State v. Mayo

559 S.W.2d 264, 1977 Mo. App. LEXIS 2729
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 1, 1977
DocketNo. 37978
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 559 S.W.2d 264 (State v. Mayo) 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. Mayo, 559 S.W.2d 264, 1977 Mo. App. LEXIS 2729 (Mo. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

NORWIN D. HOUSER, Special Judge.

Matthew Mayo, convicted by a jury of manslaughter, § 559.140, RSMo 1969, and committed to the department of corrections for 1 years, has appealed.

From the state’s evidence the jury could have found these facts: John Connors, while a visitor at Mayo’s house, was wearing a pair of sunglasses for which he had paid $10. Mayo asked to see them. Connors took them off and handed them to Mayo. Mayo refused to return them to Connors and refused to pay Connors $3 for them, an amount Connors agreed to accept. Connors left Mayo’s house, sought out Con-nor’s cousin, Steven Trust, and told him Mayo had taken his sunglasses. Trust said, “We are going down there [to Mayo’s] and get them.” Connors, Trust and two Moody brothers drove to Mayo’s. Connors, Trust and Tom Moody went up onto the porch of Mayo’s house and Connors knocked on the door. Mayo answered the door, carrying a gun in his right hand, down at his side. Tom Moody left the porch and returned to the car parked in front of the house. Trust asked Mayo what the problem was. Connors said all he came for was his glasses. Mayo answered there was no problem. Mayo then “pulled the gun up,” “put the gun up to [Trust’s] head.” When Trust saw the gun he said “F_you” and started to turn, to go down the porch steps. The gun was fired. The bullet entered Trust’s head just above the right eye, inflicting a wound from which he died several hours later. Mayo made an oral statement to Officer Duane France that Trust came to his house to collect money owed Trust for narcotics; that Mayo told Trust he did not have the money; that when Trust began threatening Mayo and Mayo’s family with bodily harm Mayo shot Trust in self-defense. The officer found Trust lying on the ground at Mayo’s house, with an automatic revolver in his waistband. Officer France testified that the weapon was not ready for firing; that there was no bullet in the chamber. He further testified that there were four cartridges in the clip; that to fire the gun you grab the top of the weapon, pull it back to put the bullet in the chamber, then pull the trigger. Officer France’s written report stated that when the gun was examined there was a cartridge in the chamber. Officer Leslie DuBose testified that the gun removed from Trust’s waistband was loaded — that there was a bullet in the chamber; that Mayo told DuBose that Trust had made numerous threats to harm him and his family and that he shot Trust in self-defense when Mayo saw Trust’s hand go for his belt.

Mayo’s mother testified she heard Connors threatening to go get his big brother and come back and kill “all of you black mother_”; that later that evening Connors returned to her house with Trust and another man; that Trust had a gun in his bosom; that she called her son and told him “the fellow had a gun on him”; that she did not know whether her son had a gun or not; that she did not see her son with a gun.

Mayo’s first point is that the court erred in giving Instruction No. 8 on justifiable homicide and refusing appellant’s proffered instruction on the right to act upon appearances; that No. 8 was an incomplete statement of the law of self-defense in this case because it ignored one of his primary de[266]*266fenses — his right to act reasonably in good faith.

Given Instruction No. 8 was MAI-CR 2.40, paragraph 2 of which reads:

“ * * * (If) the defendant had reasonable cause to believe and did believe that he was in immediate danger of death or serious bodily harm and had reasonable cause to believe and did believe that it was necessary for him to act as he did to protect himself from such danger, then you are instructed that he acted in lawful self-defense and must be acquitted.”

The court refused to give optional paragraph 5 of MAI-CR 2.40, which reads:

“If the defendant had reasonable cause to believe and did believe that he was in immediate danger of death or serious bodily harm and that it was necessary for him to act as he did, it is of no consequence that the appearances later turned out to be false. If he acted in lawful self-defense, as submitted in this instruction, he must be acquitted even though there was (no purpose on the part of [name of victim] to kill him or do him serious bodily harm) (and) (no immediate danger that it would be done) (and) (no actual necessity to use the force which he did).”

In refusing optional paragraph 5 the court reasoned that there was no evidence upon which Mayo could base an apprehension of death or great bodily harm that later turned out to be false. If the victim had brandished an unloaded cap pistol paragraph 5 would have to be given, the judge said, because the appearance of danger from a loaded pistol later turned out to be false, but here the appearance of danger from a loaded pistol did not turn out to be false.

Mayo argues that when Trust’s hand went toward his belt he may have been intending merely to scratch his stomach, or pull a gun as a threat with no intention to harm Mayo, and that under a false appearances instruction Mayo would have been entitled to act “as long as he had a reasonable fear.”

“The appearances doctrine operates to justify a person to act in self-defense although it later proves the appearances were false,” State v. Minnis, 486 S.W.2d 280, 283[1] (Mo.1972), but optional paragraph 5 on appearances that later turn out to be false is to be given only in cases where it applies to the facts — where the evidence justifies it. State v. Demaree, 362 S.W.2d 500, 503[3] (Mo. banc 1962). The evidence does not justify the giving of an instruction on false appearances, because there were none. There was no appearance of any supposed danger other than that on which the given instructions were based. This is not a case of apprehending a danger which did not in fact exist. Instruction No. 8 does not ignore, deny or withdraw appellant’s right to act on appearances. Under Instruction No. 8 appellant was entitled to act “as long as he had a reasonable fear.” Under Instruction No. 8 if in truth Mayo was warned that Trust had a gun on him; if he saw Trust’s hand go toward his belt; if he believed Trust was going after his gun to do him immediate harm; if he shot Mayo in fear and from a belief that it was necessary to do so to protect himself from immediate harm, and if his beliefs and fear were reasonable, then Mayo acted in lawful self-defense. The danger Mayo apprehended did not later turn out to be false. Under the evidence favorable to Mayo, Trust truly did have a gun; a very real, potentially lethal, loaded .45 automatic pistol, in his waistband.

Mayo further argues that the pistol was not in firing condition (based on Officer France’s testimony that there was no cartridge in the chamber) and therefore the jury may have believed Trust did not present an immediate danger to Mayo. One officer testified there was a cartridge in the chamber; the other officer testified to the contrary, after making a written report that there was a cartridge in the chamber. A cartridge is transferred from clip to chamber by pulling the top part of the weapon back, which would take only an instant. Whether there was a cartridge in the chamber or not, the gun was in fact a deadly weapon, capable of being fired al[267]*267most instantly.

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Related

State v. Rodney
760 S.W.2d 500 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1988)
State v. Butler
676 S.W.2d 809 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1984)
State v. Watson
607 S.W.2d 189 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1980)
State v. Stenner
591 S.W.2d 123 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1979)
State v. Nachtigal
562 S.W.2d 779 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1978)
State v. Reynolds
560 S.W.2d 313 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1977)

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Bluebook (online)
559 S.W.2d 264, 1977 Mo. App. LEXIS 2729, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mayo-moctapp-1977.