State v. Walters

735 S.W.2d 737, 1987 Mo. App. LEXIS 4397
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 21, 1987
DocketNo. WD 38794
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 735 S.W.2d 737 (State v. Walters) 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. Walters, 735 S.W.2d 737, 1987 Mo. App. LEXIS 4397 (Mo. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

TURNAGE, Judge.

Terry Walters was found guilty by a jury of arson in the second degree, § 569.050, RSMo 1978, and attempted stealing of over $150, § 564.011, RSMo 1978. On stipulation of the parties, sentencing was by the court instead of the jury. The court imposed sentences of five years on each count to run concurrently, but suspended execution and placed Walters on probation for five years.

Walters challenges the sufficiency of the evidence and the exclusion of evidence. Affirmed.

Walters operated Walters Meat Market, including a bakery and deli operation, in a leased building on Highway 350 in Ray-town. At about 12:30 a.m. on August 5, 1984 the Raytown fire department answered an alarm at the market. On arrival the firemen found the market filled with smoke. On entering they discovered two fires, one near the front door and one near the center of the building. The front door had been propped open with a napkin holder used in the business. A gasoline can was discovered in the building with two holes punched in it to allow for the slow escape of gasoline. Near the center of the building a gas burner on the deep fryer was left on, but was not ignited. Near the burner was a book of matches and the ashes of a cigarette. The testimony was that this was a common delay ignition device, with the cigarette being placed near the matches, so that as the cigarette burned down it would ignite the matches. There was testimony that it would take from five to seven minutes for the cigarette to bum down to the matches.

There was evidence that the fire had been burning from 30 to 45 minutes by the time the firemen arrived.

The front door did not show any signs of forced entry, and in a sworn statement submitted as part of his proof of loss to an insurance company, Walters had stated that he was sure in his own mind that he had locked the front door when he left the building at about 8:00 p.m. on the evening before the fire. There was evidence that there were three keys; Walters and his wife had two of the keys and an employee had the other one.

The employee who had a key testified that he left the building at about 6:30 p.m. the evening before the fire and knew nothing of the fire until the next day.

The building was inspected by arson experts from the Raytown fire and police departments. They found that a screen above the deep fryer was removed, thereby opening the áir shaft for direct flow of air. On the desk in the office investigators found about five metal “in” and “out” baskets, stacked by means of metal holders with several inches in between each basket. There were papers loosely stacked in most of the baskets, particularly the one on the top. Interspersed among the papers were newspapers. This stack of papers extended up to a circuit breaker. The metal door of the circuit breaker box was held open by the papers stacked on the top “out” box. One of the experts said that if the fire had reached those papers and had entered the circuit breaker box, it would have melted the plastic circuit breakers and would have made it more difficult to determine that the fire was incendiary in nature.

Investigators found a safe and two cash registers, which had not been touched. The cash registers still had change in them.

[739]*739Walters arrived at the scene about 30 minutes after the firemen. He asked the fire chief whether his records had burned.

A patrolman who patrolled the area of the market about four to five times a week testified that Walters had two older trucks that were normally parked near the building. On the night before the fire he observed that the trucks were parked about 50-60 feet from the building. He stated that was the first time he had ever seen the trucks parked that far from the building.

The investigating officers testified that the inventory of the store appeared to be low and the small quantity of meat in the cooler was old and frozen solid. The officers stated that it did not appear to be good meat.

There was evidence that Walters had renewed an insurance policy with American Family Insurance Company on November 9, 1983 for one year. The policy covered real and personal property, and was in force at the time of the fire on August 5. Walters also carried worker’s compensation insurance with American Family Insurance Company, but that coverage was cancelled June 30,1984. Walters filed a proof-of-loss with American Family in which he claimed $65,278 for loss of personal property, $414 average profit per month, and $3,000 loss of salary for eight weeks. The American Family policy had been originally written on November 9, 1978 and renewed each year for a one year period. The worker’s compensation insurance had been originally written on June 30, 1978 and had been renewed each year until it was cancelled on June 30, 1984.

On July 1, 1984 Walters purchased an insurance policy from Liberty Mutual Insurance Company insuring the contents of his market for $125,000. On the same day he had purchased worker’s compensation insurance from Liberty Mutual, but the two policies were separate. After the fire Walters filed a proof-of-loss with Liberty Mutual claiming $65,278.60 loss. A representative from Liberty Mutual testified that it was unusual for an insured to have duplicate policies for the same coverage.

A bookkeeper who had worked for Walters testified that in March or April of 1984 he noticed that the income Walters reported on the forms he gave to the bookkeeper reported less income than was being deposited in the bank. The result was that Walters was under-reporting his sales to the state for sales tax purposes. The bookkeeper stated that a few days before the fire Walters inquired what would happen to his records if he had a fire. The bookkeeper stated that the records were normally kept in a file cabinet.

A CPA testified that he had examined Walters’ business records and found that Walters had obligations that exceeded his available income. He stated the business showed a loss of $2170 for the year ended in July 1983 and that, although the year ended July 31, 1984 showed a profit, gross income was down by $84,000. He further stated that from March of 1983 to April of 1984 Walters had under-reported sales to the state for sales tax purposes by about 25%. He testified that in July of 1984 Walters had three insufficient funds checks returned on his personal bank account. He further testified that after an examination of Walters’ 1984 tax return, it was his opinion that Walters did not have enough income to pay his obligations.

One of the arson investigators testified that an examination of the market revealed all of the classic indicators of an arson for profit fire, rather than a fire started by vandals. He stated the indicators were: the elaborate and intricate fire set-up with punctured gas can, the cigarette and matches near the deep fryer, and the removal of the vent to give the fire better ventilation. He stated that vandals who set fires do not think about giving ventilation to the fire. He also stated that the perpetrator had given attention to ventilation by placing the napkin holder to prop open the front door. He also stated in a back room of the building stacked plastic buckets had been placed on their sides on the floor; these appeared to be trailers to extend the fire into the far reaches of the building once it got started. He also stated another indication of arson for profit was the low inventory; often, arsonists-for-[740]*740profit remove items they want before setting the fire.

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Bluebook (online)
735 S.W.2d 737, 1987 Mo. App. LEXIS 4397, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-walters-moctapp-1987.