State v. Pettit

719 S.W.2d 474, 1986 Mo. App. LEXIS 4812
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 14, 1986
Docket49957
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 719 S.W.2d 474 (State v. Pettit) 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. Pettit, 719 S.W.2d 474, 1986 Mo. App. LEXIS 4812 (Mo. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

DOWD, Judge.

• Defendant appeals from his conviction of robbery in the first degree, burglary in the first degree, and armed criminal action.

As the sufficiency of the evidence is not at issue, a brief review of the facts is in order. In the early morning hours of May 26, 1984, the victim and her fiance were awakened from their sleep by voices in their bedroom. The bedroom was illuminated by light from the living room and hallway and also from flashlights carried by the intruders. By looking in the mir *476 rored closet doors, the victim was able to see two men standing in the bedroom doorway. She described one as tall and the other as short and stocky.

The intruders announced a robbery and the short and stocky man forced the victim at gunpoint into the bathroom. He ordered her into the bathtub and bound her wrists with electrical tape. The short and stocky intruder spoke to the victim for some time, telling her how he had been watching her movements for a week. All the while, the victim could hear her house being ransacked. The whole ordeal lasted approximately thirty minutes. The victim telephoned police immediately after the incident and gave them a description of the short and stocky intruder’s clothing, hair, and physical build, but could not describe his facial features as he wore a nylon stocking over his head.

Defendant, who matched the victim’s description of the short and stocky intruder, was apprehended fleeing the area within twenty minutes after the incident. He was immediately returned to the scene of the crime for identification where he was shown to the victim in the light from the squad car headlights and a nearby street light. The victim positively identified defendant from the neck down based on his physical build, clothing, and in particular by his white high-top tennis shoes.

Defendant was subsequently convicted and sentenced to ten years on the robbery count, and five years each on the burglary and armed criminal action counts. The sentences are to run consecutively. We affirm.

Defendant’s first allegation of error challenges instruction number nine, the instruction for armed criminal action, MAI-CR 2d 25.02, as an unfair comment upon evidence not adduced at trial. Defendant failed to include the instruction in the argument portion of his brief as required by Rule 30.06(e) and thus the point is not preserved for appellate review. State v. Money, 697 S.W.2d 269, 271 (Mo.App.1985); State v. Williams, 674 S.W.2d 46, 48 (Mo.App.1984). Defendant argues there was a lack of evidence regarding a “deadly weapon.” Even had defendant complied with the rules, we would find no error as the victim identified defendant as the one who held the gun during the incident. A gun is considered a dangerous weapon in and of itself without proof that it was loaded and operable. State v. Chunn, 641 S.W.2d 829, 830 (Mo.App.1982).

In his second point, defendant contends the trial court committed error in allowing a police officer to testify as to how he discovered a broken window in the basement of the victim’s residence. Defendant asserts testimony by the officer that the victim’s son told him he found a broken window was inadmissible hearsay.

“Hearsay evidence is in-court testimony of an extrajudicial statement offered to prove the truth of the matters asserted therein.” State v. Harris, 620 S.W.2d 349, 355 (Mo. banc 1981). The testimony at issue was not offered to prove the truth of the statement, but rather to explain the officer’s subsequent conduct, his investigation of the basement windowsill where he found broken glass stained with blood. It is well established that testimony offered to explain conduct, rather than to prove the truth of the facts testified to is not inadmissible hearsay. State v. Brooks, 618 S.W.2d 22, 25 (Mo. banc 1981); State v. Clay, 686 S.W.2d 516, 518 (Mo.App.1985).

We perceive defendant’s third point to contend he was subjected to double jeopardy by being convicted of both first degree robbery and burglary in the first degree in that the convictions were based on identical evidence. The test as to whether a defendant has been placed in double jeopardy is whether each offense necessitates proof of a fact which the other does not. State v. Charles, 612 S.W.2d 778, 781 (Mo. banc 1981), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 972, 102 S.Ct. 522, 70 L.Ed.2d 392 (1981) (citing Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 182, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932)).

*477 First degree robbery and burglary in the first degree require proof of distinct elements. First degree robbery requires a forcible theft while first degree burglary requires a knowingly unlawful entry into, or stay in, a building. State v. Coats, 668 S.W.2d 119, 120 (Mo.App.1984). The fact that there is some overlapping evidence that supports the convictions for both offenses does not violate the prohibition against double jeopardy. State v. Murray, 630 S.W.2d 577, 582 (Mo. banc 1982). We find defendant was not convicted of both offenses on identical evidence as there was sufficient evidence in the record to support the distinct elements of each offense.

In his final point on appeal, defendant alleges the trial court erred in refusing to grant his motion for new trial or judgment notwithstanding the verdict because the victim’s identification testimony of defendant was based on identification procedures that were impermissibly suggestive and unreliable. To preserve a challenge to identification testimony, defendant is required to file a pre-trial motion to suppress the testimony, object timely at trial, and include the issue in his motion for new trial. State v. Smith, 675 S.W.2d 690, 693 (Mo.App.1984); State v. Johnson, 533 S.W.2d 629, 631 (Mo.App.1976). Defendant has neglected to do any of the above and our review is therefore limited to plain error; error that results in “manifest injustice” to defendant. Rule 29.12(b).

Defendant challenges as suggestive the procedure v/hereby he was brought to the victim’s home for identification approximately twenty minutes after the crime.

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

Related

Masden v. State
62 S.W.3d 661 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2001)
Michael A. Clark v. Paul D. Caspari
274 F.3d 507 (Eighth Circuit, 2001)
Michael Clark v. Paul Caspari
Eighth Circuit, 2001
Holland v. State
954 S.W.2d 660 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1997)
State v. Burch
939 S.W.2d 525 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1997)
State v. Fyfe
922 S.W.2d 71 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1996)
State v. Weaver
912 S.W.2d 499 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1995)
State v. Ross
857 S.W.2d 375 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1993)
State v. McElroy
838 S.W.2d 43 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1992)
State v. Turner
801 S.W.2d 396 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1990)
State v. Storment
791 S.W.2d 955 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1990)
State v. Culkin
791 S.W.2d 803 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1990)
State v. Wheadon
779 S.W.2d 708 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1989)
State v. Farmer
777 S.W.2d 322 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1989)
State v. Dunagan
772 S.W.2d 844 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1989)
State v. Greer
758 S.W.2d 126 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1988)
State v. Walker
755 S.W.2d 404 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1988)
State v. Mitchell
755 S.W.2d 603 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1988)
State v. Pieron
755 S.W.2d 303 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1988)
State v. McNutt
748 S.W.2d 408 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1988)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
719 S.W.2d 474, 1986 Mo. App. LEXIS 4812, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-pettit-moctapp-1986.