State v. Pylypczuk

527 S.W.3d 96, 2017 WL 3479687, 2017 Mo. App. LEXIS 789
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 15, 2017
DocketWD 79819
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 527 S.W.3d 96 (State v. Pylypczuk) 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. Pylypczuk, 527 S.W.3d 96, 2017 WL 3479687, 2017 Mo. App. LEXIS 789 (Mo. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

Karen King Mitchell, Judge

Following a jury trial, Gary Pylypczuk appeals his conviction of driving while intoxicated in violation of § 577.010.1 Pylyp-czuk argues that the circuit court improperly admitted evidence of his status as a persistent intoxication-related traffic offender because the evidence was not properly authenticated. We agree. Accordingly, we reverse the sentence imposed by the court and remand for jury sentencing for the class B misdemeanor of driving while intoxicated.

Background

Pylypczuk was charged in the Circuit Court of Clay County, as a persistent offender, with driving while intoxicated in violation of § 577.010. A persistent offender is “a person who has pleaded guilty to or has been found guilty of two or more intoxication-related offenses.” § 577,023.1(5)(a). Generally, driving while intoxicated is a class B misdemeanor, but if a defendant is found to be a persistent offender, the offense is enhanced to a class D felony. §§ 577.010.2, 577.023.3.

At trial, the State intended to use two separate pieces of evidence, .Exhibit 2 and Exhibit 3, to show Pylypczuk’s previous offenses. Each exhibit contained only one alleged prior intoxication-related offense. Therefore, the State could not prove Py-lypczuk’s persistent offender status unless the court admitted both exhibits. Exhibit 3 was admitted into evidence without objection, Pylypczuk objected, however, to Exhibit 2, which purported to be a record taken from the Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System’s Driving While Intoxicated Tracking System (DWITS). Exhibit 2 was neither certified nor accompanied by any kind of business record affidavit, and the State offered no witnesses to testify as to the exhibit’s origin or authenticity. The only indication of the exhibit’s origin was the prosecutor’s representation to the court and web addresses on the face of the exhibit suggesting it was pulled by the prosecutor’s office from a Department of Public Safety webpage. Pylypczuk argued that Exhibit 2 was inadmissible because it lacked authentication insofar as there was no witness testifying to its authenticity, it bore no signature or seal, and it did not appear to be either an original document or a copy of an original document.

In response to Pylypczuk’s objection, the State claimed that § “577.023 allows [the DWITS record] to be admitted [without any foundation] to prove a prior conviction.” Pylypczuk disagreed, arguing that, despite permitting the use of such docu[99]*99ments, nothing in the statute eliminated the need for the document to be authenticated before it could be admitted. After considering the arguments, the circuit court allowed the exhibit into evidence and found “beyond a reasonable doubt that [Pylypczuk] has two prior convictions.” Accordingly, Pylypczuk was no longer entitled to an advisory sentence from the jury.

At the close of trial, the jury found Pylypczuk guilty of driving while intoxicated. The court held a sentencing hearing on May 18, 2016, wherein Pylypczuk was sentenced under the class D felony range of punishment. Pylypczuk appeals. He does not challenge the jury’s finding of guilt. Instead, he alleges only that the trial court erred in admitting Exhibit 2, and therefore his offense was improperly classified as a class D felony.

Standard of Review

“The trial court has broad discretion in ruling on the admissibility of evidence.” State v. Mays, 501 S.W.3d 484, 488 (Mo. App. W.D. 2016) (citing State v. Joyner, 458 S.W.3d 875, 880 (Mo. App. W.D. 2015)). “We thus review the trial court’s decisions regarding the admission of the evidence for an abuse of that discretion.” Id. (citing Joyner, 458 S.W.3d at 880). “The trial court abuses its discretion if its ruling is clearly against the logic of the circumstances and is, so arbitrary and unreasonable as to shock the sense of justice and indicate a lack of careful consideration,” Joyner, 458 S.W.3d at 880. “The ‘[lower] court’s admission of evidence will be sustained as long as it is sustainable under any theory.’ ” Mays, 501 S.W.3d at 489 (quoting State v. Merrill, 990 S.W.2d 166, 170 (Mo. App. W.D. 1999)).

Analysis

Pylypczuk argues that “the trial court erred in admitting into evidence [S]tate’s [E]xhibit 2 and thereafter relying upon the same to enhance [Pylypczuk’s] offender status because [S]tate’s [E]xhibit 2 lacked authentication.” We agree.

The State argues -that § 577.023.16 eliminated the need for the State to authenticate the document prior to admission. This is an issue of statutory construction, “a question of law, not fact, and the lower court’s ruling on a question of law is not a matter of judicial discretion.” State v. Laplante, 148 S.W.3d 347, 348 (Mo. App. S.D. 2004), Therefore, we review this question de novo.

Generally, “[b]efore a document may be received in evidence, it must meet a number of foundational requirements including: relevancy, authentication, the best evidence rule, and hearsay.” CACH, LLC v. Askew, 358 S.W.3d 58, 63 (Mo. banc 2012) (quoting Hadlock v. Dir. of Revenue, 860 S.W.2d 335, 337 (Mo. banc 1993), superseded by statute as recognized in Mills v. Dir. of Revenue, 964 S.W.2d 873, 875 (Mo. App. E.D. 1998)). “Documents may be authenticated in several ways.” Rhonda Churchill Thomas, Documents as Evidence in Missouri, 38 Mo. L. Rev. 475, 476 (1973). While the most common method is through “direct proof, either by the testimony of attesting witnesses or by proof that the signature on the document is in the handwriting of the purported author,” another common method of authentication is “compliance with terms of an applicable statute,” Id. “Such statutes are desirable to eliminate the inconvenience and expense of live but generally uncontested foundation testimony.” Hadlock, 860 S.W.2d at 337.

The legislature generally reflects its intent to omit certain evidence from basic foundational requirements with language such as “shall be admissible as evi[100]*100dence in all courts of this state.” Hadlock, 860 S.W.2d at 337.

For example, [§] 490.220 [RSMo 1986] states that all records kept in any public office of the United States or a sister state “shall be evidence in this state” if attested by the keeper of the records and with the keeper’s seal. So long as the requirements of the statute are met and the records are relevant, they are admissible.

Id. (quoting § 490.220 RSMo 1986).

In contrast, § 577.023.16 states, in relevant part:

Evidence of a prior conviction ...

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Bluebook (online)
527 S.W.3d 96, 2017 WL 3479687, 2017 Mo. App. LEXIS 789, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-pylypczuk-moctapp-2017.