State v. Mauchenheimer

342 S.W.3d 894, 2011 Mo. App. LEXIS 846, 2011 WL 2446433
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 21, 2011
DocketNo. WD 72913
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 342 S.W.3d 894 (State v. Mauchenheimer) 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. Mauchenheimer, 342 S.W.3d 894, 2011 Mo. App. LEXIS 846, 2011 WL 2446433 (Mo. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

MARK D. PFEIFFER, Judge.

Daniel Mauchenheimer appeals his conviction after a jury trial in Boone County, Missouri, for attempted sexual misconduct involving a child by indecent exposure, [895]*895§ 566.083 RSMo Cum.Supp.2008, for which he was sentenced to four years imprisonment. We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History1

Detective Andy Anderson of the Boone County Sheriffs Department was coordinator of the Mid-Missouri Internet Crimes Task Force, a collaborative effort between law enforcement and prosecutors in a seven-county area in mid-Missouri to investigate internet crimes, particularly against children and families. As part of an undercover investigation, on October 8, 2008, Detective Anderson was in a Yahoo chat room, using Yahoo Instant Messenger, posing as a fourteen-year-old female from Columbia, Missouri, with the screen name “sadmogirl,”2 when he received the first private instant message from Daniel Mau-chenheimer (“Mauchenheimer”), who used the screen name “abcglen” and whose profile described him as a thirty-eight-year-old male in St. Louis. In the first chat, “sadmogirl” established that she was fourteen years old, and Mauchenheimer made sexually suggestive comments. In subsequent chat sessions between Mauchen-heimer and “sadmogirl,” Mauchenheimer described himself as sitting naked at the computer and often asked if “sadmogirl” wanted to see him naked. On October 17, 2008, after more chatting, Mauchenheimer exposed himself on the webcam naked and masturbating. In the same chat, “sadmo-girl” again mentioned her age. Shortly thereafter, Mauchenheimer said, “I would want to have sex with you. If I was your age.” Mauchenheimer and Detective Anderson chatted intermittently through November 5, 2008.

Thereafter, Detective Anderson subpoenaed subscriber records from Yahoo and determined that “abcglen” was Mauchen-heimer, obtained a copy of Mauchenheimer’s driver’s license containing the same address listed in Yahoo’s records, and concluded that the driver’s license picture matched the person he had seen on the webcam when chatting as “sadmogirl.” St. Louis County Police arrested Mauchen-heimer and seized his computer and web-cam, a forensic examination of which revealed that Yahoo Messenger was installed and contained a profile called “abcglen.” The computer also showed references to “sadmogirl,” but the chat conversations could not be found because the computer had been set to delete them every time the Instant Messenger program was closed. The pictures sent by “sadmogirl” to Mau-chenheimer were found on the computer.

On February 9, 2009, Mauchenheimer was charged by information with attempted sexual misconduct involving a child by indecent exposure in violation of section 566.088. On March 25, 2010, Mauchen-heimer filed a Motion for Discovery seeking access to the hard drive of the computer used by Detective Anderson in his undercover investigation that led to Mau-chenheimer’s criminal charge. The motion alleged that copies of the chat transcripts taken from Detective Anderson’s computer and provided to the defense did not include the complete transcripts of the internet conversations that took place between Mauchenheimer and “sadmogirl.” The defense sought an order allowing the defense to conduct a forensic examination of the hard drive of Detective Anderson’s computer or for the court to appoint a [896]*896special master to conduct such an examination.

A pretrial hearing on the discovery motion was conducted on March 29, 2010. Detective Anderson testified that he did not alter any information in the internet chats before turning them over to the defense and that he did not have the capability to do so. The defense did not present contrary expert testimony to contradict Detective Anderson’s claim. The State argued that the hard drive contained sensitive information not pertaining to the case, including pending investigations, investigations of persons who ended up being innocent of any crimes, and undercover profiles being used in pending investigations. The State further argued that the information the defense sought from Detective Anderson’s computer, if it indeed existed, could be discovered through forensic imaging of Mauchenheimer’s computer hard drive, which the State had offered to the defense more than once. The trial court ultimately entered an order denying Mau-chenheimer’s motion for examination of Detective Anderson’s computer.

The case went to trial on April 7, 2010. At trial, Mauchenheimer admitted having engaged in the sexually explicit chats with “sadmogiri” that were admitted into evidence. Mauchenheimer also admitted that he exposed his genitalia and penis to “sad-mogiri.” He further conceded that, during the first chat he had with “sadmogiri,” she claimed to be fourteen years of age, and thereafter he did not ask “sadmogiri” her age or confront her with what he now claims was his suspicion that “she” was really a “he” and “he” was an adult.

The trial court overruled Mauchenheimer’s motion for judgment of acquittal at the close of the State’s case. The jury found Mauchenheimer guilty of the sole count of attempted sexual misconduct involving a child by indecent exposure, based on the webcam transmission of October 17, 2008. Mauchenheimer waived jury sentencing and was sentenced by the court to four years imprisonment in the Department of Corrections. Mauchenheimer filed a Motion for New Trial, which contained a claim that denial of his Motion for Discovery seeking access to Detective Anderson’s hard drive violated his due process rights. The trial court did not rule on Mauchen-heimer’s timely filed Motion for New Trial within ninety days, and therefore, it was deemed denied for all purposes under Rule 29.11(g). This appeal follows.

Standard of Review

The parties disagree on the appropriate standard of review. Mauchenheimer argues that we should review de novo whether his due process rights were violated by the trial court’s denial of his motion for access to the detective’s hard drive; specifically, he asserts that under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), he was entitled to access exculpatory material in the State’s possession, particularly conversations on the hard drive that were not included in the transcripts provided by the State, that would support his defense that he did not believe “sadmogiri” was a fourteen-year-old girl at the time he exposed himself via the web-cam transmission. Conversely, the State contends that Brady is inapplicable to Mauchenheimer’s claim and that the proper standard for review is whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying Mauchenheimer’s discovery motion.

We agree with the State that in reviewing a challenge to a trial court’s decision to deny a motion for discovery, appellate review is limited to a determination of “whether the trial court abused its discretion in such a way as to result in fundamental unfairness.” State v. Tisius, 92 S.W.3d 751, 762 (Mo. banc 2002). Fun[897]*897damental unfairness occurs when there is “a reasonable likelihood that denial of discovery affected the outcome of the trial.” Id.

Brady does not govern our review because it only applies “where the defense discovers information after trial that had been known to the prosecution at trial.” State v. Holden,

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Bluebook (online)
342 S.W.3d 894, 2011 Mo. App. LEXIS 846, 2011 WL 2446433, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mauchenheimer-moctapp-2011.