where the tiles were missing; the lottery ticket machine had been moved, pried open, and emptied of currency; the juke box had been scratched; the inside bottom corner of the back door was bent upward; a pillar was damaged by the bullet; and a trail of blood led toward the rear door of the building.

At some point in August of 2003, a police officer discovered a black bag full of tattooing equipment in a parking lot across the street from the Bar. The bag was turned over to the Hayti Police Department and it was later claimed by Appellant several months after the burglary.

Appellant presented no evidence at trial. The jury found him guilty of burglary in the second degree and he was sentenced by the trial court to serve twelve years in the Missouri Department of Corrections. This appeal followed.

“A trial court has broad discretion to admit or exclude evidence at trial.” State v. Madorie, 156 S.W.3d 351, 355 (Mo. *674 banc 2005) “This standard of review compels the reversal of a trial court’s ruling on the admission of evidence only if the court has clearly abused its discretion.” Id. “We review trial court decisions regarding the admissibility of evidence ‘for prejudice, not mere error, and will reverse only if the error was so prejudicial that it deprived the defendant of a fair trial.’ ” State v. Santillan, 1 S.W.3d 572, 579 (Mo.App.1999)(quoting State v. Tokar, 918 S.W.2d 753, 761 (Mo. banc 1996)).

As previously mentioned, in his sole point relied on Appellant asserts the trial court abused its discretion in admitting State’s “Exhibit 11” into evidence. Specifically, Appellant asserts that the State

failed to prove that the crowbar was the same one Mr. Graue saw the burglar carrying in the bar that night or that it was in the same condition, since it was never seized by the police but instead they asked Mr. Graue to produce it a week before trial, approximately two years after the burglary. •

According to Appellant, the admission of “Exhibit 11” into evidence was not only prejudicial to Appellant but was also “totally irrelevant.”

At trial, during direct examination, Mr. Graue testified that he or his son had picked up the crowbar after the burglary and had kept it at the Bar until he was contacted by the police a few weeks prior to trial. When the State showed the crowbar to Mr. Graue, defense counsel objected “to this piece of evidence.” The trial court overruled defense counsel’s objection by noting that “Exhibit 11” “hasn’t been offered [into evidence] yet.”

A short time later, when the State actually offered “Exhibit 11” into evidence, defense counsel again objected. The trial court ruled that it would “allow the defense to question Mr. Graue on it before [it] rulefd] on its admissibility.” As such, following cross-examination of Mr. Graue, the State again offered “Exhibit 11” into evidence. At that time defense counsel stated, ‘We object on the grounds of lack of foundation.” The objection was overruled by the trial court and “Exhibit 11” was admitted into evidence.

Thereafter, in his “Motion for Acquittal or in the Alternative for a New Trial,” filed after his conviction, Appellant argued that the trial court erred in admitting “Exhibit 11” because “the foundation testimony did not provide reasonable assurances that the item was the item it purports to be, nor did it provide reasonable assurances that the item had not been tampered with or substituted.” This motion was overruled by the trial court.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
198 S.W.3d 671, 2006 Mo. App. LEXIS 1246, 2006 WL 2422827, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-boydston-moctapp-2006.