State v. Chapman

704 S.W.2d 674, 1986 Mo. App. LEXIS 3489
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 17, 1986
DocketNo. 13914
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 704 S.W.2d 674 (State v. Chapman) 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. Chapman, 704 S.W.2d 674, 1986 Mo. App. LEXIS 3489 (Mo. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

On July 16, 1984, judgment was entered in Associate Division 2 of the Circuit Court [675]*675of Greene County, finding appellant guilty of the class B misdemeanor of driving while intoxicated, first offense, § 577.010, Laws 1982, p. 686, and sentencing him to pay a $400 fine and to be imprisoned in jail for 60 days. Execution of the imprisonment was suspended, and appellant was placed on supervised probation for two years, subject to certain conditions immaterial here.

Appellant filed his notice of appeal with the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Greene County on August 14, 1984.

Rule 30.01(d), Missouri Rules of Criminal Procedure (15th ed. 1984), provides that no appeal in a criminal case shall be effective unless the notice of appeal shall be filed not later than ten days after the judgment or order appealed from becomes final. A judgment in a criminal case is final for purpose of appeal when the judgment and sentence is entered; a notice of appeal filed in the trial court more than ten days after its entry is ineffective to vest the appellate court with jurisdiction. State ex rel. Wagner v. Ruddy, 582 S.W.2d 692, 693[1] (Mo. banc 1979).

In the instant case, the notice of appeal was filed 29 days after entry of judgment and sentence.

Appeal dismissed.

ON APPELLANT’S POST-OPINION MOTION

After our opinion was filed, appellant filed a “Motion to Set Aside Dismissal and Remand Back to Trial Court for Lack of Jurisdiction.” In that motion, appellant, for the first time, asserted that the trial court’s judgment was not final for purpose of appeal, therefore we lacked jurisdiction to dismiss his appeal. Consequently, argued appellant, we should set aside the dismissal and remand the cause to the trial court “for additional proceedings for lack of jurisdiction, because this judgment is not final.”

In support of his contention, appellant tendered four theories, which we shall consider seriatim.

Appellant’s first theory is that the trial court never afforded him allocution, and that under State v. Wood, 534 S.W.2d 100 (Mo.App.1976), and State v. Gilbert, 507 S.W.2d 25 (Mo.App.1974), such omission deprived the judgment of finality.

The contention is refuted by the record. While the judgment does not, on its face, recite that allocution was granted, the transcript clearly demonstrates that appellant was in fact afforded allocution. At the outset of the proceedings on the day of sentencing, the judge advised appellant that he had previously been found guilty of driving while intoxicated, first offense, and that the judge would hear the comments of counsel regarding sentencing. The prosecutor then addressed the judge on that subject, and his comments were followed by those of defense counsel. The latter’s comments fill four pages of the transcript, concluding with the statement that counsel had “no further substantive matters with regard to this sentencing.” It is thus manifest that appellant was advised of the finding of guilty, and that appellant was allowed ample opportunity to inform the judge of any legal cause why judgment and sentence should not be pronounced against him. Moreover, Rule 29.07(b)(1),1 which provides for allocution, states, in pertinent part: “... in all cases of misdemeanor, the requirements of this subparagraph are directory and the omission to comply with them shall not invalidate the judgment or sentence.”

Wood and Gilbert do not aid appellant. In those cases, the transcript not only failed to show that allocution was afforded, it also failed to reflect that the trial court had entered judgment and pronounced sentence. Here, at the conclusion of the sentencing hearing, the judge, in precise and unambiguous terms, pronounced the sentence referred to in the first paragraph of our opinion.

[676]*676Appellant’s first theory is, for the above reasons, without merit.

Appellant’s second theory is that because the trial court failed to advise appellant of his right to appeal, see Rule 29.-07(b)(3), the judgment lacked finality for purpose of appeal. Appellant cites no case so holding, and our research has failed to locate one. While such omission might, in an appropriate case, supply a basis to argue that good cause existed for granting leave to file a late notice of appeal per Rule 30.03, we fail to see how such omission could deprive a judgment of finality for purpose of appeal. Appellant’s second theory is, accordingly, rejected.

Appellant’s third theory is that the trial court failed to render a “formal judgment.” Citing State v. Wilke, 560 S.W.2d 601, 602[3] (Mo.App.1978), appellant insists that without the entry of a judgment by the clerk of the trial court, there can be no final judgment from which an appeal can be taken. We note, however, that Wilke was based on former Rule 27.11, which was repealed effective January 1, 1980. Order, Supreme Court of Missouri, June 13, 1979, effective January 1, 1980, 580-81 S.W.2d, pp. XXI to CXXXIII. The rule regarding the judgment in a criminal case applicable here is Rule 29.07(c). That rule specifies what shall be set forth in the judgment, but makes no reference to entry of the judgment by the clerk. In the instant case, the judgment entry, subscribed by the sentencing judge, while not a model to be recommended, does, in our opinion, make clear that appellant, having been found guilty of driving while intoxicated, first offense, was assessed the sentence heretofore mentioned.

State v. Asberry, 553 S.W.2d 902 (Mo.App.1977), also cited by appellant in support of his third theory, was likewise based on former Rule 27.11. Asberry, like Wilke, thus fails to aid appellant. We find no merit in appellant’s third theory.

Appellant’s fourth theory is that the judgment lacked finality for purpose of appeal because the judge who sentenced him was not the judge who found him guilty. In that regard, the transcript shows that at time of sentencing, the judge who had found appellant guilty was ill, and that another judge had been assigned to appellant’s case. Appellant and his counsel appeared before the successor judge and, as noted earlier, the successor judge heard the comments of the prosecutor and appellant’s counsel in regard to sentencing, after which judgment and sentence were pronounced. Appellant made no objection to appearing before the successor judge and, in his brief on appeal, appellant raised no issue about the authority of the successor judge to enter judgment and sentence. All of the assignments of error in appellant’s brief pertained to rulings by the judge who had found appellant guilty.

In State v. Tettamble, 450 S.W.2d 191, 193 (Mo.1970), it was pointed out that courts must continue despite death, resignation, illness, or expiration of the term of a judge. Tettamble held that a judge who had succeeded the judge who had presided at the jury trial which resulted in a verdict of guilty was authorized to assess sentence against the accused and pronounce judgment. Id.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
704 S.W.2d 674, 1986 Mo. App. LEXIS 3489, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-chapman-moctapp-1986.