State v. Gordon

536 S.W.2d 811, 1976 Mo. App. LEXIS 2508
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 23, 1976
Docket36013
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 536 S.W.2d 811 (State v. Gordon) 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. Gordon, 536 S.W.2d 811, 1976 Mo. App. LEXIS 2508 (Mo. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

KELLY, Judge.

Troy Atwater Gordon, the appellant, was convicted after a trial by jury in the Circuit Court of Cape Girardeau County on a three count Second Amended Information wherein, after alleging that appellant had been previously convicted in the State of Arkansas for delivery of phenobarbital, a crime which if committed in the State of Missouri would be a felony, then alleged in Count I that on November 17, 1973, he distributed to Jo Ann Rose, a female under 21 years of age, a Schedule II Controlled Substance named Desoxyn, in Count II, that on the same day appellant distributed to Tammy Pobst a Schedule II Controlled Substance named Desoxyn, and in Count III that on the same day appellant distributed to Tammy Pobst a Schedule III Controlled Substance named Tuinol. The trial court, after an evidentiary hearing found that the appellant was subject to the provisions of the Second Offender Act, § 556.280 RSMo. 1969, V.A.M.S., and after denying appellant’s Motion for New Trial, sentenced him to serve a term of ten (10) years in the custody of the Missouri Department of Corrections on each Count, the sentence on each Count to be served concurrently with the sentence imposed on each of the other two counts. After a timely notice of appeal was filed, this appeal followed.

Appellant charges in the Points Relied On section of his brief that the trial court erred (1) in overruling his motion for directed verdict at the close of the State’s case because the State failed to prove that the controlled substances were distributed in violation of § 195.020 and/or 195.240 V.A. M.S., 1 in that the evidence is that the appellant did not intend to surrender ownership or control of State Exhibits “A,” “B” and “C” and thus did not distribute said Exhibits; (2) in overruling his motion for a directed verdict as to two of the three Counts, because even if this court concludes that the evidence proved that the State Exhibits “A,” “B” and “C” were distributed, or that this is a possession case, then there can be only one distribution or possession; and (3) in punishing appellant in accordance with § 195.200.1(5) V.A.M.S. because punishment should have been in accordance with § 195.200.1(2) V.A.M.S. Respondent calls to the attention of this court that the error assigned by the appellant in his first point was not raised in either of his motions for judgment of acquittal nor in Ms motion for new trial and argues therefore that this first point was not preserved for review. We have examined appellant’s motion for judgment of acquittal filed at the *814 close of all of the evidence in the cause as well as his Motion for New Trial and we have thereby discerned that of the three points appellant seeks to present to this court for review in the Points Relied On section of his brief, only paragraph 6 of his Motion for New Trial presents anything faintly resembling the points presented here. Paragraph 6 of appellant’s Motion for New Trial is:

“In failing to dismiss Count III at the request of the defendant for the reason that the evidence showed that if the acts complained of in Count III and Count II were in fact true, said acts constituted one offense only, in that all drugs which were distributed to the same person mentioned in Count II and Count III were distributed at the same time and in the same containers and such offenses, as set out in said counts were in fact one offense only, notwithstanding the fact that the drugs were of a different schedule.”

This allegation of trial court error, broadly construed, might be encompassed within the second point relied on as set out in appellant’s brief, but then only with reference to Counts II and III, those Counts wherein it is alleged that two separate Controlled Substances, to-wit: Desoxyn, a Schedule II substance, and Tuinol, a Schedule III substance, were distributed to Tammy Pobst on November 17, 1973.

Appellate courts, being courts of review, generally are precluded from affording review to trial court errors which have not in the first instance been presented to the trial court in a Motion for New Trial. In this State, with some few exceptions, points not presented to the trial court in a Motion for New Trial are not preserved for appellate review. Rule 27.20 V.A.M.R., State v. Meiers, 412 S.W.2d 478, 481[6] (Mo.1967). Allegations of error respecting the sufficiency of the information or indictment, verdict, judgment and sentence shall be considered upon an appeal although not raised in the trial court or preserved for review, but the court will consider no allegations of error asserted in the Motion for New Trial which are not briefed in the appellate court and allegations of error not briefed on appeal will be deemed waived or abandoned. Rule 28.02, V.A.M.R. By Rule 27.20(c) V.A.M.R. the trial court on Motion for New Trial, or the appellate court on appeal, may, when it deems that manifest injustice or miscarriage of justice has resulted therefrom, consider plain errors affecting substantial rights though not raised in the trial court or preserved for review, or defectively raised or preserved. This review is, however, purely discretionary.

Appellant’s Motion for New Trial is devoid of any reference to the first point presented in his Points Relied On section of the brief filed in this court. It has not, therefore, been preserved for review. However, even if it had been properly preserved for review we would hold that it is without merit, as we shall more fully explain after a statement of the facts viewed most favorably as supportive of the jury verdict.

On the morning of November 19, 1973, David Gaither, a deputy sheriff of Cape Girardeau County and an investigator in the office of the prosecuting attorney of the same county, went to the Sunny Hill Motel and Restaurant within the city of Cape Girardeau, at approximately 9:00 a. m. As he drove into the parking lot of the motel he observed appellant behind a blue Lincoln Continental motor vehicle with Arkansas license plates on it. He drove up to appellant and inquired concerning ownership of the auto and appellant told him that the car belonged to appellant’s father. Appellant was then asked who the license plates on the car belonged to and appellant said that he did not know, that they were on the car when his father bought it. When asked who he was, appellant identified himself by means of a driver’s license as Donald Lee Spicer. After the conversation between Mr. Gaither and the appellant concluded, the appellant walked due east across the parking lot to where three girls and two boys were standing, a distance of approximately 15 feet. As appellant traversed the *815 parking lot lie had his hands in his pockets. Two of the girls toward whom appellant walked were Tammy Pobst and Jo Ann Rose and they were standing two and a half or three feet apart. The other girl and the two men present were about eight feet to the left of Ms. Pobst and Ms. Rose. Appellant walked directly to where Ms. Pobst and Ms. Rose were standing with his back towards Mr. Gaither and some other law enforcement officers who were there with him.

When appellant came up to Ms. Rose, she inquired if he had anything on him. He replied that he did, and she invited him to give whatever he had on him to her. Appellant then removed his right hand from his right coat pocket, removed two bottles therefrom and put them in the right pocket of Ms.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
536 S.W.2d 811, 1976 Mo. App. LEXIS 2508, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-gordon-moctapp-1976.