State v. Fletcher

948 S.W.2d 436, 1997 Mo. App. LEXIS 1274, 1997 WL 391754
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 15, 1997
DocketNo. WD 53238
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 948 S.W.2d 436 (State v. Fletcher) 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. Fletcher, 948 S.W.2d 436, 1997 Mo. App. LEXIS 1274, 1997 WL 391754 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

ULRICH, Chief Judge, Presiding Judge.

Vivian Fletcher appeals her conviction for perjury, section 575.040, RSMo 1994, following a jury trial. She was sentenced as a persistent offender, sections 558.016, 557.036.4 and 558.019, RSMo 1994, to ten years imprisonment.

Ms. Fletcher asserts two points on appeal. She claims (1) the evidence was insufficient to prove her guilt of perjury, and, therefore, the trial court erred in denying her motion for judgment of acquittal at the close of all the evidence; and (2) the trial court erred in not suppressing tape-recorded conversations, in that insufficient foundation was presented for their admission, and the tape-recorded conversations were merely cumulative evidence. The judgment of conviction is affirmed.

Ms. Fletcher pleaded guilty on June 13, 1994, to burglary in the second degree for a burglary she committed with Roger Stafford on August 20, 1993, in Dallas County, Missouri. During her guilty plea, Ms. Fletcher testified that she and Roger Stafford discussed committing this burglary over the telephone and that she drove him to the burglarized residence where he exited the vehicle. Under her plea agreement, she received a sentence of incarceration of two years.

Ms. Fletcher’s accomplice, Roger Stafford, then went on trial in Polk County, on June 20, 1994, for the burglary committed on August 20, 1993. At that trial, Ms. Fletcher testified on behalf of Roger Stafford and stated that she had told Roger Stafford that she was in the process of buying the house and that she wanted him to move some old furniture out of the house. She also testified that she was blackmailed into “setting up” Roger Stafford by a Buffalo, Missouri police officer named John Maddux. Ms. Fletcher testified that Officer Maddux blackmailed her with tapes of telephone conversations between her and her boyfriend, a person other than Roger Stafford. Roger Stafford was found guilty.

Ms. Fletcher was subsequently charged with perjury based on her testimony at Roger Stafford’s trial. At her perjury trial, Officer John Maddux testified that he did not have any tapes of Ms. Fletcher and her boyfriend talking to each other and did not tell her that she must “set up” Roger Stafford to commit a burglary.

Instead, Officer Maddux introduced three tapes of conversations he overheard between Ms. Fletcher and Roger Stafford during which they planned the burglary. Officer Maddux testified that on August 17, 1993, while sitting in a vehicle close to Ms. Fletcher’s residence, he monitored these conversations using a commercial scanner that received cordless telephone transmissions. In these tape recorded telephone conversations, Ms. Fletcher is heard telling Roger Stafford that she doesn’t know what he may find in the house, but to save her some of what he finds. During these conversations, Ms. Fletcher also tells Roger Stafford to check all of the doors, to wear gloves, to observe whether the air conditioning is operating and to look for tire tracks in the driveway.

Ms. Fletcher was seen driving Roger Stafford to the scene of the burglary on August 20, 1993. At about 11:30 p.m. that night, she slowly drove by the home two to three times before stopping to permit Mr. Stafford to exit the vehicle before driving away from the rural residence. Mr. Stafford approached the house and, after looking around briefly, kicked in a rear door and entered wearing gloves and carrying a flashlight. Police officers were waiting and arrested Mr. [438]*438Stafford in the home. Mr. Stafford possessed brass knuckles when he was arrested.

Ms. Fletcher was driving along the rural country road near the burglarized home when she was arrested shortly after Mr. Stafford’s arrest. After being advised of her rights, she first stated that she didn’t know anything about Roger Stafford or a burglary. She later stated that she drove Roger Stafford to the residence to permit him to visit a girlfriend and that she was to return for him later. She testified during Roger Stafford’s trial that her statements to the police were untrue.

Judge James Anderton, who presided over the Stafford trial, also testified at Ms. Fletcher’s perjury trial. He stated that during the Stafford trial, Ms. Fletcher was sworn by him to tell the truth and that she testified as a witness. Ms. Fletcher chose not to testify at her own perjury trial.

Ms. Fletcher was found guilty of perjury by the jury. Because she was proven to be a persistent offender, the sentence of ten years imprisonment was imposed by the court. This appeal followed.

I. Sufficiency of the Evidence

In her first point on appeal, Ms. Fletcher claims that the trial court erred in overruling her motion for judgment of acquittal, or alternatively, for a new trial, on the ground that the evidence was insufficient to prove her guilty of perjury. She argues that the evidence was insufficient to prove the falsity of the statements attributed to her at the trial of Roger Stafford, in violation of her constitutional right to due process of law.

Review of a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence to support a criminal conviction is limited to determining whether sufficient evidence was presented from which a reasonable juror could find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Silvey, 894 S.W.2d 662, 673 (Mo. banc 1995); State v. Idlebird, 896 S.W.2d 656, 660 (Mo. App.1995). The reviewing appellate court views the evidence in the light most favorable to the state and disregards all evidence and inferences to the contrary. Id. It neither weighs the evidence nor determines the reliability or credibility of witnesses. Idlebird, 896 S.W.2d at 660-661.

To prevail in a perjury conviction, the state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knowingly and with a purpose to deceive testified falsely “to any material fact upon oath or affirmation legally administered, in any official proceeding before any court, public body, notary public, or other officer authorized to administer oaths.” § 575.040.1, RSMo 1994. “A fact is material, regardless of its admissibility, if it could substantially affect, or did substantially affect, the course or outcome of the case, matter or proceeding.” § 575.040.2, RSMo 1994.

Ms. Fletcher contends that the statements she made at Roger Stafford’s trial were immaterial as a matter of law and were therefore, not perjurious. State v. Swisher, 364 Mo. 157, 260 S.W.2d 6, 11 (Mo.1953). She argues that her testimony that she told Mr. Stafford she was in the process of buying the house was not relevant or material to his intent to commit burglary and was, thus, insufficient to sustain a conviction for perjury.

The evidence presented at trial, however, demonstrates that Ms. Fletcher’s testimony was material in that it could have affected the outcome of Roger Stafford’s trial. Ms. Fletcher sought to convince the jury that Mr. Stafford lacked the requisite mens rea for the crime of burglary — that he intended not to burglarize, but simply to help move furniture out of a house she was in the process of buying. Had the jury believed this implausible statement, Stafford would have been exonerated as the necessary intent element would not have existed. Ms. Fletcher’s suggestion that the statement was ultimately ineffective attempts to blur the legal standard.

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Bluebook (online)
948 S.W.2d 436, 1997 Mo. App. LEXIS 1274, 1997 WL 391754, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-fletcher-moctapp-1997.