Steele v. State

551 S.W.3d 538
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 9, 2018
DocketNo. ED 105223
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 551 S.W.3d 538 (Steele v. State) 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
Steele v. State, 551 S.W.3d 538 (Mo. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

KURT S. ODENWALD, Judge

Introduction *541James E. Steele, Jr. ("Steele") appeals from the motion court's denial of his Rule 29.151 motion following an evidentiary hearing. A jury found Steele guilty of driving while intoxicated ("DWI"). The trial court sentenced Steele to twelve years prison, as a chronic-DWI offender and a prior and persistent felony offender. Steele raises three points on appeal, each positing that the motion court clearly erred in denying his ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims. Steele argues that defense counsel was ineffective because she failed to: advise him of his right to testify (Point One), strike a biased juror (Point Two), and investigate and introduce the maintenance records of the arresting officer's patrol vehicle (Point Three). Steele did not plead in his Rule 29.15 motion that defense counsel failed to advise him of his right to testify. Because that issue was not raised before the motion court, we deny Point One. We reject Point Two because the record does not establish that the juror at issue was biased. Because the maintenance records for the patrol vehicle would only impeach the arresting officer's testimony on a tangential issue, we deny Point Three. We affirm the motion court's judgment.

Factual and Procedural History

Around midnight on September 1, 2012, Sergeant Thomas Rohn ("Sgt. Rohn"), a long-time veteran of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, was driving along the highway when he observed Steele's truck swerve across the centerline four times. Sgt. Rohn activated his emergency lights to conduct a traffic stop. After the vehicles stopped, Sgt. Rohn approached Steele's truck.

As he approached the truck, Sgt. Rohn detected a "very strong odor" of alcohol coming from Steele. Sgt. Rohn asked Steele to produce identification. Sgt. Rohn saw Steele struggle to comply; Steele fumbled through his wallet and experienced difficulty extracting his identification. Sgt. Rohn, recognizing that intoxicated people lose dexterity in their extremities and demonstrate low motor skills, suspected that Steele was intoxicated. For safety reasons, Sgt. Rohn instructed Steele to leave his truck and sit in the patrol vehicle during the traffic stop. Instead of complying with the instruction, Steele drank from a nearby soda container. After Sgt. Rohn repeatedly admonished Steele to stop drinking, Steele eventually obeyed. Sgt. Rohn speculated that Steele was using soda to mask the odor of alcohol.

According to Sgt. Rohn, Steele struggled to walk to the patrol vehicle. Steele swayed and was unsteady on his feet. Steele entered the patrol vehicle, but did not close the patrol vehicle's door. Steele turned his head toward the open door when answering Sgt. Rohn's questions. Again, Sgt. Rohn believed that, by keeping the door open, Steele was attempting to conceal the odor of alcohol. During the traffic stop, Sgt. Rohn noticed that Steele's eyes were glossy, he often stared, and his speech was slurred.

Sgt. Rohn asked Steele if he had consumed any drinks. Steele responded that he had drank seven or eight beers. Sgt. Rohn instructed Steele to perform field-sobriety and preliminary-breath tests, but Steele declined. Unprompted, Steele opined to Sgt. Rohn that he was going to jail. Steele's premonitions were realized; Sgt. Rohn arrested and transported him to a detention station. At the detention station, Steele refused any additional sobriety tests.

*542I. Trial Proceedings

The State charged Steele, as a chronic-DWI offender and a prior and persistent felony offender, with one count of DWI.2 The case proceeded to a jury trial. At Steele's first trial, the parties stipulated that they would not use Steele's statement that he had consumed seven-to-eight beers. Steele also acknowledged and voluntarily waived his right to testify. The trial resulted in a hung jury. The State sought a retrial. At the second trial, the State admitted into evidence Steele's incriminating statements regarding the number of beers he had consumed.

During voir dire, defense counsel queried if any veniremembers had "been the victim in an accident involving a DWI?" Veniremember McKenzie ("Juror McKenzie") responded affirmatively. The following discussion occurred:

Juror McKenzie: Yeah. We got hit from behind by a drunk driver in Cameron in 2005.
Defense Counsel: Were there any injuries?
Juror McKenzie: Not apparent injuries.
Defense Counsel: Is there anything about that experience that is going to affect the way you listen to the evidence today?
Juror McKenzie: Shouldn't.
Defense Counsel: Shouldn't. Okay. Is there anything about that that's going to make you a little bit more angry at [Steele] than you would?
Juror McKenzie: No, I'm not angry at [Steele].
Defense Counsel: What ended up happening to the driver?
Juror McKenzie: Well, after he hit and ran and left us there, he took off and then after we called it in, the police drove on by us because he hit somebody else. He grabbed his keys out of his vehicle and they were actually fighting when the law got there.
Defense Counsel: And did he eventually get charged with a DWI?
Juror McKenzie: I'm not sure if he was charged-I assume that he was, but we had to go identify him.
Defense Counsel: All right. So is there anything about that experience that you're going to bring with you if you're on the jury when you go to deliberate?
Juror McKenzie: Shouldn't affect interpretation of the law.
Defense Counsel: Are you going to have any extra emotions when you listen to the evidence?
Juror McKenzie: No.

Juror McKenzie did not respond to any other voir-dire questions. Defense counsel did not challenge Juror McKenzie for cause or use a preemptory strike on him. Juror McKenzie served as the foreperson of the petit jury.

The State presented Sgt. Rohn's testimony as outlined above. In addition to describing the traffic stop, Sgt. Rohn testified about the performance of his patrol vehicle's recording equipment. Under normal circumstances, the recording equipment on Sgt. Rohn's patrol vehicle automatically engages when the patrol vehicle's emergency lights are activated and the recording equipment stores the subsequent footage on a "blade" device. According to Sgt. Rohn, when he attempted to download the recording of the traffic stop from the "blade" device, he realized that, *543due to a malfunction, the "blade" device was blank. Sgt. Rohn noted that, previously, the "blade" device malfunctioned when it was not formatted properly and that technicians could reformat the "blade" device remotely.

Defense counsel cross-examined Sgt. Rohn about the recording equipment's performance. Sgt. Rohn conceded that he did not mention the equipment malfunction in his arrest report, his deposition, or his preliminary-hearing testimony. Sgt.

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

Related

Mark C. Brandolese v. State of Missouri
Missouri Court of Appeals, 2025
Corey McClendon v. State of Missouri
Missouri Court of Appeals, 2021
RAMONE J. HICKS v. STATE OF MISSOURI
Missouri Court of Appeals, 2020
John Marshall v. State of Missouri
567 S.W.3d 283 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2019)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
551 S.W.3d 538, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/steele-v-state-moctapp-2018.