State v. Finster

985 S.W.2d 881, 1999 Mo. App. LEXIS 4, 1999 WL 5142
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 5, 1999
Docket19139, 20453
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 985 S.W.2d 881 (State v. Finster) 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. Finster, 985 S.W.2d 881, 1999 Mo. App. LEXIS 4, 1999 WL 5142 (Mo. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinions

KENNETH W. SHRUM, Presiding Judge.

A jury convicted Stephen L. Finster (Defendant) of second degree murder, § 565.021.1(1),1 and armed criminal action, § 571.015, for the fatal stabbing of a young woman. Defendant appeals those convictions in No. 19139. We affirm.

Defendant also filed a motion pursuant to Rule 29.15 claiming, among other things, ineffective assistance of counsel. A hearing was held on the motion. The motion court found that Movant’s trial counsel was not ineffective and denied the motion. Movant appeals the decision of the motion court in No. 20453.2 We affirm.

No. 19139

Originally, Defendant’s fourth point complained about the absence of a hearing transcript relating to Defendant’s motion to sup[885]*885press statements. Defendant contended that without the transcript there could be no meaningful appellate review of his claim that violations of his constitutional rights that occurred during interrogation rendered his waiver of Miranda rights involuntary.3 This court agreed, at least in part, and ordered remand for “[a] full evidentiary hearing on the Miranda issues concerning the written statement given by Defendant to Deputy Douglas Seneker and a determination and finding by the court whether the statement to Seneker was voluntary or involuntary.” See Finster I, 963 S.W.2d at 418-19. Remand for another suppression hearing was deemed necessary because of Defendant’s assertion that two police officers who testified at the original suppression hearing, Weter and Parks, did not testify at trial; consequently, their testimony could be crucial in appellate review of Defendant’s case but was unavailable because of the non-existence of a transcript of the suppression hearing.

On remand, the trial court conducted a healing with Defendant and counsel on both sides present. Six law enforcement people testified, Greg Brandsma, Detective Richard Weter, Lieutenant Tom Martin, Sgt. Kent Casey, Sgt. Miles Parks, and Doug Seneker, formerly a deputy and now sheriff of Lawrence County. The court found that Defendant was given his Miranda warnings and rights before he made his written statement to Doug Seneker. It also ruled that Defendant freely, voluntarily, and knowingly waived his Miranda rights and that Defendant’s statement to Seneker was given voluntarily and knowingly. With those finding made, the court found that Defendant’s statement to Doug Seneker should not be suppressed and that Defendant’s motion to suppress should be overruled.4

Defendant has filed a supplemental brief which, for the most part, reprises the points relied on and arguments as originally presented. The exception is Point IV, which now has multiple parts.

Defendant’s Point IV(a) maintains that the trial court erred when it overruled the motion to suppress his statements to Seneker and in admitting the statements because the State’s evidence, under the totality of the circumstances, was insufficient to support such rulings. Defendant notes that in the remand hearing it was discovered that Weter and Parks might not have testified at the original suppression hearing.5 Such discovery contradicted Defendant’s earlier claims about the participation of these witnesses. Even so, Defendant now advances a different argument. Specifically, he contends that evidence of what transpired in Weter’s and Parks’ interrogation of him in the one-on-one setting was essential to proving the voluntariness of his statements to Seneker. Defendant insists that without such evidence at the original hearing, the State could not have canned its burden on this issue. In essence, Defendant’s position is that since Weter and Parks did not testify at the original hearing, we should conclude as a matter of law that the State’s evidence at that hearing was not sufficient to prove the voluntariness of his statements to Seneker. Continuing, Defendant insists that the deficiency in evidence which thus existed at the original hearing was something that the State could not “patch up” by calling Weter and Parks at the remand hearing. As Defendant explains it: ‘Without accounting for [886]*886these two interrogations [as part of the original hearing], the State did not meet its burden of’ proving voluntariness.

This argument reveals an apparent misunderstanding of the law and possible misconception of the purpose for the remand hearing. Defendant argues — correctly so— that once he alleged that his inculpatory statements to Seneker were not admissible because involuntarily made, the State bore the burden of proving the voluntariness of those statements. See Miranda, 384 U.S. at 479, 86 S.Ct. at 1630, 16 L.Ed.2d at 694. See also State v. Hughes, 596 S.W.2d 723, 726[3] (Mo.bane 1980). He also argues — again, correctly so — that the voluntariness of his inculpatory statements “can only be determined by considering all of the relevant circumstances surrounding it.” See Brady v. United States, 397 U.S. 742, 749, 90 S.Ct. 1463, 1469[10], 25 L.Ed.2d 747, 757[9] (1970). See also Hughes, 596 S.W.2d at 726[2]. Defendant is wrong, however, to the extent that he claims the State had to call every officer who interrogated him in order to make a prima facie showing of voluntariness.

The State is not required “to negate all circumstances which might create an issue of fact concerning the voluntariness of a confession.” State v. Craig, 642 S.W.2d 98, 101[5] (Mo.banc 1982); State v. Harris, 594 S.W.2d 658, 661 (Mo.App.1980). “Absent a showing of special circumstances, the state need only make a prima facie showing of voluntariness.” State v. Biddy, 748 S.W.2d 794, 798[3] (Mo.App.1988) (citing State v. Thomas, 596 S.W.2d 409, 412[4] (Mo.banc 1980)). See State v. Day, 970 S.W.2d 406, 409 (Mo.App.1998). If a defendant contends there are special circumstances that would result in the confession being involuntary, it is incumbent on him to present evidence to support his contention. State v. Nolan, 423 S.W.2d 815, 818[9] (Mo.1968); Day, 970 S.W.2d at 409[6].

During trial of this case and again at the remand hearing there was ample evidence via Seneker’s testimony to make a prima facie showing that Miranda requirements were met and that Defendant’s incriminating statements to Seneker were voluntary and admissible. Defendant has never argued otherwise. Reduced to its essence, Defendant’s argument in Finster I was that if any “special circumstances” existed that might negate the prima facie showing of voluntariness established by Seneker’s testimony, they arose when Weter and Parks each interrogated Defendant without others present. When thoroughly analyzed, Defendant’s position was that if Weter and Parks testified at the original hearing and their unpreserved testimony established as a matter of law the involuntariness of Defendant’s inculpatory statements to Seneker, then his claim of trial court error in the admission of the statements could not be addressed by this court due to lack of a transcript.

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State v. Finster
985 S.W.2d 881 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1999)

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Bluebook (online)
985 S.W.2d 881, 1999 Mo. App. LEXIS 4, 1999 WL 5142, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-finster-moctapp-1999.