State v. Tillitt

552 S.W.3d 571
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 9, 2018
DocketWD 80260
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 552 S.W.3d 571 (State v. Tillitt) 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. Tillitt, 552 S.W.3d 571 (Mo. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

Admission of the Written Statement

As to her written statement, Ms. Tillitt renewed her motion to suppress during trial and specifically objected to its admission as a Fifth Amendment self-incrimination violation, but did not argue the other, more specific grounds set forth in the motion, such as that the "interrogation" was "inherently coercive" or a due-process violation. The trial court asked counsel if this was "the extent of your record? Is that all your record?" Counsel responded, "Yes." Ms. Tillitt raised an involuntariness challenge indirectly by reference to her motion to suppress statements in her post-trial motion and on appeal. To the extent that Ms. Tillitt's renewal of her motion to suppress when she objected to the admission of her written statement was sufficient to incorporate each of grounds she raised therein as part of her argument, we address this issue on the merits and determine whether the trial court's ruling was supported by substantial *580evidence. Barriner , 210 S.W.3d at 299 (noting that while we do not overturn the trial court's ruling "absent manifest error," the voluntariness of the confession "must appear from the record with unmistakable clarity"). Ms. Tillitt was highly emotional during the police interview, but the officer calmly led her to her admissions, which are reflected in the written statement, by suggesting that she could break the cycle of sexual abuse in the family and everyone could get the help they needed if she confirmed what just one of the daughters at that point had disclosed. No threats or promises were recorded, and it is apparent that Ms. Tillitt trusted the police officer sufficiently or felt comfortable enough with him to reveal to him on the way to the police station that she had been a child sexual-abuse victim. The voluntariness of her written confession is supported by substantial evidence, and this appears from the record with unmistakable clarity. The trial court did not err in admitting Ms. Tillitt's written statement. This point is denied.

In the second point, Ms. Tillitt claims that the trial court abused its discretion in overruling her objection to the admission of Ms. Wemhoff's testimony about a child-abuse victim's process of disclosure. She contends that her due-process and fair-trial rights were denied "in that the testimony of [Ms.] Wemhoff was more prejudicial than probative, and it was improperly used to bolster [the victims'] credibility." Trial courts have broad discretion over the admissibility of evidence, and a trial court's "determination on these issues will not be reversed absent an abuse of discretion." State v. Collins , 962 S.W.2d 421, 424 (Mo. App. W.D. 1998). "Abuse of discretion only occurs if 'a ruling is clearly against the logic of the circumstances and is so unreasonable as to indicate a lack of careful consideration.' If reasonable minds could differ on the propriety of the ruling, no abuse of discretion has occurred." State v. Benedict , 319 S.W.3d 483, 487 (Mo. App. S.D. 2010) (citations omitted).

Ms. Tillitt argues that almost no other evidence corroborated the victims' testimony, the process-of-disclosure evidence unnecessarily diverted the jury's attention, and, because the jury could assess the victims' credibility, the State improperly bolstered the victims' testimony with this evidence. Ms. Wemhoff testified generally about the process of disclosure, stating that "disclosure is not just an all or nothing one-time event. It typically is a process that happens over, like over time. And it kind of happens along a continuum." She elaborated as follows:

So as I've already mentioned the delayed disclosure is common and denial is common, so the continuum starts with no disclosure or denial of any abuse and goes from there to tentative or unconvincing disclosure where a child might be testing the water, getting a little bit of information. And then it ranges to full disclosure of events that a child has experienced. In addition to that in some cases children will recant and reaffirm their original statements.

At no point did Ms. Wemhoff testify that she believed the girls or that they, in particular, shared these characteristics.

In State v. Churchill , 98 S.W.3d 536, 539 (Mo. banc 2003), our supreme court distinguished between general and particularized expert testimony in sexual-abuse cases involving children. In this regard, it stated,

General testimony describes a "generalization" of behaviors and other characteristics commonly found in those who have been the victims of sexual abuse. Particularized testimony is that testimony concerning a specific victim's credibility as to whether they have been abused. The trial court has broad discretion in admitting general testimony, but when *581particularized testimony is offered, it must be rejected because it usurps the decision-making function of the jury and, therefore, is inadmissible.

Id. We do not find that the trial court's ruling was against the logic of the circumstances and so unreasonable as to indicate a lack of careful consideration. The trial court invited argument on this issue both before and during trial and was familiar with the Churchill principle distinguishing between general and particular behavioral testimony in child sexual-abuse cases. Juries certainly assess witness credibility, but are unlikely to know, in the absence of expert testimony, that child sexual-abuse victims disclose differently than adults. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in overruling Ms. Tillitt's objection to this testimony. This point is denied.

In the third and final point, Ms. Tillitt claims plain error in the trial court's decision to impose consecutive sentences for each of the six counts. She contends that its comments during sentencing about section 558.026 constituted "an incorrect statement of the law." She did not object to the court's purported misunderstanding of the law when the sentence was imposed, and, in fact, her counsel also believed that this section required consecutive sentences. We agree that the case must be returned to the trial court for resentencing.

In Williams , this Court stated that, as a matter of plain-error review, when "a court sentences a defendant based on a mistaken belief of the available range of punishment, it commits evident, obvious, and clear error, and such error results in manifest injustice if left uncorrected." Williams , 465 S.W.3d at 519. The current version of section 558.026 took effect August 28, 2013.

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Bluebook (online)
552 S.W.3d 571, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-tillitt-moctapp-2018.