State v. Hicks

803 S.W.2d 143, 1991 Mo. App. LEXIS 110, 1991 WL 2467
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 15, 1991
DocketNo. 16756
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 803 S.W.2d 143 (State v. Hicks) 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. Hicks, 803 S.W.2d 143, 1991 Mo. App. LEXIS 110, 1991 WL 2467 (Mo. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

PARRISH, Presiding Judge.

Frank Lee Hicks (defendant) was convicted of assault in the first degree following a jury trial in the Circuit Court of Wayne County. § 565.050.1 The jury found defendant guilty of knowingly causing serious physical injury to Quintín Davis. Defendant was sentenced to imprisonment for a term of thirty years. §§ 565.050.2 and 558.011.1(1). This court affirms.

For purposes of appellate review, all evidence that tends to prove defendant’s guilt, together with all reasonable inferences that support the verdict of the jury, is accepted as true. State v. Barber, 635 S.W.2d 342, 343 (Mo.1982). Evidence contrary to the verdict is disregarded. State v. Brooks, 618 S.W.2d 22, 23 (Mo. banc 1981).

On April 15, 1989, Quintín Davis was two years old. He lived in rural Wayne County with his mother, Bonnie Davis, and with defendant. On that date Bonnie and defendant took Quintín to a hospital in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. When they arrived at the hospital, Quintín was comatose, suffering from severe brain injury. Most of his body was bruised. Some of the bruises were, by reason of their coloration and swelling, determined to be of recent origin. Others were older.

Initially, Bonnie reported that Quintín was injured from falls from his tricycle and from a couch. She also said, during an interview at the hospital, that Quintín had fallen down stairs a few days earlier. Later, Bonnie stated that defendant caused Quintin’s injuries.

[145]*145• After Bonnie’s statement that defendant caused Quintin’s injuries, defendant was questioned. He gave a tape-recorded statement in the presence of the Sheriff of Wayne County, a deputy sheriff, and a case worker employed by the Missouri Division of Family Services. Defendant admitted having done things to Quintín that caused the bruising that was observed. He admitted biting Quintín, causing the teeth marks that were observed on Quintin’s back; grabbing the child’s legs causing him to fall; “popping” Quintín several times with a wet towel; slapping Quintín; throwing him onto a couch — Quintín would sometimes fall from the couch after defendant threw him on it — ; and throwing Quintín onto a chair in a manner similar to the way he had thrown Quintín onto the couch. Defendant had pushed the back of Quintin’s tricycle while Quintín was riding it causing the tricycle to turn over backwards onto Quintín. Defendant had “smacked” Quin-tín on the stomach with his open hand with sufficient force to leave bruising marks of finger imprints.

Defendant said that all this had occurred during two or three weeks in which he lived with Bonnie. Defendant acknowledged that Bonnie would ask him to stop, but that he was reluctant to do so. He said he had told Bonnie, “It ain’t hurtin’ him.” Defendant had seen Bonnie spank Quintín, but he had not seen her hit the child hard enough to leave bruises.

On the evening that Quintín was hospitalized, Quintín had been lifted onto defendant’s neck. Quintín was holding onto defendant, but defendant was not holding Quintín. Quintín fell to the floor, landing first on his buttocks, then hitting his head. Defendant stated, in the tape-recorded statement, that Quintín did not get up; that he laid on the floor shaking.

Defendant stated that Bonnie took Quin-tín into the bathroom. She told defendant that Quintín was hurt. Defendant was reluctant to take Quintín to the hospital initially. According to defendant, he delayed taking the child for 15 or 20 minutes. Quintín was cleaned and placed in clean clothes before being taken to the hospital.

At trial, Bonnie testified that she had told the sheriff that defendant had caused Quintin’s injuries. She said she asked defendant “to take the blame.” Defendant had agreed to do so. Bonnie was asked why she was coming forward at trial. She answered, “Because I’m the one that done it and I don’t think Frank should be punished for it.”

Defendant’s testimony was also in conflict with the statements he had given prior to trial. At trial, defendant testified that he did not arrive home the night Quintín was hospitalized until approximately 8:30 p.m.; that Bonnie and Quintín were in the bathroom — “She was cleaning him off.” Quintín was unconscious and shaking.

A physician testifying at defendant’s trial was asked, “Doctor, based upon your training and experience, and in your professional opinion, were the injuries sustained by Quintín Kyle Davis sufficient to create a substantial risk of death or cause serious permanent disfigurement or protracted loss or impairment of the function of one of his bodily members or organs?” The doctor answered, “Definitely.” Quintín suffered permanent brain damage as a result of his injuries. He had impaired vision. He could not talk, chew food properly, eat or drink. As a result of his brain injury, Quintín had to be fed every two hours through a surgically placed hole in his stomach.

Defendant presents two points directed to the merits of his appeal. He has also filed a motion with this court by which he seeks remand of this case for additional proceedings before the trial court. Defendant’s motion is entitled “Motion to Remand for Evidentiary Hearing on Newly Discovered Evidence and/or Prosecutorial Misconduct.” It will be addressed first.

Defendant contends, by his motion, that after his trial and after the time passed in which he was permitted to file his motion for new trial, the state charged Bonnie Davis, the mother of Quintín, with having committed the same offense of which defendant was found guilty — assault in the first degree upon Quintín by knowingly causing physical injury. Defendant argues [146]*146that this case should be remanded “for a hearing as to what newly discovered evidence warrants prosecuting Davis for the first degree assault of [Quintín] in order that [defendant] can then file a motion for new trial asserting such matters.” Alternatively, defendant argues that the case should be remanded because of prosecutorial misconduct “because Respondent is seeking convictions of two individuals for a crime committed by a single individual.”

Defendant cites State v. Mooney, 670 S.W.2d 510, 515 (Mo.App.1984), as authority for this court to remand this case for evidentiary hearing to ascertain the existence of “newly discovered evidence.” In Mooney and in State v. Williams, 673 S.W.2d 847 (Mo.App.1984), decided a few months later, the Eastern District of this court found that unique circumstances warranted its remanding each of those cases to permit “newly discovered evidence” to be asserted by means of new post-trial motions. The “newly discovered evidence” in Mooney and in Williams became known to the respective defendants after their motions for new trial were filed. The Eastern District, in Mooney, undertook that action through the exercise of its “inherent power to prevent miscarriages of justice in a proper case by remanding the case to the trial court with instructions that the appellant be permitted to file a motion for new trial upon the grounds of newly discovered evidence.” Mooney, supra, at 515-16. In Williams

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State of Missouri v. Chadwick Leland Walter
Missouri Court of Appeals, 2014
State v. Dorsey
156 S.W.3d 791 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2005)
State v. Gray
24 S.W.3d 204 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2000)
State v. King
964 S.W.2d 480 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1998)
State v. Pagano
882 S.W.2d 326 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1994)
State v. Hill
884 S.W.2d 69 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1994)
State v. Sappington
873 S.W.2d 618 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1994)
McCauley v. State
866 S.W.2d 892 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1993)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
803 S.W.2d 143, 1991 Mo. App. LEXIS 110, 1991 WL 2467, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hicks-moctapp-1991.