State v. Castilleja

• Decision Date: 15 September 1992
• Docket Number: 61143,Nos. 59314,s. 59314
• Citation: 837 S.W.2d 577
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Robert CASTILLEJA, Appellant. Robert CASTILLEJA, Movant-Appellant, v. STATE of Missouri, Respondent.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

Page 577

837 S.W.2d 577

STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Robert CASTILLEJA, Appellant.

Robert CASTILLEJA, Movant-Appellant, v. STATE of Missouri, Respondent.

Nos. 59314, 61143.

Missouri Court of Appeals,

Eastern District,

Division Two.

Sept. 15, 1992.

Emily N. Blood, Asst. Public Defender, St. Louis, for appellant.

William L. Webster, Atty. Gen., Hugh L. Marshall, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for respondent.

CRANDALL, Presiding Judge.

Defendant, Robert Castilleja, appeals from his convictions, after a jury trial, for robbery in the first degree and armed criminal action. He was sentenced to a term of ten years' imprisonment and a consecutive term of three years' imprisonment, respectively. We affirm.

Defendant does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence established that defendant approached a security guard, who was stationed at the receiving shed of a company located in the City of St. Louis, Missouri. When defendant told the security guard that he had a gun and wanted the guard's money, the guard gave defendant his wallet which contained $101.00.

Defendant testified at trial. He said that he did not use a gun and that he was getting money from the security guard for a friend to whom the guard owed money. He also stated that he was drunk during the incident.

Defendant's first point claims error in the denial of his challenge for cause of a member of the jury panel. The venireman had been a victim of an armed robbery and had testified in that case.

A defendant in a criminal case is entitled to a panel of qualified jurors before he is required to expend his allotted peremptory challenges. §§ 494.470 and 494.480, RSMo (Cum.Supp.1991); State v. Hill, 714 S.W.2d 687, 689 (Mo.App.1986). The trial court is accorded wide discretion in determining the qualifications of a prospective juror and its ruling on a challenge for cause will not be disturbed on appeal unless it constitutes a clear abuse of that discretion. Hill, 714 S.W.2d at 689. Each case must be judged on its facts; and errors in the exclusion of potential jurors should always be made on the side of caution. See Id.

A review of the voir dire examination of the challenged venireman discloses that he was unwavering in his answers that he could give defendant a fair trial and that his prior experience would not affect his decision in this case. There is no basis for a challenge for cause. The mere fact that the venireman was a victim of a crime did not disqualify him for jury service. See State v. Murphy, 739 S.W.2d 565, 569 (Mo.App.1987); see also State v. Land, 478 S.W.2d 290 (Mo.1972) (the significant factor in determining whether the challenge for cause was improperly denied was not the similarities between the venireman's prior experience and the case, but the court's determination that the venireman might "subconsciously" lean toward the State). Point one is denied.

In his second point, defendant attacks the petit and grand jury selection procedures in the City of St. Louis as violative of equal protection principles and the fair cross-section requirement. See Taylor v. Louisiana, 419 U.S. 522, 95 S.Ct. 692, 699, 42 L.Ed.2d 690 (1975) (systematic exclusion of women from the petit jury violates fair cross-section requirement). We have reviewed defendant's point on appeal and find that no jurisprudential purpose would be served by a written opinion. Point two is denied pursuant to Rule 30.25(b).

In his third point, defendant charges error in the State's closing argument in which the prosecutor mentioned defendant's prior misdemeanor conviction. During closing argument, when the prosecutor was discussing the punishment for robbery in the first degree and armed criminal action, the prosecutor stated, "Now I'd be...