State v. Burns

• Decision Date: 26 August 2014
• Docket Number: No. ED100208,ED100208
• Parties: STATE OF MISSOURI, Respondent, v. RONALD DONNELL BURNS, Appellant.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

STATE OF MISSOURI, Respondent,
v.
RONALD DONNELL BURNS, Appellant.

No. ED100208

Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District DIVISION ONE

August 26, 2014

Appeal from the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis

Hon. Thomas J. Frawley

Ronald D. Burns appeals from the judgment of the trial court after a bench trial that convicted him of the class C felony of stealing a credit card and sentenced him as a persistent offender to a term of ten years' imprisonment. Burns challenges the sufficiency of the evidence. Finding no error, we affirm.

Viewed in the light most favorable to the judgment, the evidence is as follows. On September 29, 2011, Lattice White drove to a restaurant in the City of St. Louis to pick up food during her lunch break. Returning to her car, White placed the food and her purse, which contained her wallet, on the passenger seat. She started to drive back to work and saw a blind woman about to cross the street. White parked her car awkwardly with the hazard lights on and went to assist the blind woman, locking the car doors but leaving the passenger-side window lowered about six inches. Approximately five minutes later White came back to her car and saw two African-American men standing by it, Burns and Jermaine Morgan. She asked them what they were doing, and if they had tried to get into the car or messed with anything. They replied

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that they wondered why her car was parked awkwardly with its hazard lights on, and that they did not know what she was talking about. White began to drive off and the two men walked away. She checked her purse and discovered that her wallet, which contained cash and credit cards was missing. White turned her car around, called the police, and confronted Burns and Morgan, both of whom initially denied taking the wallet. Morgan eventually told White that Burns took her wallet. The two men started to leave as the police arrived. White pointed Burns out as he headed down the road and identified him as the man who took her wallet. Sargeant Kevin Androff of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department drove towards Burns, who tried to enter an apartment complex but was stymied by the gate. Sgt. Androff told Burns to come over, and Burns was read his Miranda rights. Burns admitted that he took White's wallet and that he threw it down near the gate where the police first contacted him. The police recovered White's wallet near the gate, which they found still contained cash and White's Mastercard. Nothing was missing from the wallet.

Burns waived his right to a jury trial. White, Morgan, Sgt. Androff, and Officer Phillip Wells testified. The State introduced several exhibits, including the 911 recording of White's call to the police. The State also submitted evidence that established Burns' status as a prior and persistent offender. Counsel for Burns moved for a judgment of acquittal at the close of the State's case and after the close of all evidence. The trial court denied both motions. The trial court found that Burns was guilty of stealing a credit card, and it sentenced him to a term of ten years' imprisonment. Burns now appeals from this judgment.

In his sole point relied on Burns contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal at the close of all of the evidence because there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction for stealing a credit card, thereby violating his right to due

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process of law under the U.S. Constitution and the Missouri Constitution. Burns argues that the State failed to prove that he appropriated White's Mastercard with the purpose to deprive her of that credit card. He asserts that the State failed to...