State v. Johnson

752 S.W.2d 851, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 589, 1988 WL 37888
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in State v. Johnson. Read the opinion of the Court — 1986 Mo. App. LEXIS 4277
Missouri Court of Appeals·Decided April 26, 1988·No. No. 53169·Published

Opinion

KAROHL, Presiding Judge.

Defendant Manual Johnson was charged with assault first degree, two counts. The information alleges that he knowingly caused serious physical injury to James and Irene Bennett by shooting them. Section 565.050 RSMo 1986. In addition, he was charged with two counts of armed criminal action in relation to the assault charges. Section 571.015 RSMo 1986. Defendant was jury tried, convicted and sentenced to serve concurrent sentences of thirty years on each of the assault charges. He was sentenced to serve concurrent sentences of ten years on each of the armed criminal action charges. However, the assault sentences are consecutive to the armed criminal action sentences.

Defendant appeals on the following ground:

THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN PERMITTING THE PROSECUTOR TO ELICIT FROM APPELLANT ON CROSS-EXAMINATION THAT AT HIS FIRST PRELIMINARY HEARING, WHERE HE WAS UNREPRESENTED BY COUNSEL, HE HAD AFFIRMED, WHEN ASKED BY HIS MOTHER, THAT ALL OF THE TESTIMONY PRESENTED AT THE HEARING WAS TRUE, BECAUSE SUCH EVIDENCE VIOLATED APPELLANT’S RIGHT AGAINST SELF-INCRIMINATION UNDER THE FIFTH AMENDMENT, IN THAT APPELLANT WAS THEREBY FORCED TO TESTIFY THAT HE HAD CONFESSED TO HIS MOTHER, WHICH CONFESSION THE JURY WOULD BELIEVE AS OPPOSED TO APPELLANT’S TRIAL TESTIMONY BECAUSE IT WAS MADE TO HIS MOTHER, AND IN THAT SUCH CONFESSION WAS INVOLUNTARY AND IT WAS MADE UNDER COERCIVE CONDITIONS WITH APPELLANT IN CUSTODY, AND WITHOUT THE COURT’S ENSURING THAT APPEL LANT UNDERSTOOD HIS ABOVE-MENTIONED CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS OR THAT SUCH ADMISSION COULD BE USED AGAINST HIM AT TRIAL.

It is obvious that defendant’s stated point is not clearly discemable nor does it comply with Rule 30.06(d) which requires that “the points relied on shall state briefly and concisely what actions or rulings of the court are sought to be reviewed.” The point is neither brief nor is it concise. We believe that the defendant claims the trial court erred in permitting cross-examination during trial on a matter which occurred during a preliminary hearing in violation of defendant’s Fifth Amendment protection against self incrimination. We borrow from the first paragraph of respondent state’s brief which supplies a concise statement of the apparent claim of error: “Appellant argues as his sole point of appeal that the trial court committed reversible error in permitting the prosecutor to cross-examine and elicit testimony from him with respect to whether he, at the preliminary hearing and in open court, admitted to his mother that the incrimination testimony presented by the state was true. Specifically, appellant alleges that, at the time of the confession, he was not represented by counsel and had not been advised of the full panoply of his constitutional rights; and the admission of his confession, as it [853]*853was rendered involuntarily under coercive conditions, violated his constitutional right to due process of law.”

Defendant does not contest submissibility. Briefly, the state’s evidence supported a finding by the jury that Mr. and Mrs. Bennett returned to their home in Neely-ville, Missouri, on July 30,1986, at approximately 3:15 p.m. Mrs. Bennett testified she came face-to-face with defendant, a close neighbor. This occurred in a bedroom. She screamed and defendant shot her in the face. Mr. Bennett entered the home and saw defendant who then shot him in the collar bone and fingers. Defendant then fled from the Bennett home.

We find in the legal file docket notations on the court docket which indicate that the defendant enjoyed two preliminary hearings for these charges. The first occurred in the absence of counsel but after defendant twice refused the appointment of counsel. He was held for trial in the circuit court. When the case reached the circuit court appointed counsel requested and the circuit court granted a remand to the associate circuit court for a second preliminary hearing. Defendant was again held for trial. The trial transcript, part of which we will reproduce, discloses no record was preserved of the original preliminary hearing. ■ The relevant events took place at that hearing.

The point on appeal is the legality of the cross-examination of defendant, over objection, concerning an event which occurred at the first preliminary hearing. Before defendant elected to testify the trial court cautioned him that he would be subject to cross-examination. During the cross-examination the state elicited evidence from the defendant that at the time of his arrest and on subsequent occasions he was advised of his constitutional rights. He signed a Miranda waiver. When asked about the waiver defendant volunteered that after signing it he “didn’t see that paper no more until after this morning at the preliminary hearing.”

The prosecuting attorney then began to question the defendant about the preliminary hearing. At the request of defense counsel the matter was developed before the court out of the hearing of the jury. The prosecuting attorney disclosed that he intended to inquire about an event that occurred at the first preliminary hearing where, at the conclusion of the defendant’s testimony, and at the request of defendant’s mother she was permitted by the preliminary hearing judge to ask her son if the preliminary hearing testimony was true. Defendant affirmed that it was. Defense counsel objected on the grounds that the proposed enquiry was: (1) highly prejudicial; (2) defendant was not represented at the time; and, (3) defendant was not advised of his right to remain silent. The trial court reviewed the court docket entries. The entries informed the court there was no transcript record of the preliminary hearing; the defendant twice refused appointment of counsel after “he was advised of counsel.” The court observed that defendant was not interrogated by the police, but by his mother who was also present in the trial court room.

The trial court then excused the jury from the courtroom and requested defendant’s mother to testify. The court examined defendant’s mother about the events at the first preliminary hearing. She testified that: (1) her son was not represented by counsel; (2) the judge told her son he had a right to have an attorney; (3) her son said he did not want an attorney and wanted to proceed with the preliminary hearing; (4) she heard the statements made against her son at the preliminary hearing; (5) after the preliminary hearing she received permission of the judge to ask her son a question; (6) she “asked him if all of the testimony that he had heard was the truth”; (7) in answer to that question defendant said “Yeah”; and, (8) Mr. Bennett had testified at the preliminary hearing in the manner in which he testified during the trial of the case, specifically that defendant shot him. Thereafter, defendant’s counsel cross-examined defendant’s mother.

At the conclusion of the in camera proceeding counsel for the defendant stated an objection anticipating cross-examination of defendant regarding the preliminary hear[854]*854ing incident. The objection was made on the grounds that such questioning would violate: (1) defendant’s right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution; (2) his right to remain silent and the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution; (3) his right to due process of law under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution; and, (4) “fundamental fairness under all of the Bill of Rights to have a defendant who is not represented by counsel, who has refused

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

State v. Johnson, 752 S.W.2d 851, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 589, 1988 WL 37888 (Mo. Ct. App. 1988).

752 S.W.2d 851 (State v. Johnson) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Colorado v. Connelly
479 U.S. 157 (Supreme Court, 1986)
State v. Flynn
519 S.W.2d 10 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1975)
McBride v. State
484 S.W.2d 480 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1972)
State ex rel. Vaughn v. Morgett
526 S.W.2d 434 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1975)
State v. Brayfield
540 S.W.2d 233 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1976)
State v. Sykes
573 S.W.2d 112 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1978)