State v. Pollard

588 S.W.2d 212, 1979 Mo. App. LEXIS 2995
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 1, 1979
DocketNo. KCD 30274
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 588 S.W.2d 212 (State v. Pollard) 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. Pollard, 588 S.W.2d 212, 1979 Mo. App. LEXIS 2995 (Mo. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinion

SWOFFORD, Judge.

The appellant (defendant) was tried under an information substituted for an indictment, under the Second Offender Act for the offenses of Rape (Count I); Sodomy (Count II); and Armed Criminal Action (Count III). The trial court upon stipulation by counsel found that the Second Offender Act was applicable because of defendant’s three previous felony convictions in the State of Illinois. After trial of the charges here involved before a jury, the defendant was found guilty on all three counts and was sentenced by the trial court to 25 years on Count I (Rape); 5 years on Count II (Sodomy); and 5 years on Count III (Armed Criminal Action), the sentences on Counts II and III to run concurrently with each other, but consecutively with the sentence on Count I, a total sentence of 30 years. This appeal followed.

Because of the points raised on this appeal it is not necessary to here detail the evidence in this record, except to the limited and sordid degree necessary to the resolution of those points as hereafter discussed. Suffice it here to state that it is undisputed that on July 8, 1977, the defendant was driving alone across the State of Kansas on Highway 1-70 en route from Wyoming to Ohio; that at Abilene, Kansas he picked up a young lady named Margaret Cohen and [213]*213her boyfriend, Christopher Stubbins, who were hitchhiking from California to Washington, D.C.; and after a rather erratic drive across Kansas and western Missouri, punctuated by stops for food, beer and liquor for the defendant, they stopped at night at Boonville, Missouri in Cooper County where the defendant secured a room at the Rustic Acres Motel. It was in this motel room that the crimes charged against the defendant occurred according to the State’s evidence. Cohen and Stubbins testified that the defendant produced a handgun, threatened both witnesses, and performed oral sodomy and rape upon Cohen. The defendant testified in his own behalf and categorically denied the conduct charged against him. His version was that after the three arrived at the motel and had showered, he left to go to a nearby liquor store and when he returned to the room, Cohen and Stubbins were gone and he did not see them again until his arrest the next morning.

The defendant’s first allegation of error is directed to the giving of Instruction No. 7 directed to the Armed Criminal Action charge of Count III. His position is that the giving of Instruction No. 7 was error because it contained a definition of the term “rape”, the underlying felony, and that definition was couched in different terms than Instruction No. 5, the verdict director on the rape charge, and was therefore confusing, misleading, unnecessary and unduly dwells upon the crime as already set forth in Instruction No. 5.

Instruction No. 5 is model MAI-CR 6.40 and no complaint is made as to its form or content. That instruction, in pertinent part, is in the following language:

“As to Count One, if you find and believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt:
First, that on or about the 9th day of July, 1977 * * * the defendant inserted his sexual organ to any extent into the sexual organ of Margaret Diane Cohen, and
Second, that he did so against her will and after he caused her to submit by threats which caused her to fear physical violence to herself, then you will find the defendant guilty under Count One of rape.
* * * >>

(Emphasis added)

At the time Instruction No. 7, now under attack, was given in this case, there was no MAI-CR model for an instruction on Armed Criminal Action. Instruction No. 7 read in pertinent part:

“As to Count Three, if you find and believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt:
First, that on or about the 9th day of July, 1977, * * * the defendant committed the crime of rape as charged in Count One, and
Second, that the defendant committed that crime with the use of a dangerous or deadly weapon, namely a pistol, then you will find the defendant guilty under Count Three of armed criminal action. * * * * * *
‘Rape’ is sexual intercourse with a female against her will and after causing her to submit by threats which caused her to fear physical violence to herself.”

The definition of “rape” clearly follows the language which is contained in the model MAI-CR 6.18 instruction covering felony murder which was the approved form for that crime, at the time of the submission of this case.

The defendant’s position in the argument portion of his brief is that the term “ * * * inserted his sexual organ to any extent into the sexual organ of Margaret Diane Cohen * * * ” as used in Instruction No. 5, and the term “sexual intercourse” as in the definition of “rape” in Instruction No. 7 constituted definitions of rape in different terms likely to confuse and mislead the jury and were “ambiguous” and “equivocal”.

The testimony of Margaret Cohen was positive and unequivocal that the defendant did in fact perform sexual intercourse and penetrated her under threats and by placing [214]*214her in fear by means of a handgun. The defendant denied this also without equivocation. Thus the issue of fact for the jury was whether these acts occurred, not the nature of the acts charged.

All of the instructions must be read and construed together, State v. Tellis, 310 S.W.2d 862, 865[4] (Mo.1958), and if they properly present the law of the case when so construed, no error results. State v. Edmonson, 371 S.W.2d 273, 276[8] (Mo.1963). Instruction No. 5 and Instruction No. 7 properly presented the law on rape and armed criminal action under the evidence, and it is inconceivable that a competent jury of mature persons could be misled or confused by the terms of those instructions here under attack or prejudiced thereby. The defendant’s conclusion as to the prejudicial impact of the instructions does not provide the basis for reversal. State v. Perryman, 487 S.W.2d 515, 518[7] (Mo.1972). The cases cited by defendant have been carefully reviewed and found not to be pertinent or controlling here. Point I is ruled against the defendant.

The defendant alleges error under Point II in the trial court’s giving of Instruction No. 6, the verdict director on the charge of Sodomy (Count II). He asserts that this instruction uses terms that “are confusing, misleading and allowed the jury to speculate on what acts the instruction refers”.

Point III raised by the defendant is that “The verdict of the jury went against the greater weight of the credible evidence in this case”.

Both of these points fail to comply with Rule 84.04(d), but in the interest of final disposition of this case they will be considered and ruled together, since both in substance depend upon the same argument, State v. Joplin, 485 S.W.2d 473, 475[2] (Mo.App.1972). Defendant asserts error in both points upon the failure of proof of penetration during the sodomy charged.

Instruction No. 6 reads as follows:

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Related

State v. Bullock
179 S.W.3d 413 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2005)
State v. Beishir
646 S.W.2d 74 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1983)
Sours v. State
603 S.W.2d 592 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1980)
Callaway ex rel. Callway v. Lilly
605 S.W.2d 155 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1980)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
588 S.W.2d 212, 1979 Mo. App. LEXIS 2995, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-pollard-moctapp-1979.