State v. Shigemura

552 S.W.3d 734
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 15, 2018
DocketNo. ED 105672
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 552 S.W.3d 734 (State v. Shigemura) 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. Shigemura, 552 S.W.3d 734 (Mo. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

KURT S. ODENWALD, Judge

Introduction

Edward K. Shigemura ("Shigemura") appeals from the trial court's judgment following a jury verdict of guilty on four counts of possessing a controlled substance and one count of drug trafficking. On appeal, Shigemura raises three points. In his first two points, Shigemura contends the State presented insufficient evidence to support the jury's verdict regarding the drug trafficking and the drug possession convictions. Point Three posits that the trial court plainly erred in permitting hearsay testimony regarding a confidential-informant tip. Because the record contains sufficient evidence to support the convictions of possessing controlled substances and drug trafficking, and because Shigemura waived plain-error review of the contested hearsay testimony, we affirm.

Factual and Procedural History

Officer Patricia Vineyard ("Officer Vineyard") received a confidential-informant *738tip that Shigemura was conducting drug activity out of his apartment, where he lived with his girlfriend, Jeri Leisure ("Leisure"). Officer Vineyard and her partner, Officer Mark Meyers ("Officer Meyers"), visited Shigemura at his apartment. The officers knocked on the door, and both Shigemura and Leisure answered. The officers asked to search the apartment, and both Leisure and Shigemura consented. Officer Meyers found a Laclede Gas bill within the apartment that was addressed only to Shigemura.

During the search, Shigemura told Leisure to grab a small hand-held portable radio that was in the living room and move it to the garage. Leisure picked up the radio. As Leisure was carrying the radio, the radio's battery plate fell off and a bag of pills tumbled out. According to the officers, Leisure appeared shocked and very surprised. The pills contained morphine, oxycodone, and amphetamine (collectively, "the pills"). The officers arrested Shigemura for possessing a controlled substance. The officers continued to search the apartment, but found no other drugs or paraphernalia.

After the search, the officers led Shigemura out of the apartment, towards the officer's vehicle; Leisure followed. As they all walked to the officers' vehicle, the officers noticed a package protruding from the Shigemura's mailbox (the "package"). Unprompted, Leisure went to the mailbox, retrieved the package, and handed it to Officer Vineyard. The package was addressed to Shigemura, was mailed from a California address, exhibited a United States Postal Service tracking number, and displayed an expected delivery date coinciding with that day. Officer Vineyard was suspicious of the package because of the package's appearance and its sender's location.

Officer Vineyard took the package to the officer's vehicle and handed it to Officer Meyers. Officer Meyers asked Shigemura if he could open the package, and Shigemura consented. Inside the package were two sealed movie containers. Officer Meyers unsealed and opened the movie containers. The containers carried vacuum-sealed packages, covered in cayenne pepper. The vacuum-sealed packages contained approximately 106 grams of methamphetamine-worth $12,000-and approximately one gram of cocaine. The State charged Shigemura with one count of second-degree drug trafficking, and four counts of possessing a controlled substance-one each for the possession of morphine, oxycodone, amphetamine, and cocaine.

At trial, Officer Vineyard testified that she initiated her investigation of Shigemura after learning about Shigmeura's potential drug activity from a confidential informant. The following exchange occurred between the State ("Q") and Officer Vineyard ("A"):

Q: And before November 30, 2015, did you receive information concerning 6644 Gravois Avenue, rear apartment?
A: Yes.
Q: And how did you receive that information without getting into specifics?
A: How did we receive information?
Q: Just generally how did-
A: There was a confidential source that told us that there was drug activity at that location, sales and.
Q: That's okay. So based on that information, what did you do next?
A: We investigated it and responded to that location on November 30th.

Shigemura did not object to the above testimony.

Shigemura cross-examined Officer Vineyard regarding the substance and timing *739of the tip. Officer Vineyard noted that while the tip informed the officers that both Shigemura and Leisure lived together in the apartment, only Shigemura was the target of the officers' search.

Later in the trial, the State also questioned Officer Meyers about the reason he was at Shigemura's apartment on the day of Shigemura's arrest:

Q: What brought you to that location?
A: My partner and I received information from a confidential, reliable source of drug activity being conducted there and the name of the target.
Q: Okay. Who was that target?
A: The defendant.

Shigemura did not object.

Shigemura also cross-examined Officer Meyers regarding the confidential informant's tip. From Officer Meyers, Shigemura elicited testimony that Shigemura was not under surveillance or suspicion before the tip. During a sidebar, Shigemura's counsel explicitly explained his trial strategy of attempting to establish that the officers "couldn't wait to get" Shigemura "no matter what":

So I was just asking-the fact that I believe [Shigemura] was under investigation longer than a day, I believe that the officers knew who this guy was and they couldn't wait to get him and that's why I'm trying to clarify they are going to get their guy no matter what.

Following the close of all evidence, Shigemura moved for judgment of acquittal. The trial court denied Shigmeura's motion and submitted the case to the jury. The jury found Shigemura guilty on all five counts. Shigemura renewed his motion for judgment of acquittal. The trial court denied Shigmeura's motion and sentenced him to fifteen years on the drug-trafficking count, and seven years on each of the four counts of possession of a controlled substance, all running concurrent, for a total of fifteen years in prison. Shigemura appeals.

Points on Appeal

Shigemura raises three points on appeal. Point One posits that the trial court erred in denying Shigemura's motion for judgment of acquittal because the State produced insufficient evidence from which a reasonable juror could have found that Shigemura had access to, control over, and knowledge of the methamphetamine and cocaine. Point Two contends that the trial court erred in denying Shigemura's motion because the State failed to produce sufficient evidence that he possessed the morphine, oxycodone, and amphetamine. Point Three alleges that the trial court plainly erred in permitting Officers Vineyard and Meyers to testify about hearsay statements from the confidential informant that accused Shigemura of engaging in drug activity, drug sales, and receiving drug deliveries by mail.

Discussion

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
552 S.W.3d 734, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-shigemura-moctapp-2018.