State v. Brown

558 S.W.3d 105
Missouri Court of Appeals·Decided August 28, 2018·No. No. ED 105390·Published·Cited by 14 cases

Opinion

ROBERT M. CLAYTON III, Judge

Roy Brown ("Defendant") appeals the judgment, following a jury trial, convicting him of eight counts of second-degree robbery, one count of attempted second-degree *108robbery, three counts of first-degree robbery, and one count of resisting arrest. On appeal, Defendant argues, (1) there was insufficient evidence to convict him of one count of attempted second-degree robbery and one count of first-degree robbery; and (2) the trial court's written sentence and judgment contains clerical mistakes.

Because we find there was sufficient evidence from which a reasonable juror could have found Defendant guilty of the attempted second-degree robbery and first-degree robbery convictions he challenges on appeal, and because Defendant does not challenge any of his other eleven convictions, we affirm the judgment of convictions. However, we remand with instructions to the trial court to enter a nunc pro tunc order to correct clerical mistakes in the written sentence and judgment that fail to accurately denominate Defendant's counts and convictions, fail to accurately memorialize the jury's verdicts, and fail to accurately memorialize the trial court's sentences as announced in open court.

I. BACKGROUND

Defendant was charged with ten counts of second-degree robbery, one count of attempted second-degree robbery, and three counts of first-degree robbery for incidents that occurred in the downtown St. Louis area from approximately November 26-December 23, 2015. Defendant was also charged with one count of resisting arrest for an incident that occurred on or about December 23, 2015.

A jury trial took place on Defendant's charges from January 30-February 2, 2017. At the close of the State's evidence and at the close of all of the evidence, Defendant filed motions for judgment of acquittal with respect to all fifteen charges. The trial court denied the motions.

The jury found Defendant guilty of all charges except for two second-degree robbery charges. Defendant then filed a motion for a new trial, alleging the trial court erred in denying his motions for judgment of acquittal. The trial court denied Defendant's motion for a new trial.

After holding a sentencing hearing on March 9, 2017, the trial court entered a written sentence and judgment convicting Defendant of eight counts of second-degree robbery, one count of attempted second-degree robbery, three counts of first-degree robbery, and one count of resisting arrest. Pursuant to both the trial court's oral pronouncement of sentence at Defendant's sentencing hearing and the trial court's written sentence and judgment, Defendant was sentenced to a total of sixty years of imprisonment. Defendant appeals.1

II. DISCUSSION

Defendant raises three points on appeal. In his first and second points, Defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support two of his convictions. In Defendant's third point, he argues the trial court's written sentence and judgment contains clerical mistakes.

A. Defendant's Sufficiency of the Evidence Claims

In Defendant's first and second points on appeal, he challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support his convictions for one count of attempted second-degree robbery and one count of first-degree robbery.

*1091. The Standard of Review

Appellate review of a claim that there was insufficient evidence to support a criminal conviction is limited to a determination of "whether the [S]tate has introduced sufficient evidence from which a reasonable juror could have found each element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt." State v. Hosier , 454 S.W.3d 883, 898 (Mo. banc 2015). In making that determination, great deference is given to the trier of fact, and an appellate court will not weigh the evidence anew. State v. Nash , 339 S.W.3d 500, 509 (Mo. banc 2011). Additionally, all evidence and inferences favorable to the State are accepted as true, and all contrary evidence and inferences are disregarded. Id.

The State may meet its burden of proof by presenting either direct or circumstantial evidence connecting the defendant to each element of the crime. State v. Burns , 444 S.W.3d 527, 529 (Mo. App. E.D. 2014). Furthermore, circumstantial evidence is given the same weight as direct evidence in considering whether there was sufficient evidence to support a conviction. Id. at 528-29.

2. The Relevance of the Language in the Verdict Directors

We initially note that Defendant's sufficiency of the evidence claims are based upon language in the verdict directors for the attempted second-degree robbery and first-degree robbery offenses he challenges on appeal. Defendant is essentially claiming that to convict him of those offenses, the State had to prove Defendant's exact conduct alleged in the verdict directors. A similar argument was recently addressed in detail and rejected by this Court in State v. Voss , 488 S.W.3d 97, 108-10 (Mo. App. E.D. 2016), where we held in relevant part:

[I]n determining a sufficiency of the evidence claim, we are not concerned with the language of the verdict-directing instruction submitted to the jury. Instead ... we are concerned only with whether there is sufficient evidence to support the charged crime, based on the elements of the crime as set forth by statute and common law and the evidence adduced at trial.

Id. at 109 (internal citations omitted).

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State v. Brown, 558 S.W.3d 105 (Mo. Ct. App. 2018).

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