State v. Tiger

972 S.W.2d 385, 1998 Mo. App. LEXIS 758, 1998 WL 184805
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 21, 1998
DocketNo. WD 53920
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 972 S.W.2d 385 (State v. Tiger) 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. Tiger, 972 S.W.2d 385, 1998 Mo. App. LEXIS 758, 1998 WL 184805 (Mo. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinions

LAURA DENVIR STITH, Presiding Judge.

Appellant Theodore Tiger appeals his conviction for trafficking drugs in the second degree. He argues that his right not to be subjected to double jeopardy was violated when he was retried after his first trial ended in a mistrial. Because the record reveals that the mistrial was declared over Mr. Tiger’s objection and that there was no manifest necessity for the mistrial, we agree that the State was barred from again trying him for the same offense. Therefore, the judgment of conviction is reversed.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

At approximately 9:00 p.m. on February 27, 1995, officers working for the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department executed a search warrant at a house located at 2536 Michigan in Jackson County, Missouri. Sergeant Mike Ponessa and Officer Michael Allen assisted in this operation. They were part of the team assigned to watch the back of the house, while another group of officers entered the house through the front door.

As Sergeant Ponessa and Officer Alen approached the back of the house, they heard breaking glass. Both officers shined them flashlights on one of the back windows, and they saw a man trying to climb out through it. Sergeant Ponessa ordered the man to step back from the window. As both officers continued to illuminate the man with their flashlights, they saw the man throw a clear plastic bag out the window. The bag, which contained a white, rocky substance, landed on the ground below the window. Sergeant Ponessa told Officer Alen to watch the plas[387]*387tic bag while he went around to the front of the house.

Police officers found three men inside the house, one of whom was the defendant, Theodore Tiger. Sergeant Ponessa entered the house after it was secured and identified Mi’. Tiger as the man he saw throw the bag out the window. Sergeant Mark Francisco went outside and recovered the bag containing the white, rocky substance that was being watched by Officer Allen. Sergeant Francisco wrote his initials on the bag. The substance inside was field tested and determined to be crack cocaine. Later testing by a chemist revealed that the bag contained 9.91 grams of crack cocaine. Officer Allen also went inside the house and identified Mr. Tiger as the man who threw the bag outside. The police arrested Mr. Tiger for possession of the cocaine. The State charged Mr. Tiger by information, as a prior and persistent offender, with one count of trafficking drugs in the second degree. The information alleged that Mr. Tiger possessed six grams or more of a mixture containing cocaine base.

Mr. Tiger’s first trial ended in a mistrial for reasons which will be discussed in the remainder of this opinion. A second trial also ended in a mistrial. A third trial began on November 13, 1996. The jury found Mr. Tiger guilty of trafficking drugs in the second degree. On January 17, 1997, the judge sentenced Mr. Tiger as a prior and persistent offender to a term of twenty years in the Missouri Department of Corrections. This appeal followed.

II. DOUBLE JEOPARDY

A. Facts Concerning Declaration of Mistrial.

As his first point on appeal, Mr. Tiger claims that the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss. He argues that his Constitutional right to be free from double jeopardy was violated when he was retried after the court declared a mistrial sua sponte during his first trial.

The case first came to trial on June 17, 1996. On that day, Sergeant Ponessa testified regarding the events surrounding the execution of the search warrant and the arrest of Mr. Tiger. He testified that he saw Mr. Tiger throw a bag out the back window and that he had another officer watch the bag while he went around to the front of the house. After Sergeant Ponessa’s testimony, the judge declared the court in recess for the day. She also told defense counsel to tell Sergeant Ponessa to “stick around” for the rest of the trial in case defense counsel wanted to recall him. However, later that evening, the sergeant asked to be excused so he could drive to Iowa for a family reunion. Defense counsel agreed to let him go in light of this purpose.

The next day, on June 18, 1996, the prosecutor infoi-med the judge that after hearing Sergeant Ponessa’s testimony she realized that he had not personally recovered the drugs. Therefore, in order to establish a chain of custody for the drugs seized at the scene, she wanted to call Officer Allen to testify that he had watched the plastic bag after Sergeant Ponessa went to the front of the house. Officer Allen’s testimony would also have bolstered Sergeant Ponessa’s testimony about seeing Mr. Tiger at the window and watching him throw the bag out the window.

Defense counsel, and apparently the prosecutor, had originally believed only Sergeant Ponessa was present at these occurrences, and, thus, the prosecutor had not endorsed Officer Allen as a witness. Defense counsel, therefore, asked the court to bar Officer Allen’s testimony because he had not been endorsed and because defense counsel had not had an opportunity to depose him. In addition, because Sergeant Ponessa had been permitted to leave town the previous evening, the Sergeant could not immediately be recalled by defense counsel if needed in response to Officer Allen’s testimony. Defense counsel stated, “I might not have a big problem if all we were talking about was chain of custodg. He’s also saying now he saw him coming out of the window, which is prejudicial evidence, which supports what Ponessa said.” (emphasis added). The following exchange then took place.

THE COURT: Off the record we discussed the possibilitg of mistrging the case, in light of the fact that Sergeant [388]*388Ponessa was released. Does anybody wish to make a comment regarding that?
MS. MAHONEY: Well, Your Honor, seeing as how this is an essential witness for chain of custody with the drugs, with which without him we cannot even make a submissible case, I’m not going to move for a mistrial. I don’t think I can do that. But I would object to the witness being excluded at this point.
MR. REGAN: My preference is that you exclude the witness’s testimony and at the close of the state’s case, if they haven’t proved the corpus delicti of this case, I would approach the bench and ask you to dismiss the case, under the circumstances ; and I think that’s the appropriate remedy, under the circumstances, due to the age of the case.
THE COURT: Has there been a speedy trial motion filed in this case?
MR. REGAN: No.
THE COURT: I think that—
MR. REGAN: Not by me. In fact, Judge, I think I’m the third attorney on this case, and I don’t recall seeing one in the discovery and documents that I have gotten from the second attorney.
THE COURT: I don’t recall seeing any.
MS. MAHONEY: There have been several defense continuances.
MR. REGAN: That’s true.
THE COURT: Given your due process concerns and given the state’s needs to call in an essential witness, I’m going to go ahead and grant on my own motion, allow for a mistrial. All right.

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Bluebook (online)
972 S.W.2d 385, 1998 Mo. App. LEXIS 758, 1998 WL 184805, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-tiger-moctapp-1998.