State v. Frazier

404 S.W.3d 407, 2013 WL 3880146, 2013 Mo. App. LEXIS 876
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 30, 2013
DocketNo. WD 74915
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 404 S.W.3d 407 (State v. Frazier) 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. Frazier, 404 S.W.3d 407, 2013 WL 3880146, 2013 Mo. App. LEXIS 876 (Mo. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

KAREN KING MITCHELL, Judge.

Vince C. Frazier appeals his conviction, following a jury trial, of first-degree murder pursuant to section 565.020.1 Frazier was sentenced by the court to life in prison without parole.2 Frazier argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal, accepting the jury’s verdict of first-degree murder, and sentencing him, in that the evidence was insufficient to establish that he deliberated before causing the victim’s death. Frazier claims that because he was suffering from a mental disease or defect resulting in diminished capacity, he was unable to deliberate at the time of the murder. Because there is sufficient evidence of deliberation, we affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background3

In 2004, Frazier was dating the victim, Sharrae Bowden, and on July 24, 2004, a child (Son) was born of the relationship. [409]*409By June 2005, the relationship had become strained and the couple argued frequently. In late June or early July, Bowden began dating another man and indicated to her mother that she no longer wished to have a relationship with Frazier. Frazier and Bowden nevertheless continued to speak on a regular basis, as they both cared for Son.

On July 13, 2005, Bowden went on a date with her new boyfriend. Frazier, who lived at his mother’s house located at 1202 East 59th Street, was home taking care of Son. At 8:00 p.m., Frazier started calling Bowden’s mother’s house, where Bowden lived, to ask if Bowden was home. Bowden did not return home that night. Frazier continued to call the house every hour until the next morning. Bowden’s mother, who testified that Frazier “sounded concerned like something was wrong,” stopped answering the calls at midnight, but started answering again around 2:00 a.m. Just before 7:00 a.m., when Frazier called, in addition to asking if Bowden’s mother had heard from Bowden, Frazier indicated that Son needed milk. Bowden’s mother offered to bring milk to Frazier’s house, but he asked if Bowden could bring it over instead. Bowden’s mother told Frazier that if Bowden returned home, she would send her over with Son’s milk. When Bowden did not return home, Bow-den’s mother brought the milk to Frazier.

When Bowden’s mother arrived at Frazier’s residence, Frazier came running angrily down the stairs toward her, but when he realized that she was not Bowden, Frazier “went from being angry to being humble.” When Bowden’s mother asked where Son was, Frazier said that Son was gone with Frazier’s mother. Because Frazier was angry when she arrived, Bow-den’s mother asked if he was all right, and after receiving reassurance that he was, she left. As she was driving home around 8:30 a.m., Bowden’s mother saw Bowden waiting at a bus stop. She picked Bowden up and drove her to work. When Bow-den’s mother told Bowden about the previous night and Frazier’s request for milk, Bowden told her that Son had plenty of milk at Frazier’s house and that Frazier’s request was merely an excuse to get Bow-den to come over and talk to him.

After Bowden finished her work shift on July 14, 2005, she went to Frazier’s house to pick up Son. At approximately 6:15 that evening, Frazier’s neighbor, Betty Hill, heard screams for help. When she walked toward the screaming, she saw Bowden’s body lying on the ground with her face and chest covered in blood, while a young man wearing a white t-shirt kneeled over Bow-den, holding what Hill believed to be a knife. At the same time, another neighbor, Charlie Adams, also heard a young woman screaming. When he went to investigate, he also observed Bowden lying on the ground and a young man wearing a white t-shirt kneeling over her with a knife.4 Both Hill and Adams yelled at the young man, and he ran into Frazier’s mother’s home next door. Adams went to the house, pounded on the front door, and told the person who answered that the young man who just ran into the house had stabbed a young girl behind the vacant house next door.5 Adams saw the same young man come out of the house and run [410]*410off down the street; he had changed out of his white t-shirt and was wearing a red, grey, and black jersey. Adams also found Son, unharmed, sitting in the driveway three or four steps away from Bowden. Bowden was unresponsive when the police arrived, and paramedics confirmed that she was dead.

Bowden suffered six blunt-force injuries, seven stab wounds, and eight incised wounds.6 She died from multiple sharp-force injuries. Bowden did not die immediately; it could have taken up to forty-five minutes for her to die. The medical examiner testified that any one of Bowden’s stab wounds, if left untreated, could have caused her death. Bowden also suffered injuries consistent with wounds incurred while defending herself from her attacker.

At the murder scene, a few feet from Bowden’s body, officers found a hole, measuring approximately four feet long, one-and-a-half feet wide, and six inches deep, that appeared to have been recently dug. Near Bowden’s body, the police also found a machete, a snow shovel, a rake, a putty knife, and a pair of latex gloves that were covered in dirt and Bowden’s blood. The police found a second pair of latex gloves near a tree, a third pair near the hole, and a fourth pair near the fence; all of these gloves had dirt on them.

In Frazier’s mother’s house, the police found blood on the interior and exterior door knobs of a side door, as well as in the upstairs bathroom sink. The police recovered two bloodstained white t-shirts,7 an open box of latex gloves, a torn photograph of Son, and Frazier’s driver’s license in an upstairs bedroom at his mother’s house. Frazier was arrested on July 16, 2005, after the police found him hiding under a bed at an apartment complex in the area of 80th Street and Troost Avenue. The police discovered Bowden’s blood on Frazier’s shoes when he was arrested.

The arresting officer testified that Frazier did not have any trouble understanding him or communicating with him when he was taken into custody. Frazier was interviewed by police approximately eight or nine hours after his arrest. The interviewing officer testified that Frazier was polite, gave appropriate answers, did not appear to be suffering from any hallucinations, and did not have any difficulty answering questions or providing information related to his address, family, educational background, or work history.

During his interview, Frazier provided police with two different versions of the events that took place on July 14, 2005. In a videotaped interview, Frazier first told police that Bowden came to his house on July 14, 2005, and that he was in the backyard with Son when she arrived. Frazier said they got into a fight and she pulled out a knife; he claimed that, as he tried to take the knife from her, she was stabbed in her right side when they fell to the ground. After the interviewing officer confronted Frazier with the inconsistencies between his version of events and the physical evidence and witness accounts, Frazier changed his story. Frazier then said Bowden pulled out the knife and that he took it from her and stabbed her once; she then fell to the ground and wrestled the knife away from him. After changing his story, Frazier told the officer he was saying only what the officer wanted to [411]*411hear and that the first version of events was the truth. Frazier refused to make a videotaped statement of his second version of events.

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Bluebook (online)
404 S.W.3d 407, 2013 WL 3880146, 2013 Mo. App. LEXIS 876, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-frazier-moctapp-2013.