State v. Beal
| Decision Date | 10 November 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. WD,WD |
| Citation | 966 S.W.2d 9 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Steven B. BEAL, Appellant. 52724. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Susan L. Hogan, Appellate Defender, Kansas City, for appellant.
Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon, Atty. Gen., Breck K. Burgess, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for respondent.
Before ULRICH, C.J., P.J., and SMART and ELLIS, JJ.
Steven Beal appeals his convictions following jury trial for one count of first degree murder, section 565.020, 1 one count of first degree assault, section 565.050, and two counts of armed criminal action, section 571.015, and concurrent sentences of life imprisonment without parole, life imprisonment, and two twenty-year terms of imprisonment, respectively. He claims that the trial court erred in (1) refusing to submit instructions on the lesser included offenses of second degree murder and involuntary manslaughter, and (2) admitting his videotaped statement to police that included a reference to his previous gang involvement. The judgment of convictions is affirmed.
On the evening of February 1, 1995, Appellant Steven Beal, Terelle Berry, and David Jordan were at the home of Mr. Beal's girlfriend, Antoinette Clark. Sometime between 10:00 and 11:00 p.m., Mr. Beal borrowed Ms. Clark's white, 1995 four-door Geo Metro, with Kansas license plate number JRO-002, to take Mr. Berry and Mr. Jordan home.
At approximately 11:50 p.m., Billy James, a 53-year-old bearded black man, was walking on the sidewalk along the 2600 block of Indiana in Kansas City when a white car pulled over to the curb near him. An occupant of the car spoke to him, but he could not understand what they said so he approached the car to hear the person better. When he got to the car, he was shot in the face. The car sped away, and Mr. James was able to walk back to his house on the same street and called the police. The gunshot broke Mr. James's jaw and knocked out his teeth. He spent about two weeks in the hospital after the shooting.
Approximately 40 minutes later at 12:30 a.m. on February 2, Charles Kirk was sitting in his car in a parking lot across the street from The Levee, a bar located on 43rd Street in Kansas City. Mr. Kirk, a security guard for the bar, was watching the premises when he saw Stephen Brown, an elderly black man, walking along the street. Mr. Kirk had seen Mr. Brown in the area before and knew him to be a jovial person. That night, however, Mr. Kirk noticed that he seemed scared and kept looking back over his shoulder.
As Mr. Brown approached some railroad tracks that led into a park, Mr. Kirk observed a white, four-door car being driven into the parking lot near the tracks. A man exited the car and ran, with his hand under his shirt, down a hill toward Mr. Brown. Suddenly, Mr. Kirk heard three gunshots and saw the man run back to the car. As the car sped away, Mr. Kirk noted that the car had Kansas license plates on which appeared a "J" and "002." He then rushed down the hill, found Mr. Brown lying face down in the gravel, and ran back to the bar to call for emergency assistance. By the time help arrived, Mr. Brown had died of two intermediate range gunshot wounds to his back.
At about the same time, Mark Smith, a taxi driver, was getting gas at a nearby convenience store when he heard three gunshots coming from the direction of The Levee. Mr. Smith got into his cab and started to leave the store's parking lot when he observed a small, white car occupied by three people. The white car slowly exited the driveway across the street from Mr. Smith and turned southbound on Main Street. Mr. Smith was suspicious, so he followed the car. He called the car's license plate number, Kansas JRO-002, into his dispatcher. Later that night, Mr. Smith was called to the crime scene and reported the license plate number to the police.
At 3:45 a.m., a police officer stopped the white Geo Metro and arrested the driver and two passengers. The car was secured and towed. At 4:00 a.m., Ms. Clark consented to a search of her car. The search yielded a box of live ammunition and two weapons, a Taurus 9mm semiautomatic pistol and a Grindle P12 .38 semiautomatic pistol. Ballistics testing revealed that the 9mm had fired three shell casings that were found on the railroad tracks near Mr. Brown's body and two bullets that were recovered from his body. A shell casing that was found at the scene of the Billy James shooting and a bullet recovered from his body was determined to have been fired by the Grindle P12 .38.
Mr. Beal was interviewed after his arrest. He initially denied any involvement in the shootings; however, he soon admitted shooting Mr. Brown. Mr. Beal was charged with first degree murder for the death of Mr. Brown, first degree assault for shooting Mr. James, and two counts of armed criminal action.
At trial, he testified in his own defense explaining that he carried his 9mm handgun for protection because he had been robbed at gunpoint twice and had been shot at several times. He testified that on the night of the shootings, he was driving the white car when Mr. Berry told him to pull over to the curb. When a man approached the car, Mr. Berry shot him without warning. Mr. Beal asserted that he panicked and drove away. Eventually, he got lost and pulled into a parking lot across from The Levee. He further explained that he got out of the car and ran down to the railroad tracks to urinate when a man approached him. He told the man to leave him alone and showed him his weapon. Mr. Beal stated that the man continued to walk toward him, he panicked again and fired three shots at the man as the man was facing him.
Mr. Beal was convicted of the four counts charged and sentenced to concurrent terms of life imprisonment without parole for murder, life imprisonment for assault, and twenty years imprisonment for each armed criminal action count. This appeal followed.
In his first point on appeal, Mr. Beal claims that the trial court erred in refusing to submit his offered instructions for the lesser included offenses of second degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. He asserts that the evidence provided a basis for both an acquittal of first degree murder and a conviction of either second degree murder or involuntary manslaughter. Specifically, Mr. Beal argues that the jury could have found from the evidence that he did not deliberate in causing the death of Stephen Brown.
A court is not obligated to instruct the jury on a lesser included offense unless the evidence provides a basis to acquit the defendant of the charged offense and to convict him of the lesser included offense. § 556.046.2. Second degree murder and involuntary manslaughter are lesser included offenses of first degree murder. § 565.025.2. A person commits first degree murder if he knowingly causes the death of another person after deliberation upon the matter. § 565.020.1. A person commits second degree murder if he knowingly causes the death of another person or, with the purpose of causing serious physical injury, causes the death of another person. § 565.021.1. A person commits the crime of involuntary manslaughter if he recklessly causes the death of another person. § 565.024.1(1).
The element of deliberation distinguishes first degree murder from second degree murder. State v. Santillan, 948 S.W.2d 574, 576 (Mo. banc 1997). Deliberation is defined as "cool reflection for any length of time no matter how brief." § 565.022(3). Deliberation is a mental state that may be proved by indirect evidence and inferences reasonably drawn from the circumstances surrounding the crime and, therefore, is a question of fact for the jury. Santillan, 948 S.W.2d at 576. Thus, a defendant is entitled to a second degree murder instruction in most homicide cases. Id. A second degree murder instruction need not be submitted, however, if "all of the evidence supports a finding of deliberation and no reasonable juror could conclude otherwise." Id.
The evidence in this case did not provide a basis from which a reasonable juror could have concluded that Mr. Beal acted without deliberation in causing the death of Stephen Brown. Evidence presented at trial showed that Mr. Brown appeared frightened to witness Charles Kirk, who observed Mr. Brown descend a hill near the Levee. Mr. Beal arrived in a white vehicle, exited the car, and ran down the hill behind Mr. Brown. Mr Beal shot Mr. Brown three times in the back shortly after descending the hill. Mr. Beal then ran to the waiting white car, got in the vehicle, and sped away. Although Mr. Beal testified that he panicked and shot Mr. Brown when Mr. Brown approached him, Mr. Beal's version of the shooting was contrary to the undisputed physical evidence that Mr. Brown was shot in the back. Furthermore, Mr. Beal admitted that Mr. Brown did not have a weapon and did not threaten or attack him. Mr. Beal testified that Mr. Brown did not even say anything to him.
The evidence did not provide a basis to acquit Mr. Beal of first degree murder and to convict him of second degree murder or involuntary manslaughter. No reasonable juror could have believed Mr. Beal's testimony that he shot Mr. Beal without deliberation. The evidence supported only a finding of deliberation. The trial court, therefore, did not err in refusing to instruct the jury on second degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. Point one is denied.
In his second point on appeal, Mr. Beal claims that the trial court erred in admitting his videotaped statement to police that included a reference to his previous gang involvement. He argues that the reference to gang activity...
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