State v. Brushwood
| Decision Date | 13 September 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. WD 64564.,WD 64564. |
| Citation | 171 S.W.3d 143 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. John Otis BRUSHWOOD, Appellant. |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Dwight K. Scroggins, Jr., Prosecuting Attorney, Kate Stigall, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, St. Joseph, MO, for respondent.
Ronald R. Holliday and Jason C. Soper, St. Joseph, MO, for appellant.
Before SMITH, C.J., and ULRICH and BRECKENRIDGE, JJ.
John Otis Brushwood appeals the judgment of his conviction, after a bench trial in the Circuit Court of Buchanan County, of the class B misdemeanor of property damage in the second degree, § 569.120,1 for vandalizing a motor vehicle titled in the name of his wife, from whom he was legally separated at the time. As a result of his conviction, the appellant received a sentence of three months in the Buchanan County Jail, the execution of which was suspended, with the appellant being placed on probation for one year.
The appellant raises one point on appeal. He claims that the trial court erred in overruling his motion for judgment of acquittal at the close of all the evidence because the State failed to prove, in violation of due process, an essential element of the offense of which he was charged and convicted, second-degree property damage, that he had damaged the property "of another," in that he had a marital interest in the motor vehicle he was charged with damaging.
We affirm.
The appellant and Rowena Ruth Brushwood were married on September 27, 1977. Three children were born of the marriage. In addition, Rowena was the stepmother of the appellant's child of another marriage, Jonathan Brushwood. Rowena filed for divorce on November 7, 2003, in the Circuit Court of Buchanan County. An order of legal separation was entered on April 27, 2004.
In February of 2002, more than a year before Rowena filed for divorce, she helped Jonathan shop for a car. Ultimately, they agreed that he would purchase a 1997 Chevrolet Blazer. Rowena assumed that Jonathan would obtain a loan to purchase the vehicle, and she would co-sign it. However, when Jonathan was unable to obtain a loan in his name, Rowena obtained one in her name. The Blazer was titled in her name, with title to pass to Jonathan in the event of her death. The loan payments were automatically deducted from Rowena's individual checking account. Jonathan maintained insurance on the vehicle and reimbursed Rowena for many of the loan payments. Rowena occasionally drove the Blazer, which was initially kept at Jonathan's residence and was used primarily by him.
At some point, before Rowena filed for divorce in November of 2003, Jonathan stopped making payments to Rowena on the Blazer. Consequently, Rowena obtained insurance on the vehicle, which then went largely unused. On January 18, 2004, Rowena allowed Jason, who is the parties' son, to drive the Blazer, which broke down. As a result, the Blazer was towed to Tom's Garage in St. Joseph. The owner of the garage, Tom Helton, determined that the problem was with the fuel pump, caused by a large chunk of ice in the gas tank. Helton concluded that someone had poured water in the Blazer's gas tank. In that regard, sometime later, Helton ran into the appellant at a grocery store and the two talked about the Blazer's fuel pump problems. In the course of the conversation, the appellant told Helton that he should not be surprised if he found water in the gas tank.
On February 11, 2004, the appellant was charged by information in the Circuit Court of Buchanan County with property damage in the second degree. On April 16, 2004, he was also charged by information with victim tampering and violating an order of protection previously obtained by Rowena, after he allegedly called her at her job and tried to dissuade her from cooperating in the prosecution of the property damage charge. The charges were consolidated for trial.
Following a bench trial on September 7, 2004, the appellant was found guilty of property damage, but was found not guilty of victim tampering and violating an order of protection. He was sentenced on the same date to three months in the Buchanan County Jail on the property damage charge. However, the trial court suspended the execution of his sentence and placed him on probation for one year.
This appeal followed.
In a jury-tried case, our review of a trial court's ruling on a motion for judgment of acquittal is for a submissible case. State v. Davis, 71 S.W.3d 659, 664 (Mo.App.2002). However, in a judge-tried case, as here, where the trier of fact and the arbiter of the law are one in the same, we review to determine whether there was sufficient evidence from which the trial court could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. In making that determination, we accept as true all evidence tending to prove guilt together with all reasonable inferences that support the finding and ignore all contrary evidence and inferences. Id. We do not weigh the evidence or decide the credibility of witnesses, but defer to the trial court. Id.
I.
In his sole point on appeal, the appellant claims that the trial court erred in overruling his motion for judgment of acquittal at the close of all the evidence because the State failed to prove, in violation of due process, an essential element of the offense of which he was charged and convicted, second-degree property damage, that he had damaged the property "of another," in that he had a marital interest in the motor vehicle he was charged with damaging. We disagree.
To convict a defendant of a criminal offense, the State is required, as a matter of due process, to prove beyond a reasonable doubt each and every element of the charged offense. State v. Sellars, 98 S.W.3d 124, 127 (Mo.App.2003). Here, the State charged that, in violation of § 569.120.1(1), the appellant damaged the Blazer by pouring water into the gas tank. Section 569.120.1(1) provides that a person commits the crime of property damage in the second degree if he "knowingly damages property of another." (Emphasis added.) Hence, to convict the appellant of property damage in the second degree, as charged under § 569.120.1(1), the State was required to prove, inter alia, that the property allegedly damaged, the Blazer, was "property of another." State v. Green, 643 S.W.2d 1, 2 (Mo.App.1982).
The appellant claims that he did not damage the "property of another," so as to allow a conviction for violating § 569.120.1(1), in that he had an undisputed marital property interest in the Blazer at the time he damaged it. Specifically, he contends in his brief:
Appellant was charged with damaging a 1997 Chevrolet Blazer by pouring five gallons of water into the gas tank. However, the evidence is undisputed that this vehicle was marital property, and the Appellant and the victim were involved in a pending action for dissolution of marriage or legal separation at the time of the alleged offense. Approximately three months after the alleged offense, this vehicle was divided by a valid judgment of Legal Separation.
As stated in State v. Crenshaw, 41 Mo.App. 24, 1890 WL 1857 (Mo.App.1890) at p. 24, "the statute denounces the acts therein named as criminal only when they are done to the property of another in which the person charged has no interest, and this want of interest in the property is the very gravamen of the offense." One cannot be convicted of damaging his own property unless it is done for the purpose of defrauding an insurer. Section 569.120, RSMo.1986.
The trial court erred in failing to grant Defendant's Motion for Acquittal at the Close of all the Evidence.
Even assuming, arguendo, that the appellant had a marital interest in the vehicle when it was damaged, his claim of error would not be correct, and he would not be entitled to the appellate relief he seeks, unless he is correct in his assertion that such an interest caused the vehicle not to be "property of another." Hence, the determination of the appellant's claim turns on an interpretation of the phrase "property of another" in § 569.120.1(1).
In interpreting statutes, we are to ascertain the intent of the legislature, giving the language used its plain and ordinary meaning. Pavlica v. Dir. of Revenue, 71 S.W.3d 186, 189 (Mo.App.2002). Where the legislative intent is made evident by giving the language employed in the statute its plain and ordinary meaning, we are without authority to read into the statute an intent, which is contrary thereto. Id. When the legislative intent cannot be ascertained from the language of...
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