State v. Smith

185 S.W.3d 747, 2006 Mo. App. LEXIS 151, 2006 WL 306923
Missouri Court of Appeals·Decided February 10, 2006·No. 26698·Published·Cited by 37 cases

Opinion

ROBERT S. BARNEY, Judge.

Thomas K. Smith (“Appellant”) appeals his conviction for murder in the first degree, a violation of section 565.020. 1 Following a jury trial, the trial court sentenced Appellant to a term of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Appellant now brings six points of trial court error discussed below. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict, State v. Chaney, 967 S.W.2d 47, 49 (Mo. banc 1998), on January 19, 2003, Keith Allen (“Allen”), his live-in girlfriend, Holly Zloto-polski (“Zlotopolski”), and her sons were cutting wood on his property when they saw Appellant driving through their field. Throughout the afternoon, they made several trips to their home to unload wood and during that time they continued to encounter Appellant on their property. 2 At some point in the late afternoon, Allen became frustrated with Appellant’s appearance on his property and told Zloto-polski that he wanted she and her sons to return to the house. Allen told Zlotopolski “he was going to find out what [Appellant] wanted.” Allen and Zlotopolski got into his truck, the two children got onto their bicycles, and they started for home. On their way back to the house, they passed Appellant, who was standing in their neighbor Dennis Bryant’s (“Bryant”) front yard drinking a beer. When their truck slowed down to pass Bryant’s house, Allen told Zlotopolski that Appellant was “a puss.”

After dropping Zlotopolski and the children off at the house at 4:20 p.m., Allen told them he was leaving “to go lock the gate, he didn’t want [Appellant] up there on the hilltop.” Zlotopolski never saw him alive again.

At around 7:30 that evening, Myron Dixon (“Dixon”) and Odie Atchison (“At-chison”) were “coon hunting” in the area surrounding Allen’s property. As they approached Johnson Rowe Road, they saw in the road “a S15 pickup [parked and running] with a gentleman [later determined to be Allen] lying underneath the pickup.” Dixon stated that Allen, who “wasn’t moving,” was lying on the ground behind the open driver’s side door of the truck “in front of the back wheel” and there was “a ball cap laying out in the middle of the road.” Dixon and Atchison drove past the truck, parked, and called 9-1-1.

Deputy Shawn Cox (“Deputy Cox”) arrived on the scene within five minutes. Dixon and Atchison walked up to the truck with Deputy Cox and Dixon noticed that Allen “was lying in a pool of blood, and that he was probably dead.” Dixon also noticed that there appeared to be marks on the truck from shotgun pellets “just above the body and kind of on the inside of *752 the bed [of the truck] and on the back of the cab” and there was a rifle lying underneath the truck.

Deputy Cox testified that when he arrived on the scene at 7:45 p.m. he observed Allen’s “body lying underneath a truck.” Deputy Cox noted that Allen’s “head and part of [his] shoulders were under the back end of the truck;” there was “a large amount of [coagulated] blood, quite a bit around [Allen’s] body;” there were “injuries to [Allen’s] head and neck, arms ...;” there was a gun lying underneath the vehicle; and there was no movement or response from Allen.

When the police began investigating Allen’s death, Appellant’s name “came up” almost immediately when the officers interviewed Zlotopolski. Around midnight that evening, Deputy Cox and several other officers went to Appellant’s home, which was about half a mile from the scene of Allen’s murder. Upon arrival, Lieutenant Tim Gideon (“Lieutenant Gideon”) advised Appellant of his Miranda; 3 rights and Appellant acknowledged that he understood those rights. When Deputy Cox did a “protective sweep” of the house to make sure there were no other occupants, he located “a deer rifle and a handgun” as well as some shotgun shells and a “marijuana pipe.” 4 Additionally, the officers located a “black-powder rifle” in Appellant’s truck, which was parked outside his home, and which also showed signs of recent damage. 5

Missouri State Highway Patrol Sergeant Rob Vaughn (“Sergeant Vaughn”) interviewed Appellant that evening at his home. According to Sergeant Vaughn, Appellant, who appeared to be intoxicated, stated that he knew Allen but “had not really seen or even talked to Keith Allen in two years.” Appellant told Sergeant Vaughn that he and Allen “used to be friends, but that Mr. Allen had gotten involved with methamphetamine and [Appellant] didn’t want to be around him.” Appellant went on to state that he had seen Allen driving several times that day, but did not know anything else.

After being interviewed by Sergeant Vaughn and the officers, Appellant was placed under arrest for possession of a marijuana pipe, which was found near a chair Appellant had been occupying. He was then taken to the Stone County Jail. After being repeatedly interviewed at the Stone County Jail and continually denying his involvement, Appellant finally admitted to being involved in Allen’s death and agreed to show the police “where the rifle — the .12 gauge shotgun was hidden in the woods outside [his] residence.”

Testifying on his own behalf at trial, Appellant asserted that he shot Allen in self-defense. He stated that he had not been on Allen’s property on the evening in question. He testified that at around 4:30 *753 in the afternoon he went to feed corn to some wild turkeys on a piece of land adjoining his property. He stated that he “loaded [his] truck with some corn, got [his] shotgun, and went ... out to the woods.... ” To access the adjoining property, he drove through an unlocked gate to an old logging road and fed the turkeys. While he was feeding the turkeys, he heard a truck which he suspected was Allen’s and he went back toward the gated entrance to the logging road.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

State v. Smith, 185 S.W.3d 747, 2006 Mo. App. LEXIS 151, 2006 WL 306923 (Mo. Ct. App. 2006).

185 S.W.3d 747 (State v. Smith) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Wooten v. Lewis
E.D. Missouri, 2022
State of Missouri v. Paul L. Deroy, Jr.
Missouri Court of Appeals, 2021
State of Missouri v. Joseph Michael Wilson
Missouri Court of Appeals, 2020
State v. Speed
551 S.W.3d 94 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2018)
State v. Sanders-Ford
527 S.W.3d 223 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2017)
State of Missouri v. Isaac Perdomo-Paz
471 S.W.3d 749 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2015)
State of Missouri v. Aaron D. Lucy
439 S.W.3d 284 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2014)
State v. Rinehart
383 S.W.3d 95 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2012)
State v. Royer
322 S.W.3d 603 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2010)
State v. Allison
326 S.W.3d 81 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2010)
State v. Johnson
316 S.W.3d 491 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2010)
State v. Snowden
285 S.W.3d 810 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2009)
State v. Cain
287 S.W.3d 699 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2009)
State v. Bunch
289 S.W.3d 701 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2009)
State v. Haslett
283 S.W.3d 769 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2009)
State v. Clark
272 S.W.3d 432 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2008)
State v. Smith
265 S.W.3d 874 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2008)
State v. Hoosier
267 S.W.3d 767 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2008)
State v. Stites
266 S.W.3d 261 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2008)
State v. Smiley
240 S.W.3d 214 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2007)