State v. Townsel

564 S.W.3d 731
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 16, 2018
DocketWD 80792
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 564 S.W.3d 731 (State v. Townsel) 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. Townsel, 564 S.W.3d 731 (Mo. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

Lisa White Hardwick, Judge

Tia Townsel appeals her convictions and sentences for voluntary manslaughter and armed criminal action. She contends the circuit court erred in: (1) allowing in-court identifications of her by two witnesses; (2) failing to grant a mistrial or order a new trial based on a juror's alleged nondisclosure of a hardship; and (3) allowing the State to use confidential documents to impeach a defense witness. For reasons explained herein, we find no error and affirm the judgment.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Townsel does not contest the sufficiency of the evidence to support her convictions. The evidence, in the light most favorable to the verdict, is that in the early morning hours of June 23, 2015, Townsel and Jermaine Collins were arguing at an apartment complex in Kansas City. Townsel hit Collins in the face with her fist. Collins responded by throwing a whiskey bottle at Townsel, but the bottle did not hit her. Townsel went into her apartment and emerged a short time later with a knife. She swung the knife at Collins, who ran backwards as Townsel made stabbing motions toward him.

While this was occurring, Mandy Donlan and her son, Michael (collectively, "the Donlans")1 were walking their dogs at the apartment complex. Mandy heard Collins ask for help, then she saw Townsel make a stabbing motion at Collins. Collins collapsed in a grassy area near the parking lot. Mandy called 911 and told the operator that the woman who stabbed Collins was in the vicinity. Mandy then attempted to give CPR to Collins, who was bleeding and making gurgling sounds. As Mandy was attempting CPR, Townsel told her, "Mind your own fucking business." Townsel spit on Collins and kicked him. She also told Collins, "See, this is what you made me do," and that he had gotten what he deserved. After the police were called, Townsel claimed that she had acted in self-defense.

Mandy told the 911 operator that the attacker had cut herself while stabbing Collins. Police found two trails of blood around the parking lot. One blood trail ran from the parking lot to Townsel's apartment, while the other ran from the parking lot to the area where Collins's body was.

*735An officer found Townsel in her apartment. The officer saw that Townsel's left hand was bleeding badly.2 A bloody steak knife was found in her kitchen sink. Townsel was handcuffed, placed in an ambulance, and taken to the hospital.

Collins died from a single stab wound to his chest. He had defensive wounds to both of his hands and his left forearm. DNA testing matched blood on the blade of the steak knife found in Townsel's apartment to Collins. According to the DNA analyst, if Townsel had cut her hand on the blade, her DNA might not show up due to the amount of Collins's blood that was on the blade. A swab taken from the handle of the knife tested negative for blood, but the swab showed a mixture of Townsel's DNA and Collins's DNA, with Townsel being the major contributor to that mix.

The State charged Townsel, as a prior and persistent offender, with second-degree murder and armed criminal action. A jury trial was held. Townsel did not testify. She did, however, present testimony from a crime scene investigator about evidence collected from Townsel at the hospital. Townsel also offered the testimony of Kambria Williams, who was living at the apartment complex on the night of the crimes. Williams testified that Collins was arguing with a resident named Samantha Moore, who had testified for the State, and that Townsel was in her (Townsel's) apartment when Collins was stabbed. Williams testified that she did not see the stabbing take place. Williams was incarcerated with Townsel at the time of her testimony.

The jury found Townsel guilty of voluntary manslaughter, which was submitted as a lesser-included offense of second-degree murder, and armed criminal action. The court sentenced her as a prior and persistent offender to consecutive terms of thirty years in prison for voluntary manslaughter and ten years in prison for armed criminal action. Townsel appeals.

ANALYSIS

In Point I, Townsel contends the circuit court erred in allowing the Donlans to make in-court identifications of her. She argues that the in-court identifications were improper because they were made without prior out-of-court identifications that were reliable and not impermissibly suggestive.

Three days before trial began, Townsel filed a motion in limine requesting to prohibit the introduction of any in-court identification of her by the Donlans. She argued that an in-court identification was not permissible because the Donlans were unable to positively identify Townsel from a photograph that the police showed them on the night of the incident. Townsel attempted to have her motion heard on the morning of trial, which was March 6, 2017, but the court refused that request because it had previously advised the parties that all motions needed to be filed and heard at the pretrial conference, which was held on June 29, 2016.

During the State's case, Kansas City Police Officer Marviel Pringle testified that, after Townsel had been taken into custody and was being led out of her apartment, both Donlans identified Townsel as the "individual responsible" for the incident. Townsel did not object to this testimony.

*736Later in the State's case, Mandy testified that she had seen a woman make a stabbing motion at Collins, who later fell to the ground. The prosecutor asked Mandy if she saw the person who did that to Collins in the courtroom. When Mandy said, "Yeah, I do," Townsel objected to the in-court identification on the basis that Mandy had been unable to identify Townsel from the photograph that the police had shown her at headquarters on the night of the incident. The court overruled the objection, and Mandy identified Townsel. On cross-examination, Townsel questioned Mandy about the fact that she could not identify Townsel from the photograph. Mandy explained that she could not identify Townsel from the picture the police showed her because Townsel's hair was different in the picture. Mandy noted that she was able to identify Townsel in person on the night of the incident.

Michael testified that, while his mother performed CPR on Collins, a woman carrying a knife came up to Collins, assaulted him, took his phone, and said, "See, this is what you made me do." After Michael talked to the police officers at the scene, he saw the police bring the woman out of her apartment and place her in an ambulance. Michael noted that, at that time, he pointed Townsel out to the police as the person who had hurt Collins. The prosecutor asked Michael if he saw that person in the courtroom. Michael responded, "Yes, ma'am." Townsel objected to the in-court identification on the basis that Michael had not been able to definitively identify the person responsible for the crimes when the police interviewed him at headquarters after the incident. The court overruled the objection, and Michael identified Townsel.

After the Donlans testified, Kansas City Police Detective Scott Emery testified that, when he interviewed the Donlans at headquarters after the incident, he showed each of them a single photograph of Townsel that was obtained from the Department of Revenue.

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564 S.W.3d 731, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-townsel-moctapp-2018.