State v. Simmons

751 S.W.2d 85, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 583, 1988 WL 37924
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 26, 1988
Docket52907
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 751 S.W.2d 85 (State v. Simmons) 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. Simmons, 751 S.W.2d 85, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 583, 1988 WL 37924 (Mo. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

SIMEONE, Senior Judge.

Appellant, Willie Simmons, was charged, tried by a jury, and sentenced for assault in the first degree and armed criminal action. Sections 565.050, 571.015, R.S.Mo., 1986. He was committed to the Department of Corrections and Human Resources for a period of fifteen years for the assault and three years for armed criminal action. He appeals contending that (1) the trial court erred in not including a “sudden passion” paragraph in the first degree assault instruction; (2) in not giving a second degree assault instruction; and (3) the state failed to prove a “serious physical injury.” We affirm.

There were two completely diametrically opposed versions of the facts surrounding the assault by shooting in the early morning hours of March 2, 1986 which took place in the City of St. Louis. One version was asserted by the victim of the shooting, Debora Harris, and the other by the appellant. The jury obviously chose the victim’s.

Debora Harris was a “nurse’s assistant” holding a “certificate.” She was employed by a health care service, but also had private patients. In November, 1985, she ran an “ad” in a County Journal Newspaper soliciting private employment concerning “nursing services.” The services performed were “running errands such as going to the grocery store and also doing household cleaning.” As a result of the ad, appellant called Debora. She went to his home on South Grand. He told her that he had “heart problems” and he “could not go out.” She began working for him in November, 1985. She also worked for him in December and January, 1986. The employment relation terminated in January when Simmons “accused” her of some missing money. Later he apologized.

On the evening of March 1,1986, Debora and a friend went to the “Wiz,” a discotheque in Illinois, had a “couple glasses of wine” and returned to her home in St. *87 Louis County about 12:30. She was wearing “street clothes” — a black skirt, yellow jacket, yellow and black hose, black shoes and a fur coat. About 1:00 a.m., after Debora had just gotten home, Simmons called her and “said he was ill and needed to go to the hospital.” She drove to his home and arrived about 1:30. When she arrived, she noticed that “he had vomited over the floor” and she “could smell alcohol on his breath.” He asked her to sit down. She sat on the bed and he sat in a chair. They talked for a long period of time. He told her he loved her, “that he was in love with me and that he wanted me to stay there with him.” She replied that she could not because she was married and had a family. Then Simmons said “Well, you definitely are going to stay here with me ... You’re going to stay and I have something to make you stay.” He reached from behind and “got a gun.” The gun was a nickel-plated .38 caliber S and W, five-shot revolver. After a period of time, Debora said “If you’re going to kill me then kill me now.” She started out the door. He shot her three times in the back; she turned around and he shot her twice in the left arm. The gun kept clicking. She fell; a mirror fell on her; she “got up” and “managed to get out of the door.” She went to her car. She could not unlock it and realized she left her keys in her purse in Simmons’ apartment. She fell onto the street. Soon two people came and helped.

After the shots, Simmons called his landlord, William Gatlin, who lived at the same address, and told him that “I think I shot Debora” and asked him to call 911. Soon Officers Charles Marvin and Robert Siegel, who received a radio dispatch, arrived at the scene. Upon arrival, they saw two persons kneeling in the street alongside a female “lying face down in the center lane.” She was conscious; she had wounds in her back and was bleeding. It was Debora. She told the officers that Simmons had shot her at his apartment. After they called for an ambulance, they went to Simmons’ apartment. Simmons opened the door, and the officers asked his name. He replied and “blurted out, T just shot someone.’ ” The officers went inside. Officer Marvin saw a “nickel-plated revolver” lying on the bed. He also saw a small, blue metal, .25 caliber automatic lying on a shelf on a desk against the wall. There were blood stains on the door and on the inner surfaces of the outer storm door. The officers placed Simmons under arrest. Simmons was “discemibly intoxicated.” Simmons stated that “he had gotten so mad that he lost his mind and that he had shot her.” Appellant was taken to a district station. There he was given his Miranda warnings, and had “calmed down considerably ... was quite visibly upset about what had happened, but less upset than he was at the scene.” Simmons said that he had met Debora Harris about “four months before, that he had dated her for a short period of time ... till he had found out she was married and didn’t want to have anything more to do with a married woman, and that he had broken off the relationship.” He stated that about 3 o’clock that morning, she had come to his apartment, knocked on the door, and that he had let her in. Her intent was to renew or to strike up the relationship. He told the officers they were both seated on the bed and Debora became sarcastic and argumentative. “She had said various things about his manhood at which time he became enraged, picked up the pistol and shot her.”

Willie Simmons testified in his own defense. His version of the events differed from Ms. Harris. He testified that he met Debora on November 14, 1985, when they were both at the sheriff’s office. He was there to obtain a gun permit, and she was there to obtain a police clearance for her nursing position. Simmons and Debora struck up a conversation. The next evening, Simmons received a phone call from Debora. She came to his apartment and remained overnight. Between mid-November and early January, she came to his apartment and spent some 5 or 6 nights with him. Over the months he gave her some $435 to get her car fixed and for other necessaries. He denied he paid her for “nursing services.” Around early Jan *88 uary, he found out she was married and broke off his association with her.

On March 1, 1986, after he had gone to a bar and had drunk several beers, he returned home and had five “screwdrivers.” He prepared to go to bed. In the early morning of March 2, 1986, Debora came to his apartment and said she had just returned from a “party” in East St. Louis and decided to stop by. She said she wanted “to inform me that she was leaving her husband and getting her own apartment.” He asked if she were getting a divorce. She said, “no.” He replied “Well, if you don’t have a divorce, it wouldn’t make any difference, because you are still married.” They argued. According to Simmons, she said “I’ll shoot you with your own gun, and she turned around” started to go near the desk where the .25 caliber gun was, and “reached for this automatic.” Although he did not remember that she had a gun in her hand, he reached on the bed, “grabbed the .38 and started shooting.” He stated he “was scared to death,” and that “his life was in danger.” After the shooting, she left the room. He called his landlord, and the police came.

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Bluebook (online)
751 S.W.2d 85, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 583, 1988 WL 37924, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-simmons-moctapp-1988.