State v. Dodson

641 S.W.2d 115, 1982 Mo. App. LEXIS 3711
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 3, 1982
DocketNo. WD 32515
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 641 S.W.2d 115 (State v. Dodson) 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. Dodson, 641 S.W.2d 115, 1982 Mo. App. LEXIS 3711 (Mo. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

KENNEDY, Judge.

Appellant Vanessa Dodson appeals from a jury verdict convicting her of two counts of stealing without the owner’s consent property valued at $150 or more, § 570.-030(2), RSMo 1978, subsequently amended (Cum.Supp.1981). She was sentenced to a term of one month in the county jail on each count, the sentences to run consecutively. On appeal, Dodson challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury’s verdict. She also complains of the verdict-directing instructions and that the trial court erroneously failed to grant the appellant’s request for a mistrial because of prejudicial jury argument by the prosecuting attorney.

Appellant and three other individuals, Tommy Sheets, James Neighbors and Ginny Judd, in a brown Buick registered to one Jessie Whittaker, traveled from Kansas City to Unionville on February 3, 1980. About 5:00 p.m. Dodson and two of her companions, Sheets and Neighbors, went into the Putnam County Memorial Hospital at Unionville. At trial Dodson testified that Ginny Judd remained asleep in the car. Dodson asked a nurse on duty for directions to the hospital’s pharmacy because she wanted to purchase some contact lens solution. The nurse informed her that the hospital pharmacy was only for patients. She directed Dodson to a local store that might carry the solution. Dodson and Tommy Sheets left the nurse’s station and went to another part of the hospital.

The nurse saw James Neighbors in a wing of the hospital that did not have any patients. He wandered around awhile, looking into all of the rooms. Eventually, Neighbors joined the other two and walked away. The nurse did not see where they went.

The three were next seen eating in the hospital cafeteria about 5:15 p.m. The cafeteria is located across the hall from the Doctors’ Lounge. About this time Dr. Judd arrived at the hospital and parked his car near a brown Buick, which he did not recognize. Soon after Dr. Judd entered the hospital, Dodson, Sheets and Neighbors were seen heading for the rear entrance of the hospital. This entrance led to the lot where both the Buick and Dr. Judd’s car were parked.

Approximately one hour after his arrival, Dr. Judd left the hospital. Dr. Judd discovered that his emergency medical bag was missing from his car. He also discovered that the car door and window trim had been damaged. The incident, along with a description of the brown Buick, was reported to the sheriff.

Brian Mahan, a student doctor at the hospital, had also parked his car in the back lot that same evening. Mahan was in the hospital from approximately 5:00 until 7:00 p.m-. When he entered his car to leave the hospital, Mahan discovered that various items were missing from his car. The next [117]*117day, Mahan discovered that a medical bag Dr. Judd had prepared for him was missing from the Doctors’ Lounge inside the hospital.

Two days later, Dodson, Sheets and Neighbors were seen in a local jewelry store. The proprietor’s husband thought that they were acting suspicious, so he called the sheriff. Dodson and Sheets were in the front of the store “kissing and hugging”, while Neighbors was in the rear of the store eyeing the watches.

Since the car the three were driving, a 1972 brown Buick, matched the description of the car seen at the hospital, the sheriff had the three arrested. According to the sheriff’s testimony, Dodson, at the time of the arrest, stated that she had borrowed the Buick from a friend. In her own testimony at trial, Dodson stated that she did not know Jessie Whittaker, the registered owner of the car. According to her, Neighbors was driving the Buick when he picked up Dodson on February 3rd before starting on the trip to Unionville. She had possession of the ignition key only because she had pulled the keys out of the ignition when the deputy sheriff took her into custody. The car was parked when this occurred. Dodson was sitting in the middle of the Buick’s front seat, Sheets was seated to her right. Nobody was sitting in the driver’s seat. At the time, Neighbors was still in the jewelry store. Dodson gave the sheriff the keys to the car and signed a form giving her consent to search the automobile. Since none of the three admitted to having a key to the trunk, the car was taken to a Chevrolet dealer’s shop, where the trunk was opened. The search revealed a bag of syringes, a pair of tennis shoes, a leather vest, and a pair of jogging pants.

Dr. Judd identified the bag of syringes as coming from his emergency medical bag. Mahan identified the other items as those taken from his car. Dr. Judd estimated the value of the bag and its contents at approximately $350. Mahan approximated the total value of the goods taken from his car at $170.

At trial, Dodson testified that she never looked in the trunk of the car and that she had no idea what was in it. She had no idea how the items got into the trunk. She also testified that she did not take the doctor’s bag out of Dr. Judd’s car, nor did she see anyone take any items out of the hospital.

Sufficiency of evidence.

For her first point, appellant argues that the trial court erred in failing to sustain her motion for judgment of acquittal because the “evidence presented by the state was not substantial in that it showed that appellant merely had an opportunity to commit the offense alleged and the state failed to prove that the appellant had exclusive possession of the allegedly stolen items.”

The state’s case was based on circumstantial evidence. For purposes of review, all facts in evidence and favorable inferences that can be drawn therefrom must be analyzed in the. light most favorable to the state. Any facts and inferences to the contrary will be disregarded. State v. Franco, 544 S.W.2d 533, 534 (Mo. banc 1976), cert. denied 431 U.S. 957, 97 S.Ct. 2682, 53 L.Ed.2d 275 (1977); State v. Moon, 602 S.W.2d 828, 831 (Mo.App.1980). As appellant notes, when the evidence of the stealing is circumstantial, the facts and inferences that the state relies on must be consistent with each other and with the hypothesis of defendant’s guilt. Further, the facts and inferences must be inconsistent with the hypothesis of innocence. State v. Jones, 610 S.W.2d 396, 399 (Mo.App.1980); State v. McKinney, 630 S.W.2d 96 (Mo.App.1981). The court in State v. Arnold, 566 S.W.2d 185, 188 (Mo. banc 1978), citing from State v. Franco, supra, noted that the above rule “is realisticálly tempered in its application since ‘[i]n a case involving circumstantial evidence the circumstances need not be absolutely conclusive of guilt, and they need not demonstrate impossibility of innocence; ... the mere existence of other possible hypothesis is not enough to remove the case from the jury.’ ”

“An inference of guilt is permissible from the unexplained possession of proper[118]*118ty recently stolen in a burglary and the inference exists both as to the offense of burglary and of stealing.” State v. Cobb, 444 S.W.2d 408, 414 (Mo. banc 1969); State v. Arnold, supra at 188. Possession need not rest solely with the defendant, but may be joint with others.

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Related

State v. Parsons
152 S.W.3d 898 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2005)
State v. Rousan
752 S.W.2d 388 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1988)
State v. Kelley
674 S.W.2d 216 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1984)
State v. Dickerson
649 S.W.2d 570 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1983)
State v. Sheets
641 S.W.2d 112 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1982)

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Bluebook (online)
641 S.W.2d 115, 1982 Mo. App. LEXIS 3711, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-dodson-moctapp-1982.