State v. Mansfield

748 S.W.2d 949, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 618, 1988 WL 40984
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 3, 1988
DocketNo. 52680
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 748 S.W.2d 949 (State v. Mansfield) 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. Mansfield, 748 S.W.2d 949, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 618, 1988 WL 40984 (Mo. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

GRIMM, Judge.

In this jury tried case, Donald D. Mansfield, appeals from his conviction of assault in the third degree, in violation of § 565.070 RSMo. 1986; and the Class D felony of resisting arrest, in violation of § 575.150 RSMo. 1986. Defendant was fined $1000.00 for each offense.

The appeal raises three issues. First, whether the trial court erred in denying defendant’s motion to dismiss because the arrest took place in defendant’s home without a warrant. We find no error because the arrest occurred on the porch of defendant’s home and is therefore considered to be in a “public” place. Also, the defendant cannot defeat an otherwise valid public arrest by retreating into his home. United States v. Santana, 427 U.S. 38, 96 S.Ct. 2406, 49 L.Ed.2d 300 (1976). Second, whether the trial court erred when it failed to instruct the jury on the lesser offense of the Class A misdemeanor of resisting arrest since the court did instruct on a lesser offense on the accompanying assault charge. We find that the defendant did not specifically request a lesser-offense instruction and therefore may not complain about the trial court’s failure to do so. State v. Olson, 636 S.W.2d 318, 322-323 (Mo. banc 1982); See also, MAI-CR 3d 304.11 G. Third, whether the trial court committed plain error in submitting the verdict directing instruction for resisting arrest because the instruction varies from the information. We find that the trial court did err; however, the error did not rise to the level of plain error. Affirmed.

We review the evidence in a manner consistent with the ruling and verdict at the trial and disregard evidence and inferences to the contrary. State v. Esrock, 660 S.W.2d 222, 223 (Mo.App.E.D.1983). On October 21, 1985, the defendant was home recuperating from surgery he had undergone three weeks previously, when at approximately 2:20 or 2:25 p.m., Deputy Sheriff Heil, dressed in uniform, came to defendant’s door to serve him with a landlord-tenant petition. The petition related to defendant’s son’s lease, on which defendant was a co-signer. The deputy knocked on the door, defendant answered, and asked what the papers were. When the deputy told him it was a landlord suit, the defendant said he wouldn’t accept it. The deputy told him if he didn’t accept it, he would lay it on the door step and that the defendant would be legally served. At this point, according to the deputy, the defendant came “busting out of the storm door and grabbed the papers and threw it at me and hit me in the face with it.” The deputy backed up and told the defendant he didn’t want to fight on account of his heart condition. The deputy moved across the yard towards his sheriff’s car and started to get into the car. However, the defendant slammed the door against him and pinned him between the door and the car. At this point, the defendant hit him in the chin and busted his chin open. In addition, the defendant’s language became abusive and the defendant mentioned he had a gun in the house. Finally, the deputy pushed the defendant away, ran to the other side of the car, and when the defendant went back toward the house, the deputy jumped in the car.

[951]*951After backing out of the driveway and going down the street about 200 feet, he radioed for help. Officer Snider arrived in three minutes. Shortly thereafter, the defendant’s daughter, Chris, arrived home from school. Snider asked her to come over and questioned her about who was in the residence. She stated that only her father was at home. At this point, two other backup officers, Deputy Gregoire and Sergeant Borders, arrived.

A short time after Chris arrived, the defendant stepped out on the porch and began yelling for his daughter to come into the house and for the deputies to get out of there; some profanity was used. Snider told the defendant to come to his patrol car; the defendant shouted back “F_ you. You come over here.” Snider repeated this request several times, but, the defendant continued to refuse.

At this point, Snider began moving toward the porch. The other two officers took a position behind Snider. Defendant was outside on the porch, but as Snider got closer, the defendant moved to the threshold in the doorway. Snider tried to calm the defendant down, but the defendant continued to say things such as, “F_you. If you don’t get off my property, I’m going to kick your ass.” Snider walked up to the steps; the defendant was on the porch and was within three feet of Snider. Snider told the defendant he was under arrest for the felonious assault of Heil. The defendant responded, “F_ you” several times and said he was going inside. The defendant was described as being approximately six feet two inches tall, weighing 225 pounds. Snider is five feet nine inches tall, weighing 163.

As the defendant started to step back into the doorway, Snider reached out his left hand and grabbed the defendant’s right arm stating that the defendant was under arrest. The defendant jerked free of Snider’s grasp and started to slam the wooden door on him. Snider blocked the door; the defendant then threw a punch at Snider, hitting him in the mouth. Snider was then able to push the wooden door open and with the aid of the other two officers, subdue the defendant.

Defendant’s first point is that the trial court erred in denying the defendant’s motion to dismiss because the arrest was made in the defendant’s home without a warrant, in violation of the fourth amendment. Defendant argues that a person has “the right to retreat into the home and be free from unreasonable governmental entry,” citing Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980). However, Payton is not applicable to the factual situation here because the defendant was placed under arrest while he was outside his house and before he went in the door.

In Payton, the police officers were acting under a statute which allowed them to enter any premises, without the consent of the occupant, in order to make a routine felony arrest. There, the New York police had assembled evidence sufficient to establish probable cause that Payton had murdered the manager of a gas station two days earlier. The police, without a warrant, then went to Payton’s apartment in order to arrest him. No one answered the policemen’s knock, so they broke in the door, went into the apartment, and found, in plain view, a shell casing, which they seized. The trial court overruled a motion to suppress the shell casing. However, the Supreme Court reversed because no arrest warrant was obtained. In addition, the court specifically noted that they were not considering “the sort of emergency or dangerous situation, described in our cases as ‘exigent circumstances,’ that would justify a warrantless entry into a home for the purpose of either arrest or search.” Id. 445 U.S. at 583, 100 S.Ct. at 1378.

More on point is an earlier Supreme Court case, United States v. Santana, 427 U.S. 38, 96 S.Ct. 2406, 49 L.Ed.2d 300 (1976), where the defendant was standing in the doorway of her house when the police arrived and identified themselves; the defendant then retreated into the vestí-[952]*952bule of her house.

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Bluebook (online)
748 S.W.2d 949, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 618, 1988 WL 40984, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mansfield-moctapp-1988.