State v. Campbell

558 S.W.3d 554
Missouri Court of Appeals·Decided August 21, 2018·No. No. ED 105247·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

Angela T. Quigless, J.

*556Lamont Campbell ("Defendant") appeals from the judgment of the trial court convicting him of one count of first-degree murder and one count of armed criminal action following a jury trial. Defendant raises three points on appeal, arguing the trial court: (1) abused its discretion in denying his request to strike a potential juror for cause; (2) erred in sentencing him to life in prison with eligibility for parole, pursuant to Section 565.033,1 because the statute was an unconstitutional ex post facto law as applied to him; and (3) erred in denying his claim that the State failed to disclose exculpatory evidence, in violation of Brady v. Maryland .2 We affirm the judgment.

Factual and Procedural Background

Defendant was charged in 2011 with first-degree murder and armed criminal action for the death of Leonard Gregory, III ("Victim"). Defendant, who was seventeen years old at the time of the murder, was first tried by a jury in 2013, but the trial court declared a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a verdict. Following a second jury trial in 2016, Defendant was convicted of first-degree murder and armed criminal action. After Defendant waived jury sentencing, the court sentenced him to life in prison with the possibility for parole on the murder charge, and twenty years on the armed criminal action charge.

A. Evidence

Defendant does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support his convictions. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence presented during Defendant's second jury trial established that, on July 17, 2011, Victim was driving his vehicle on the 2800 block of Chariton Street in the City of St. Louis. After someone fired multiple shots at Victim's vehicle, it crashed into some parked cars. As Victim lay slumped over in the driver's seat, Defendant ran up to the driver's side window and fired three shots from a revolver at close range, striking Victim in the shoulder and the head, killing him.

Three individuals witnessed the shooting, including a husband and wife, and a neighbor, all of whom lived near where the shooting took place. All three witnesses described the shooter to the police as a young, African-American male, approximately five-foot six inches tall with short hair, wearing a white shirt, black pants, and dark shoes. Based on this description, the police compiled a photo lineup, which included a photo of Defendant. The husband and wife both independently identified Defendant as the shooter, both from the photo lineup as well as in a subsequent in-person lineup. The neighbor also identified Defendant as the shooter in a photo lineup. All three witnesses testified at trial and identified Defendant as the shooter.

*557B. Trial Proceedings

Defendant was represented by two different attorneys during his first trial and second trial. The attorney who represented Defendant during his first trial ("First Counsel") learned shortly after trial that an individual named Randolph Thornton ("Thornton") claimed Victim had a dispute with a black male nicknamed "Bird" in the days before the murder, and that "Bird" claimed he shot Victim because Victim disrespected his sisters. On October 7, 2013, First Counsel endorsed Thornton as a witness for Defendant's retrial. The State was not aware of Thornton's existence prior to this endorsement. In response, a police detective and an investigator from the circuit attorney's office interviewed Thornton. During the interview, Thornton stated that the "word on the street" was that "Bird" shot Victim. Thornton described "Bird" as having long hair. Thornton then became uncooperative and stated, "I'm not going to help either side." Neither detective took notes concerning the interview because they believed Thornton's statements were not reliable or consistent with the statements from the other three eye witnesses, all of whom described the shooter as having short hair.

On January 23, 2015, First Counsel filed a second endorsement of Thornton as a witness for Defendant's retrial. On April 27, 2015, Defendant wrote a letter to the trial court stating, "It was also brought to my attention that a person went to the District Attorney's Office and stated that I was not the person who committed this crime, and this person also stated that he knows who did commit this crime."

Before Defendant's retrial, First Counsel withdrew from the case and a different attorney entered an appearance to represent Defendant ("Second Counsel"). During pre-trial discovery, the State did not provide Second Counsel with any information regarding the interview with Thornton. Following Defendant's retrial and conviction, Second Counsel filed a Brady motion alleging the State failed to disclose evidence related to the State's interview with Thornton, which was favorable to his defense. The court denied the motion, finding the evidence was favorable to his defense and the State was obligated to disclose it, but Defendant suffered no prejudice because the evidence would not have been admissible at trial as it was hearsay with insufficient indicia of reliability to qualify for admission as a statement against penal interest.

Prior to the retrial, Defendant filed a motion to dismiss the charges, arguing the recently amended statute prescribing the sentence for first-degree murder, Section 565.033, would be an unconstitutional ex post facto law as applied to Defendant because it became effective on July 13, 2016, which was five years after the murder. The trial court denied this motion, finding Section 565.033 was applicable to Defendant's case.

During jury selection, Defendant moved to strike Juror 714 for cause, arguing his responses during voir dire demonstrated he was not qualified to serve as a juror because he said it would be "very difficult" for him to follow one of the court's instructions concerning the factors to consider when determining the credibility of eye witness identification. The trial court denied Defendant's request to strike Juror 714 for cause, however Juror 714 ultimately did not serve on the jury.

Following the presentation of evidence, the jury convicted Defendant of first-degree murder and armed criminal action. Defendant waived jury sentencing, and the trial court sentenced Defendant to life in prison, pursuant to Section 565.033. Defendant filed a motion for a new trial, which was denied. This appeal follows. Additional *558facts will be set forth the in the Discussion section of this Memorandum as necessary to address the issues raised.

Points on Appeal

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State v. Campbell, 558 S.W.3d 554 (Mo. Ct. App. 2018).

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