State v. Nathan

404 S.W.3d 253, 2013 WL 3984730, 2013 Mo. LEXIS 44
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJuly 30, 2013
DocketNo. SC 92979
StatusPublished
Cited by68 cases

This text of 404 S.W.3d 253 (State v. Nathan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Nathan, 404 S.W.3d 253, 2013 WL 3984730, 2013 Mo. LEXIS 44 (Mo. 2013).

Opinion

PAUL C. WILSON, Judge.

Mr. Nathan was found guilty of first-degree murder for the death of Gina Stal-lis that occurred during a robbery and home invasion. He was 16 years old at the time he committed those crimes. The jury found Nathan guilty of 12 counts of burglary, assault, robbery and kidnapping in addition to the first-degree murder charge, and found him guilty of 13 associated counts of armed criminal action. After the jury returned these verdicts, Nathan waived jury sentencing pursuant to section 557.036.4a).1

The trial court sentenced Nathan to life in prison with no possibility of parole for first-degree murder. The trial court also sentenced Nathan to five life sentences (with parole) and five 15-year sentences for the non-homicide crimes, all of which were to be served consecutively to each [257]*257other and to the sentence for first-degree murder. Finally, the trial court sentenced Nathan to eleven life sentences (with parole) for armed criminal action, with these sentences to be served concurrently with the other sentences and to each other. The circuit court dismissed the remaining four counts on which the jury had found Nathan guilty, finding that it had no jurisdiction over these charges because they were outside the scope of the juvenile court’s 2 certification under section 211.071.

Nathan appeals his convictions for first-degree murder and the related armed criminal action, and the state cross-appeals the dismissal of the four charges. The court of appeals ordered this matter transferred to this Court because Nathan argues that section 565.020 is invalid under Miller v. Alabama, — U.S. -, 132 S.Ct. 2455, 183 L.Ed.2d 407 (2012). This Court has jurisdiction pursuant to Mo. Const. art. V, sec. 3, and the case is remanded for re-sentencing for first-degree murder and, if necessary, for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

1. Facts

Nathan challenges the sufficiency of the evidence only as it relates to the element of deliberation on the first-degree murder charge. Viewing the evidence at trial in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence was sufficient for the jury to find the following facts.

Shortly after midnight on October 5, 2009, Nathan and his accomplice, Mario Coleman, emerged from a vehicle and approached off-duty police officer Isabella Lovadina and Nicholas Koenig, who were standing in front of the house where Koe-nig’s grandmother Ida Rask lived. Nathan was carrying a “silver” pistol, and Coleman was armed with a “black” pistol. Both pointed their guns at Lovadina and Koenig, ordering them to turn over their belongings. Nathan and Coleman forced the two inside the Rasks’ house. At the time, Rask, her two daughters Rosemary Whitrock and Susan Koenig (Nicholas’ mother), Whitrock’s daughter Gina Stallis, and Stallis’ two young children all were sleeping in the house. Coleman held Lo-vadina and Koenig at gunpoint while Nathan rounded up the remaining victims on the second floor, including Gina Stallis.

Nathan and Coleman took jewelry from the dressers and jewelry boxes, removed jewelry from the victims, and took money from purses. Both Nathan and Coleman threatened to kill several victims, including specifically Stallis and Whitrock, and emphasized these threats by pointing their guns in the victims’ faces. Nathan ordered Stallis, at gunpoint, to carry a large television down from the second floor. A short time later, he ordered Stallis to go to the basement. Stallis turned on a light as she walked toward the basement, but Nathan immediately told her to turn it off. Seeing that Nathan was herding the victims into the basement (where they might be executed or assaulted further), Officer Lovadina moved toward the hallway where the basement door was located and offered to go to the basement instead of Stallis. Coleman moved to stop Lovadina, bringing the two of them — and Koenig, Stallis and Nathan — together in close proximity to [258]*258each other in or near the hallway near the basement door.

At this point, Officer Lovadina charged Coleman in an attempt to disarm him. Nathan moved to help Coleman ward off Lovadina but was attacked by Koenig. Seven gunshots were heard during this brief fight, which ended with the shooter firing the final shots directly into Lovadina as she lay on the floor. Nathan and Coleman fled, abandoning Lovadina and Koe-nig, who had been hit five and three times respectively, and Stallis, who lay dead from a single gunshot wound in her chest.3

Coleman took Nathan to the hospital because he had been shot in the hand during the melee. There, Nathan told the x-ray technician to get rid of the red “hoodie” that Nathan had been wearing during the robbery. Nathan lied to the police about his gunshot wound, giving incomplete and contradictory answers to their questions. Outside the hospital, the police approached Coleman, who attempted to throw away the black pistol and several items of jewelry taken from the victims. The police found Nathan’s silver pistol, with an empty 7-shot clip, in Coleman’s car. Nathan’s DNA was found on the grip of this pistol, and Officer Lovadi-na’s blood was found spattered on the outside and inside of the barrel. All of the bullets removed from Lovadina and Stallis, and the seven shell casings found in the hallway of the home, came from this silver pistol.

II. Trial Court Erred in Dismissing Four Counts on Grounds They Were Not Included in the Juvenile Court’s Certification

Shortly after these crimes occurred, the juvenile officer filed a petition in St. Louis City juvenile court alleging that Nathan was a juvenile, that he had been involved in the robbery and shooting described above, and that these acts constituted first-degree murder and other crimes The juvenile officer later moved to dismiss this petition pursuant to section 211.071 and sought a determination by the juvenile court whether Nathan should be dealt with under the juvenile code or whether the juvenile court’s exclusive jurisdiction over Nathan should be relinquished so that he could be charged and tried in circuit court. After a hearing, the juvenile court determined that Nathan was not a proper subject to be dealt with under the juvenile code. Accordingly, the juvenile court dismissed the petition and relinquished jurisdiction over Nathan.

The state then charged Nathan with 13 crimes (and 13 counts of armed criminal action in connection with those crimes) arising out of the home invasion, robbery and murder. Nathan moved to dismiss the four counts based on harm to Stallis (i.e., first-degree murder and first-degree robbery, with two related counts of armed criminal action) and the four counts based on harm to Whitrock (i.e., first-degree robbery and kidnapping, with two related counts of armed criminal action). Nathan argued that none of these eight charges had been “certified” by the juvenile court and, therefore, none of them could be brought or tried in circuit court. The trial court overruled Nathan’s motion, but noted that it would revisit its ruling regarding the four counts involving Whitrock after the trial.

Following the jury’s determination that Nathan was guilty on all 26 counts, the trial court dismissed the four counts per[259]*259taining to Whitrock. The trial court ruled that it lacked jurisdiction over any crimes Nathan may have committed against or involving Whitrock because she was not named in Nathan’s juvenile petition. The state appeals the dismissal of these counts.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
404 S.W.3d 253, 2013 WL 3984730, 2013 Mo. LEXIS 44, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-nathan-mo-2013.