State v. Erickson

404 S.W.3d 394, 2013 WL 682802, 2013 Mo. App. LEXIS 261
Missouri Court of Appeals·Decided February 26, 2013·No. No. SD 31305·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

MARY W. SHEFFIELD, J.

Scott S. Erickson (“Defendant”) appeals from his conviction of one count of sexual misconduct involving a child under the age [396] of 15. See § 566.083.1C2).1 He argues the evidence was insufficient to support the judgment. We disagree and affirm.

Standard of Review

“The standard for reviewing the sufficiency of evidence in a criminal case when tried by a judge is the same as when reviewing a jury-tried case.” State v. Lauer, 955 S.W.2d 23, 24 (Mo.App. S.D.1997). That is, our review “is limited to a determination of whether sufficient evidence was presented at trial from which a reasonable juror might have found the defendant guilty of the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” State v. Greenlee, 327 S.W.3d 602, 617 (Mo.App. E.D.2010) (quoting State v. Page, 309 S.W.3d 368, 374-75 (Mo.App. E.D.2010)). “In applying this standard of review, we accept as true all of the evidence favorable to the state, including all favorable inferences drawn from the evidence, and disregard all evidence and inference to the contrary.” Id. “[T]he Court does not act as a super juror with veto powers but gives great deference to the trier of fact.” State v. Chaney, 967 S.W.2d 47, 52 (Mo. banc 1998) (internal citations and quotation marks omitted). Rather, “the credibility of witnesses and the weight to be given the evidence are for the trial court to determine, and this [CJourt is to defer to the trial judge’s superior position from which to determine credibility.” State v. Harris, 913 S.W.2d 348, 350 (Mo.App. E.D.1995).

Factual and Procedural Background

In the spring of 2010, Victim was nine years old. On March 2, 2010, Victim, his mother, brother, and sister went to the Chesterfield Community Center (“the Center”) to go swimming.

After the family had finished swimming, Victim and his brother went into the men’s locker room to shower. The shower stalls were built for one person. Each shower stall was about three to four feet wide, had one showerhead, and did not have a curtain. Victim and his brother chose showers across from each other.

While Victim and his brother were showering, Defendant came into the shower area. He was not wearing any clothes, and the boys could see Defendant’s “private parts.” Although empty shower stalls were available, Defendant got into the shower stall with Victim. Defendant showered and acted like Victim was not there, but when Victim tried to get out of the shower stall, Defendant would move so Victim could not leave. After about ten minutes, Defendant got out of the shower, dressed, and left the Center.

On the way home, Victim told his mother what had happened, and she reported the incident to the manager of the Center and to a Greene County Park Ranger. The manager used the information he received to locate the surveillance videos from the pool area for the time Victim and his family were at the pool. The manager identified a man who had been in the pool area at that time and made still photos of the man from the surveillance videos.2 The person in those photos matched the description of the perpetrator that had been given in the [397] initial reports. The park ranger compared the Center’s records with the pictures and determined Defendant was the man who might have been involved in the incident.

The park ranger met with Victim, Victim’s brother, and Victim’s mother two days after the incident. He showed the still photos to Victim and Victim’s brother and asked them if they recognized the man. Both boys identified Defendant. The park ranger prepared a report and turned the case over to the Springfield Police Department.

Steve Schwind (“Officer Schwind”), a child abuse investigator with the Springfield Police Department, was assigned to the case. Officer Schwind made arrangements to interview Defendant. During an initial interview, Defendant “described himself as a pedophile,” and said he mainly had a preference for boys between the ages of 9 and 15. Defendant told Officer Schwind he would go to locker rooms and watch children in the shower so he could use those mental images later to fantasize and masturbate. When asked about the incident that occurred at the Center, Defendant said he had watched some boys in the shower. He stated this occurred after he had “finished showering and he was dressed.” He denied getting naked with the boys. At the end of that interview, Defendant agreed to take a polygraph test.

On the day the polygraph test was scheduled to take place, the polygraph technician had an unexpected scheduling conflict, but Defendant went to the police station to speak with Officer Schwind anyway. During that interview, Defendant told Officer Schwind he wanted to seek counseling because his coping mechanisms were not working anymore. Defendant then said he had two different memories of what had happened at the Center. In the first memory, Defendant “remembers seeing the boys go in the shower and get out.” In the second memory, Defendant “has visions of the boys actually being in the shower.” At the end of the second interview, Officer Schwind arrested Defendant.

Defendant was charged with one count of sexual misconduct involving a child under the age of 15. Defendant waived his right to a jury trial. Victim and his brother were among the witnesses at the bench trial. Victim described the events as related above, but was unable to identify Defendant in the courtroom. Victim’s brother also described the incident. Victim’s brother identified Defendant in court, but indicated he was not sure about the identification because Defendant had less hair than at the time of the incident. The State introduced evidence regarding the boys’ out-of-court identifications of Defendant and regarding Defendant’s two interviews with Officer Schwind. During his testimony, Officer Schwind noted that Defendant’s appearance had changed since the time of the interviews. At the time of trial, Defendant was more clean shaven and had lost some weight.

The trial court found Defendant guilty and sentenced him to five years incarceration. This appeal followed.

Discussion

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State v. Erickson, 404 S.W.3d 394, 2013 WL 682802, 2013 Mo. App. LEXIS 261 (Mo. Ct. App. 2013).

404 S.W.3d 394 (State v. Erickson) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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