State v. Escoe

78 S.W.3d 170, 2002 Mo. App. LEXIS 879, 2002 WL 753393
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 30, 2002
DocketWD 59836
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 78 S.W.3d 170 (State v. Escoe) 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. Escoe, 78 S.W.3d 170, 2002 Mo. App. LEXIS 879, 2002 WL 753393 (Mo. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

EDWIN H. SMITH, Judge.

Ronnell M. Escoe appeals the judgment of his conviction of three counts of robbery in the first degree, § 569.020, 1 and three counts of armed criminal action (ACA), § 571.015, after a jury trial in the Circuit Court of Jackson County. As a result of his convictions, he was sentenced as a pri- or offender, § 558.016, to concurrent prison terms of thirty years for one count of robbery, twenty-five years for each of two counts of robbery, and ten years for each count of ACA.

In his sole point on appeal, the appellant claims that the trial court erred in overruling his motion for a judgment of acquittal at the close of all the evidence as to one count of robbery because the State did not prove, as required for a conviction under § 569.020, that he intended to permanently deprive the victim of the purse he was alleged to have stolen from her.

We affirm.

*172 Facts

At approximately 3:45 a.m. on September 20, 1999, Ida Moore, Keith McClelland and John McLallen were in a truck that broke down on Independence Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri. The three got out of the truck and, as they started to push the vehicle toward a nearby supermarket parking lot, another vehicle containing three men, including the appellant, stopped in front of them. McClelland walked up to the car and asked if they could give the truck a jump-start. One of the appellant’s two accomplices jumped out of the car and approached McClelland, demanding money. McClelland, who had seen a pistol lying on the front seat of the car when he walked up to it, gave him the money in his wallet.

While McClelland was being robbed, the appellant got out of the car with the gun and approached McLallen. The appellant hit McLallen in the face with the gun and demanded his money, which McLallen gave him. Moore’s purse was then taken. Testifying at trial on direct examination, Moore explained what happened:

Q. Did anybody rob you?
A. They took my purse, but I didn’t have nothing in my purse. I asked him to please give my purse back. I needed ID for my children. They did give me my purse back, threw it on the ground.
Q. Threw it on the ground?
A. Yes.
Q. Did they take the purse from you?
A. Yes.
Q. Why did you allow them to take your purse?
A. They snatched my purse, you know.
Q. Why did you allow them to do that?
A. Somebody with a gun you are going to give them what they want.

After Moore’s purse was taken, a police van came down the street, and McLallen, McClelland, and Moore yelled out that they had just been robbed. The appellant and his accomplices jumped back in their car and drove away, followed by the police van. The three men were apprehended following a chase. The three victims later identified the men who were apprehended as the men who had robbed them, and identified the appellant as the gunman.

The appellant was charged with three counts of robbery in the first degree, § 569.020, and three counts of armed criminal action, § 571.015. A jury found the appellant guilty on all counts, and he was sentenced as a prior offender to thirty years for robbing McLallen, who he struck in the face with the gun; and twenty-five years each for robbing Moore and McClel-land. As to his convictions for ACA, he was sentenced to ten years in prison on each count. All the sentences were ordered to run concurrently.

This appeal follows.

Standard of Review

In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence supporting a criminal conviction, this court does not act as a “super juror” with veto powers, but gives great deference to the trier of fact. State v. Williams, 24 S.W.3d 101, 118 (Mo.App.2000). “Appellate review is limited to a determination of whether there is sufficient evidence from which a reasonable juror could find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id. (citing State v. Ellison, 980 S.W.2d 97, 98 (Mo.App.1998); State v. Brown, 996 S.W.2d 719, 728 (Mo.App.1999)). In our review, all evidence favorable to the State and all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom are accepted as true, and all evidence and inferences to the contrary are disregarded. State v. Knese, 985 S.W.2d 759, 769 (Mo. *173 banc 1999); State v. Ervin, 979 S.W.2d 149, 159 (Mo. banc 1998).

I.

In his sole point on appeal, the appellant claims that the trial court erred in overruling his motion for a judgment of acquittal at the close of all the evidence as to one count of robbery because the State did not prove, as required for a conviction under § 569.020, that he intended to permanently deprive the victim, Ida Moore, of the purse he was alleged to have stolen from her. Specifically, he claims that although her purse was forcibly stolen from her, it was immediately returned to her after she asked her robbers to give it back.

With respect to the conviction which the appellant challenges on appeal, the record reflects that he was charged, under § 569.020, with robbing Ms. Moore by forcibly stealing her purse. Thus, as the appellant contends, the State, in order to convict him of this offense, was required, as a matter of due process, to prove beyond a reasonable doubt each and every element of the offense as provided in § 569.020. State v. Scurlock, 998 S.W.2d 578, 582 (Mo.App.1999); State v. Price, 980 S.W.2d 143, 144 (Mo.App.1998).

In claiming as he does in this point, the appellant contends that in order to convict him under § 569.020 of robbing Ms. Moore, the State was required to prove, inter alia, beyond a reasonable doubt, that he intended to permanently deprive her of her purse. Our reading of § 569.020 would support the fact that this was a required proof element of the offense as charged.

Section 569.020 reads, in pertinent part:

1. A person commits the crime of robbery in the first degree when he forcibly steals property and in the course thereof he, or another participant in the crime,
(1) Causes serious physical injury to any person; or
(2) Is armed with a deadly weapon; or
(3) Uses or threatens the immediate use of a dangerous instrument against any person; or

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Bluebook (online)
78 S.W.3d 170, 2002 Mo. App. LEXIS 879, 2002 WL 753393, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-escoe-moctapp-2002.