State v. Haynes

564 S.W.3d 780
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 4, 2018
DocketNo. ED 106007
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 564 S.W.3d 780 (State v. Haynes) 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. Haynes, 564 S.W.3d 780 (Mo. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

LAWRENCE E. MOONEY, JUDGE

The defendant, Timothy Haynes, appeals the judgment entered by the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis following his conviction by a jury of unlawful use of a weapon, shooting at a motor vehicle, in violation of section 571.030.1(9) RSMo. (Supp. 2014).1 ,2 The trial court sentenced *783the defendant as a persistent offender to 15 years of imprisonment without parole.

We hold that section 571.030.1(9) is neither ambiguous, nor is it void for vagueness. Furthermore, we cannot read qualifying or restricting language into a statute that is unambiguous. We affirm the trial court's judgment.

Factual and Procedural Background

Late in the evening on January 26, 2015, a repossession agent and a tow-track driver were in the process of repossessing the defendant's car, a 2008 Buick Lucerne. The repossession agent had located the car in the parking lot of a motel on North Broadway in the City of St. Louis. The tow-truck driver, who was seated in his truck, had connected the Buick to the truck for towing off the parking lot when the defendant exited the motel. The repossession agent was seated in her vehicle, immediately behind the Buick and the tow truck, waiting for the tow truck to pull into the street. The defendant approached the Buick, located between the tow truck and the repossession agent's vehicle, and began shooting. The tow-truck driver and the repossession agent fled the parking lot in their separate vehicles, and contacted police.

Police found five bullet holes in the Buick, three in the front passenger door, one in the rear passenger door, and one in the bumper. No person was injured, and police found no bullet holes in the tow truck. The repossession agent testified that her car was not struck by the gunfire. The State charged the defendant with one count of first-degree assault for shooting at the tow truck-driver, one count of unlawful use of a weapon for shooting at the Buick, one count of armed criminal action for using a deadly weapon in connection with the charged assault, and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm.

The defendant testified at trial. He stated that he believed it was unreasonable for his car to be repossessed, and admitted that he intentionally shot the car in order to damage it. The jury convicted the defendant of unlawful use of a weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm. The jury acquitted the defendant of first-degree assault and the related armed criminal action. The trial court sentenced the defendant to a total of 15 years in prison without parole as a persistent offender as required by section 571.030.9. The defendant appeals.

Discussion

The defendant challenges the denial of his motion to dismiss and his motions for judgment of acquittal on the charge of unlawful use of a weapon. He asserts that section 571.030.1(9) should not be interpreted to apply to his conduct of shooting into an unoccupied car because such an interpretation violates his right of due process.

The State charged that "the defendant, knowingly shot a firearm at a motor vehicle, a 2008 Buick Lucerne" in violation of section 571.030. Under subdivision (3) of section 571.030.1, a person commits the crime of unlawful use of weapons if he knowingly "[d]ischarges or shoots a firearm into a ... motor vehicle." (Emphasis added). Under subdivision (9) of section 571.030.1, a person commits the crime of unlawful use of weapons if he knowingly "[d]ischarges or shoots a firearm at or *784from a motor vehicle." (Emphasis added).3 The defendant does not dispute that he discharged a firearm multiple times, striking a motor vehicle. Indeed, the defendant testified that he did so intentionally in order to damage the vehicle and thus compel the lienholder to incur repair costs.

The defendant first argues that "[t]here is no appreciable difference between shooting 'at' a motor vehicle under [section] 571.030.1(9) or 'into' a motor vehicle under [section] 571.030.1(3) if there is no live person in proximity to the car." We initially observe that in this case, two live people were, in fact, in proximity to the car at which the defendant shot. The tow-truck driver was seated in the truck to which the defendant's car was connected, and the repossession agent was seated in her own vehicle immediately behind the defendant's car.

Statutory interpretation is a question of law that we review de novo. State v. Key, 437 S.W.3d 264, 268 (Mo. App. W.D. 2014). When interpreting a statute, we must ascertain the intent of the legislature from the language used, and if possible, give effect to that intent. Id. We give the language used in the statute its plain and ordinary meaning. Id. We resort to statutory construction only when statutory language is ambiguous; otherwise, we must give effect to the statute as written. Id. A statute is considered ambiguous only when we cannot ascertain the legislative intent from the language of the statute by giving the language its plain and ordinary meaning. Id.

Pursuant to section 571.030.1(9), a person commits the offense of unlawful use of weapons if he or she knowingly "[d]ischarges or shoots a firearm at or from a motor vehicle." Giving the language in subdivision (9) its plain and ordinary meaning, we find that the legislature intended to prohibit shooting at a motor vehicle, whether that vehicle is occupied or unoccupied. Indeed, Missouri courts have previously interpreted section 571.030.1(9) to criminalize the specific act of shooting a firearm at a motor vehicle. Id. at 269 ; State v. Barraza , 238 S.W.3d 187, 192 (Mo. App. W.D. 2007). See also, State v. Alexander, 505 S.W.3d 384, 399 (Mo. App. E.D. 2016) (observing that conviction under section 571.030.1(9) "requires proof that a shot was fired at a motor vehicle."). Because no ambiguity exists in section 571.030.1(9), we need not resort to statutory construction. And because subdivision (9) does not expressly require that the motor, vehicle be occupied at the time of the shooting, we must give effect to the statute as written, without reading additional requirements into it. In short, we will not add words to a plainly-worded statute to alter its meaning.

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Bluebook (online)
564 S.W.3d 780, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-haynes-moctapp-2018.