State v. Dale

874 S.W.2d 446, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 300, 1994 WL 49767
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 22, 1994
DocketWD 47141
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 874 S.W.2d 446 (State v. Dale) 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. Dale, 874 S.W.2d 446, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 300, 1994 WL 49767 (Mo. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

BERREY, Chief Judge.

Appellant appeals her jury conviction of assault in the first degree and armed criminal action and court sentence of ten years imprisonment on Count I and five years imprisonment on Count II to run consecutively. Michelle and James Dale were married in April, 1990. Michelle had a son, David Cole *448 man, from a previous marriage and he lived •with his mother and stepfather, James Dale.

Mrs. Dale was employed when she married James. She quit after their marriage to accept his offer to support her and to become a full time homemaker and mother. At the time of this marriage, James was an over-the-road truck driver often gone from home for extended periods. During one of these trips, eviction papers were served on Michelle and she and David moved in with James Dale’s brother. Subsequently, they moved into a house James Dale owned and had rented to others.

On September 27, 1991, James Dale had been drinking and using “speed” and meth-amphetamines with a friend, Vernon Cobert. Appellant told James he would have to watch David the next day because she had to work. Dale was gone that night and returned at 6:00 p.m. the next evening. When he arrived home, David was playing with his gun collection. James became quite angry and verbally abusive to David. Dining this confrontation appellant returned home and observed James drag David through the house, screaming at him. James spit in David’s face, repeatedly struck him on the head and screamed obscenities at him. David called for his mother to help him. James sent David to clean up the back yard and told appellant to keep David away from him. James said, “[d]on’t let me see that kids face. I’m afraid of what I’ll do to him.” Friends called on the Dales and this family dispute subsided.

At approximately 9:00 p.m. the guests left and appellant told James the clutch on her truck was slipping. He went to repair the truck and found a saber saw in the tool box that belonged to his mother. His mother had reported the saw missing, and finding it, as he did, he believed appellant had stolen the saw from his mother. James went back to the house and confronted the appellant in their bedroom. Appellant was preparing to take a shower. He grabbed her by the throat and threw her against the sink. James shouted, “I’m going to show you what mad really is.” Appellant tried to hit James. He told her to get dressed, get her son, and leave the house. At this juncture James left the bedroom and the appellant sat down on the bed. She was going to use the phone and also try to determine where she should go. In the interim, James was downstairs visiting with a friend, David Bergen, and cleaning up his guns.

James then heard the shower turn on and he went back upstairs to tell appellant to leave. He found appellant seated on the bed snorting a line of speed. James testified that she pulled a gun on him and he tried to take it and she shot him six times.

Appellant testified that when James came back upstairs he threw her to the floor and threatened to kill her and told her to leave. As he left the room he told her he should, “beat you like a man.” Appellant picked up the phone and James came back into the room with a pistol clipped to his overalls and screamed, “I’m going to kill you.” As he started for appellant she grabbed a gun from the dresser and fired. She acknowledged that she shot him, but did not know how many times, at least twice in the back while he was prone on the floor. At the time of the shooting, David was in his own room and was not a witness to the incident.

Appellant alleges three points of trial court error: (I) that the trial court erred by failing to submit Instruction C patterned after MAI-CR8d 306.08, regarding the law on the defense of others; (II)(a) the trial court erred in allowing appellant’s testimony to be impeached with purported prior inconsistent statements introduced through appellant’s probation officers; (b) the testimony of the probation officers consisted of confidential and privileged information communicated by appellant; (c) the testimony concerning appellant’s alleged enrollment in Longview Community College was collateral and irrelevant; and (III) trial court erred in submitting Instruction #4 patterned after MAI-CR3d 302.04. Instruction C as submitted by appellant and raised in Point I is as follows:

INSTRUCTION C
One of the issues in this case is whether the use of force by the defendant against James Dale was in defense of another person. In this state, the use of force (includ- *449 mg the use of deadly force) to protect another person from harm is lawful in certain situations.
In order for a person lawfully to use force in defense of another person, such a defender must reasonably believe the person she is trying to protect is in imminent danger of harm from a third person. The person she is trying to protect need not be in actual danger but the defender must have a reasonable belief that the person is in such danger.
If the person trying to protect another person has such a belief, she is then permitted to use that amount of force which she reasonably believes to be necessary to protect the other person.
But a person acting in the defense of another person is not permitted to use deadly force, that is, force which she knows will create a substantial risk of causing death or serious physical injury, unless she reasonably believes the person she is trying to protect is in imminent danger of death or serious physical injury.
And, even then, a person may use deadly force only if she reasonably believes the use of such force is necessary to protect the other person.
As used in this instruction, the term “reasonable belief’ means a belief based on reasonable grounds, that is, grounds which could lead a reasonable person in the same situation to the same belief. This depends upon how the facts reasonably appeared. It does not depend upon whether the belief turned out to be true or false.
On the issue of the defense of another person in this case, you are instructed as follows:
If the defendant reasonably believed David L. Coleman was in imminent danger of death or serious physical injury from the acts of James Dale and she reasonably believed that the use of deadly force was necessary to defend David L. Coleman, then she acted in lawful defense of another person.
The state has the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did not act in lawful defense of another person. Unless you find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did not act in lawful defense of another person, you must find the defendant not guilty.
As used in this instruction, the term “serious physical injury” means physical injury that creates a substantial risk of death or that causes serious disfigurement or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any part of the body.

The trial court denied appellant’s request to submit this instruction to the jury. Section 563.031.1 RSMo, 1986, pertains to use of force in defense of persons and reads as follows:

1.

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Bluebook (online)
874 S.W.2d 446, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 300, 1994 WL 49767, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-dale-moctapp-1994.