State v. Polk

415 S.W.3d 692, 2013 WL 6632015
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 12, 2013
DocketNo. ED 98946
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 415 S.W.3d 692 (State v. Polk) 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. Polk, 415 S.W.3d 692, 2013 WL 6632015 (Mo. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

LISA S. VAN AMBURG, Presiding Judge.

INTRODUCTION

Defendant David L. Polk was convicted by jury in the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis of forcible rape, section 566.080, R.S.Mo. (1991), and forcible sodomy, section 566.060, R.S.Mo. (1991). The trial court sentenced Polk to concurrent sentences of imprisonment of fifteen years for forcible rape and fifteen years for forcible sodomy. On appeal, Polk argues that the trial court erred by: (1) failing to dismiss the case with prejudice or strike the jury panel due to the Circuit Attorney’s inappropriate public comments about the case on Twitter; and (2) permitting the state to introduce testimony regarding the victim’s identification of him in a photo lineup, because the photo lineup was unduly suggestive.

We hold: (1) Even if the Circuit Attorney’s public Twitter comments were improper, Polk failed to present evidence that the jury was substantially swayed by those comments; and (2) the photo identification procedure used to identify Polk was not unduly suggestive. We affirm the trial court’s judgment.

FACTS

On January 9, 1992, Polk approached eleven-year-old K.R. as she was walking to the store. Polk pressed what K.R. thought was a gun into her back and asked her if she wanted to live. Polk then led K.R. to the basement of a vacant house where he repeatedly raped her over the course of the day. Eventually, after Polk left the basement, K.R. escaped.

Upon returning home, K.R. told her mother what had occurred. Her mother called the police and K.R. reported the details of the rape to them. K.R. was then taken to the hospital, where doctors performed a sexual assault kit. The assault kit revealed the presence of sperm, and a sample of the sperm was frozen for future analysis.

In 2011, almost twenty years later, Detective Richard Noble was notified of a match from the Combined DNA Indexing System linking Polk to the DNA recovered from KR.’s sexual assault kit. Detective Noble reopened the investigation into [695]*695K.R.’s 1992 rape, which culminated in the state’s prosecution of Polk. The jury convicted Polk of forcible rape and forcible sodomy, and this appeal follows.

DISCUSSION

In his first point, Polk argues that the trial court erred by failing to dismiss the case with prejudice or strike the jury panel due to the Circuit Attorney’s inappropriate public comments about the case on Twitter. Specifically, Polk contends that the Circuit Attorney’s comments violated Missouri Supreme Court Rule of Professional Conduct 4 — 3.8(f) and prejudiced the jury against him.

“Dismissal of the indictment is a matter for the discretion of the trial judge, and we will only overturn for abuse of discretion.” State v. Loewe, 756 S.W.2d 177, 182 (Mo.App.E.D.1988). Likewise, “[t]he trial court is vested with broad discretion in determining if a jury panel should be dismissed and its ruling is not disturbed on appeal unless it clearly indicates an abuse of discretion.” State v. Mentóla, 691 S.W.2d 420, 422 (Mo.App. S.D.1985). “A trial court abuses its discretion when its ruling is ‘clearly against the logic and circumstances before the court and is so arbitrary and unreasonable as to shock the sense of justice and indicate a lack of careful consideration.’ ” State v. Davis, 32 S.W.3d 603, 611 (Mo.App.E.D. 2000) (quoting State v. Brown, 939 S.W.2d 882, 883-884 (Mo. banc 1997)).

Here, Circuit Attorney Jennifer M. Joyce repeatedly used her Twitter feed1 to publicly comment on Polk’s case during the critical time frame of trial. Days before jury selection began, Joyce tweeted, “David Polk trial next week. DNA hit linked him to 1992 rape of 11 yr old girl. 20 yrs later, victim now same age as prosecutor.” During trial, Joyce tweeted, “Watching closing arguments in David Polk ‘cold case’ trial. He’s charged with raping 11 yr old girl 20 years ago,” and “I have respect for attys who defend child rapists. Our system of justice demands it, but I couldn’t do it. No way, no how.” Once the case was submitted to the jury, Joyce continued, “Jury now has David Polk case. I hope the victim gets justice, even though 20 years late.” Lastly, after the verdict, Joyce posted, “Finally, justice. David Polk guilty of the 1992 rape of 11 yr old girl. DNA cold case. Brave victim now the same age as prosecutor,” and “Aside from DNA, David Polk’s victim could identify him 20 years later. Couldn’t forget the face of the man who terrorized her.”

Polk contends that Joyce’s comments violate the rules of professional conduct for prosecutors. Rule 4-3.8(f) provides:

except for statements that are necessary to inform the public of the nature and extent of the prosecutor’s action and that serve a legitimate law enforcement purpose, [prosecutors should] refrain from making extrajudicial comments that have a substantial likelihood of heightening public condemnation of the accused.

We recognize that the basic facts underlying Joyce’s comments are contained in the felony complaint and probable cause statement and, as such, are part of the public record. However, extraneous statements on Twitter or other forms of social media, [696]*696particularly during the time frame of the trial, can taint the jury and result in reversal of the verdict. We doubt that using social media to highlight the evidence against the accused and publicly dramatize the plight of the victim serves any legitimate law enforcement purpose or is necessary to inform the public of the nature and extent of the prosecutor’s actions. Likewise, we are concerned that broadcasting that the accused is a “child rapist” is likely to arouse heightened public condemnation. We are especially troubled by the timing of Joyce’s Twitter posts, because broadcasting such statements immediately before and during trial greatly magnifies the risk that a jury will be tainted by undue extrajudicial influences.

Nevertheless, even if the prosecutor’s public Twitter comments were improper, “the test is the fairness of the trial, not the culpability of the prosecutor.” State v. Forrest, 183 S.W.3d 218, 227 (Mo. banc 2006). “Where prosecutorial misconduct is alleged, the erroneous action must rise to the level of ‘substantial prejudice’ in order to justify reversal.” Id. (quoting State v. Peterson, 833 S.W.2d 395, 398 (Mo.App. S.D.1992)). “The test for ‘substantial prejudice’ is whether the misconduct substantially swayed the judgment.” Id. (quoting Peterson, 833 S.W.2d at 398).

Here, Polk has presented no evidence that the jury was aware of or influenced by Joyce’s Twitter comments. During voir dire, none of the potential jurors responded that he or she followed the prosecutor’s social media postings. Additionally, the trial court instructed the jury not to conduct any independent research, and to refrain from using social media such as Twitter or Facebook. Though we do foresee how comments like Joyce’s could taint a jury, we cannot conclude that the jury in this case was substantially swayed based on the mere potential for prejudice.

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Bluebook (online)
415 S.W.3d 692, 2013 WL 6632015, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-polk-moctapp-2013.