State v. Buechting

• Decision Date: 27 July 2021
• Docket Number: ED 108511
• Citation: 633 S.W.3d 367
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Christopher B. BUECHTING, Appellant.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

633 S.W.3d 367

STATE of Missouri, Respondent,

v.Christopher B. BUECHTING, Appellant.

ED 108511

Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, DIVISION TWO.

Filed: July 27, 2021

Motion for Rehearing and/or Transfer to Supreme Court Denied August 30, 2021

Application for Transfer Denied November 23, 2021

Christian Lehmberg, Public Defender's Office, 1000 W. Nifong, Bldg. 7, Suite 100, Columbia, MO 65203, for appellant.

Daniel N. McPherson, Assistant Attorney General, P.O. Box 899, Jefferson City, MO 65102, for respondent.

Lisa P. Page, Judge

Christopher B. Buechting (Appellant) appeals from the trial court's judgment, following a jury trial, convicting him of second-degree murder, in violation of Section 565.021, RSMo 2016.¹ He was sentenced to twenty-eight years in the Missouri Department of Corrections. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

In September 2019, Appellant was convicted of murder in the second degree for causing the death of Angela McDonald (Victim). He now appeals, challenging the testimony of Victim's friends, Robyn (Robyn) and Brittany (Brittany) Walsh,² William Borden (Borden), and Victim's daughter, Summer McDonald (Daughter). Prior to trial, Appellant filed a motion in limine arguing the statements were inadmissible as unreliable hearsay or propensity/character evidence of prior bad acts or uncharged crimes. The State filed a response to Appellant's motion, asserting the evidence of prior domestic abuse was directly relevant to show Appellant's hostility toward Victim and motive to injure her. The State also claimed the hearsay statements were admissible pursuant to the forfeiture by wrongdoing doctrine set forth in Giles v. California , 554 U.S. 353, 128 S.Ct. 2678, 171 L.Ed.2d 488 (2008), and State v. McLaughlin , 265 S.W.3d 257 (Mo. banc 2008). In an August 28, 2019 written order, the trial court granted Appellant's motion as to Borden, Robyn, and Brittany, and in part, as to Daughter. However, the court deferred a final determination until the issues arose at trial, especially in regard to the admissibility of evidence pursuant to the forfeiture by wrongdoing doctrine.

At trial and relevant to this appeal, the court held a hearing outside the presence of the jury after selection but before the jurors were sworn. First, the court accepted the parties’ stipulation that Appellant was a prior felony offender and a persistent misdemeanor offender.³ Then the court heard arguments on the "legally controversial evidence that the State anticipate[d] presenting" and Appellant's motion in limine. The trial court noted it did not have much procedural guidance and rejected Appellant's argument that a finding should be made regarding evidence admitted pursuant to the forfeiture by wrongdoing doctrine.⁴ The court ultimately concluded the Victim's interaction with law enforcement the day before her death, as detailed herein, was sufficient to invoke Giles and McLaughlin and allowed the State to present the testimony pursuant to the forfeiture by wrongdoing doctrine. The trial court also indicated it would rule upon each statement regarding Appellant's prior bad acts as it was being introduced, but opined the defense's evidence of self-harm could open the door to the State's evidence of past incidents to provide context.

In the light most favorable to the verdict, the following evidence was adduced at trial. Appellant and Victim moved into a trailer together sometime in September 2015. On January 22, 2017, Appellant left the trailer and placed a 9-1-1 call around 4 p.m. He stated it was not an emergency, but he did not want to be at the trailer if Victim was there because she was jealous and angry with him. He claimed she threw a brick or rock at him, and purposely hit her head on the door as he drove away. He adamantly denied the need to meet with authorities to make a report, even at a different location.

Jefferson County Sheriff Deputy Andrew Godi (Deputy Godi) responded to Appellant's 9-1-1 call. When Victim answered the door, Deputy Godi observed she had a dark bruise under her left chin and bruising under her left eye. She was also holding her left side and complained of rib pain. Victim told Deputy Godi she had an argument with Appellant earlier that day. She refused to go to the hospital either with Deputy Godi or by ambulance. However, she did allow him to contact a women's shelter to see if she could spend the night, but changed her mind. She then allowed Deputy Godi to call her friends, Brittany and Robyn, who arrived soon thereafter. They also noticed Victim's black eye and bruised chin

. Deputy Godi left after Victim agreed to go home with them. However, Victim again changed her mind and remained at the trailer. Brittany testified Victim was scared and Robyn observed that she could not stand up straight. Victim explained to her friends that Appellant had punched her in the ribs several times and that she thought they were broken. Appellant objected to this testimony as hearsay, but the State argued it was admissible pursuant to prior motion arguments.⁵ The objection was overruled by the trial court.

Brittany also testified that at Victim's request, she had spent 15 to 20 minutes with her at the trailer earlier that day after Appellant left but before Deputy Godi arrived. Over Appellant's continuing hearsay objection, she stated that Victim was upset with her and told her that if she "would have showed up earlier, none of this would have happened." Brittany had noticed – but did not ask about – Victim's black eye and bruised chin

. She inferred that Victim was talking about her injuries.

Appellant testified that when he returned later in the day, he physically removed Victim from the trailer with his left arm and locked her out. Appellant allowed her back inside after she was quiet for about three minutes. He said Victim had a bloody nose and blood on her shirt. That evening Appellant sent a text to his boss, Lindell Lindsay (Lindsay), stating that he was not coming to work the next day.⁶

Appellant further testified that the next morning, on January 23, 2017, was a "normal day" but he did not go to work because he stayed up late and was "a little bit concerned about [Victim]" because she did not look good. Victim was stumbling while walking and fell to her knees, so he sat her on the couch and went outside. When he returned, he noticed Victim was "snoring real funny." He called Lindsay, and said that he "couldn't arouse [Victim] off the couch." Lindsay told Appellant to wave something like vinegar near her to see if she responded. When she did not, Lindsay told Appellant to call an ambulance, which he did at 1:19 p.m.

Hillsboro Police Officer Gavin Hopler (Officer Hopler) was dispatched to assist the paramedics who were treating Victim for a head injury

. He observed blood spatter on the front porch and the blood directly in front of the front door partially covered by a door mat. Officer Hopler testified that he spoke with Appellant, who smelled of alcohol, was slow and hesitant to answer questions, and whose speech was slurred. Appellant admitted he had an argument with Victim the previous night and another one earlier that day. He claimed that after he told Victim he was going to leave her, he heard her violently react by striking her head on the trailer's door frame, porch, or window. Appellant told Officer Hopler he did not touch or cause harm to Victim. He also volunteered that he fled into the woods when officers were dispatched after he called 9-1-1 the prior day, but did not explain why. Victim was transported to the hospital where she died the next day.

On January 24, 2017, shortly after Appellant was informed of Victim's death, he was interviewed by Detective Scott Poe (Detective Poe). An audio recording of the interview was played for the jury. Although Appellant was very upset, Detective Poe testified he understood the questions and gave coherent answers, but his timeline of events was "jumping all around," so he had to frequently stop Appellant for clarification. Appellant claimed that on January 22, Victim was jealous of Amy Scott and threw a brick at him as he was leaving; he also said she hit her head on the door. When he returned home that evening, Appellant physically removed Victim from the trailer with his left arm. He said she banged her head on the door, porch, or window, and when her nose started bleeding, Appellant helped her inside. Appellant added that Victim fell and got muddy at a friend's house a few days prior, but mentioned no other prior incidents that caused her injuries.

However, at trial Appellant's evidence included his testimony denying that he hit, punched, or kicked Victim and that he did not cause any of the injuries she suffered between January 20 and 23. Appellant described the source of Victim's injuries as Victim jumping out of his truck on January 20 and physically fighting with another woman, Amy Scott, on January 21. Appellant added that she was angry and violent with him, banged her head on the door frame, and suffered more injuries when she tried to jump into the back of his truck as he backed out of the driveway on January 22, the night before she was taken to the hospital. He did admit to grabbing her left arm, throwing her outside and locking her out of the trailer that same day. However, Appellant previously failed to mention anything about Victim's fight with Amy Scott or her jumping out of a truck a few nights earlier on the way to a friend's house in his 9-1-1 calls or to interviewing law enforcement officers. He also failed to disclose Victim's attempt to stop Appellant's truck from leaving the night before she became unconscious, as he claimed at trial.

Crime scene detective, Nick Schuenemann (Detective Schuenemann), described the single-wide mobile home with an 8-foot-by-10-foot wooden porch or deck in front and four steps leading up to it. He testified that, like Officer Hopler, he observed a red "viscous substance," described as dried or drying blood, on the...