State v. Chambers
| Decision Date | 22 June 1999 |
| Docket Number | WD55964 |
| Citation | 998 S.W.2d 85 |
| Parties | State of Missouri, Respondent, v. Darrell Chambers, Appellant. WD55964 Missouri Court of Appeals Western District 0 |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Appeal From: Circuit Court of Jackson County, Hon. Lee E. Wells
Opinion Summary: Appellant-Defendant, Darrell Chambers, appeals his convictions of forcible rape, in violation of Section 566.030, RSMo Cum. Supp. 1993, and assault in the first degree, in violation of Section 565.050, RSMo 1986, for which he was sentenced to a term of thirty years and a consecutive term of fifteen years imprisonment, respectively.
On appeal, Defendant asserts: (1) the trial court committed plain error when it submitted an instruction which fatally varied from the MAI-CR; and (2) the trial court erred in overruling his motion for judgment of acquittal on his conviction of assault in the first degree because there was insufficient evidence from which the jury could conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that he had the necessary intent to commit the crime charged.
Division I holds: It was not plain error for the trial court to submit Instructions Nos. 6 and 8, which were the verdict directors for the offenses of forcible rape and assault in the first degree, respectively. Although the instructions varied from the pattern instructions in that each instruction lacked the concluding phrase that Defendant would be found guilty if all the elements were found, under the facts of the case, the jury was not so substantially misled by the instructions so as to have reached a verdict unjustly.
The trial court did not err finding there was sufficient evidence from which the jury could conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Defendant had the necessary intent to commit the crime of first-degree assault. A person commits the crime of first-degree assault if the person attempts to kill or knowingly causes or attempts to cause serious physical injury to another person. The necessary intent element may be based upon circumstantial evidence or inferred from surrounding facts. Reasonable jurors could have concluded from the evidence presented at trial that Defendant himself attempted to kill or cause serious physical injury to the victim by participating in her assault. And, at the very least, the evidence was sufficient for the jury to find Defendant guilty as an accomplice to the assault. To be found guilty as an accomplice to assault, the evidence need only show proof of some participation in the underlying crime. There was ample evidence from which a reasonable juror could conclude Defendant aided and abetted the other participant in the commission of assault.
Defendant Darrell Chambers appeals his convictions of forcible rape, in violation of Section 566.030, RSMo Cum. Supp. 1993, and assault in the first degree, in violation of Section 565.050, RSMo 1986, for which he was sentenced to consecutive terms of thirty and fifteen years imprisonment, respectively. On appeal, Defendant asserts: (1) the trial court committed plain error when it submitted an instruction which fatally varied from the MAI-CR; and (2) the trial court erred in overruling his motion for judgment of acquittal on his conviction of assault in the first degree because there was insufficient evidence from which the jury could conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that he had the necessary intent to commit the crime charged. Finding no error, we affirm.
The evidence, taken in the light most favorable to the verdict, is as follows: on March 7, 1994, at around 11:00 p.m., Defendant and his friend, Tracy Jackson, met Mary Goertz at the Amtrak Station in Kansas City, Missouri. Ms. Goertz was a mental patient at the Topeka State Hospital. She had escaped from the hospital in late February 1994 and had been living on the streets in Kansas City since that time. Mr. Jackson took Ms. Goertz to a vacant building in the downtown Kansas City area which had once housed the Monroe Hotel. Approximately ten minutes later, Defendant met them there. When Defendant arrived, he saw Mr. Jackson dragging and beating Ms. Goertz while attempting to pull her up the stairs in the building. Ms. Goertz was screaming, hollering and struggling to get free from Mr. Jackson, who was kicking her and stomping her in the face.
Defendant admitted he joined Mr. Jackson and also began hitting Ms. Goertz as he attempted to get her into one of the old hotel rooms in the vacant building. Once they entered one of the rooms, the men continued to beat Ms. Goertz. Mr. Jackson forced Ms. Goertz onto a mattress lying on the floor and forced her to have sex with him. Defendant also attempted to force Ms. Goertz to have sex with him while Mr. Jackson held Ms. Goertz down and punched her in the face. Ms. Goertz continued to struggle, and attempted to get away several times, but the two men made her stay in the room through the night, approximately nine hours. In the morning, Defendant and Mr. Jackson left the room and went their separate ways.
At approximately 12:30 p.m. that afternoon, March 8, 1994, Richard Tyler, a cab driver in Kansas City, found Ms. Goertz sitting outside the bus station in downtown Kansas City. Mr. Tyler saw that Ms. Goertz was crying and could tell that she had been badly beaten. Mr. Tyler took her to the police station, where Ms. Goertz told the police what had happened. Ms. Goertz went with the police to the vacant hotel, where she was able to show them evidence of the crime. Ms. Goertz was then taken to St. Luke's Hospital for treatment.
At the hospital, Ms. Goertz was examined by Robert Bonness, M.D. At trial, Dr. Bonness testified that his examination produced medical findings consistent with a victim who has been raped approximately ten hours before the examination. The doctor observed fresh bruises and lacerations, abrasions over her body and face, bruises on her chest, and pain with breathing. The victim's pelvic examination revealed external and internal tears typical of sexual assault victims. The doctor further noted that the victim had several unique injuries, including injuries in her thigh and genital area sustained with an unknown blunt object. The doctor opined that the victim's injuries were in the worst five or ten percent in severity of the hundreds of injuries of this type he had seen over his twelve years working in the emergency room. On April 28, 1994, the police interviewed Defendant about the incident with Ms. Goertz. After initially denying his involvement, Defendant admitted his participation in the crime and made a statement to the police. Defendant was charged with forcible rape, kidnapping, and assault in the first degree.
Defendant was tried before a jury on March 2, 1998. The victim, Ms. Goertz, committed suicide about one month after the rapes, and was unable to testify against Defendant. Following testimony as to the matters described above, the judge read through the list of instructions to be given to the jury, and asked defense counsel whether he had any specific objections to the instructions. At that time, defense counsel explicitly said "No, sir; general objection only," to both Instructions Nos. 6 and 8. The jury found Defendant guilty of forcible rape and first-degree assault, but could not reach a verdict on the kidnapping charge. A mistrial on that charge resulted. After hearing testimony from the victim's family members, the court sentenced Defendant to a term of thirty years imprisonment on the forcible rape charge, and to a consecutive term of fifteen years imprisonment on the first-degree assault charge. Defendant appeals.
We defer to the trier of fact when reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence supporting a criminal conviction. State v. Grim, 854 S.W.2d 403, 405 (Mo. banc 1993). The evidence must be sufficient for a reasonable juror to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Id., citing, State v. Dulany, 781 S.W.2d 52 (Mo. banc 1989). We view the evidence and all reasonable inferences drawn from the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and disregard all contrary evidence. Id.
Defendant asserts the trial court erred in submitting Instructions Nos. 6 and 8, which were the verdict directors for the offenses of forcible rape and assault in the first degree, respectively. He argues that the instructions fatally varied from the MAI-CR pattern instructions because both instructions omitted an essential phrase from the pattern criminal instruction and thus allowed the jury to convict him without making a specific finding as to his guilt of the offenses charged. He admits that he failed to offer specific objections to the instructions before submission, as required by Rule 28.03, which states:
Counsel shall make specific objections to instructions or verdict forms considered erroneous. No party may assign as error the giving or failure to give instructions or verdict forms unless the party objects thereto before the jury retires to consider its verdict, stating distinctly the matter objected to and the grounds of the objection. Rule 28.03 (emphasis added). Where, as here, counsel fails to object to an instruction at trial, the issue is not preserved, and we review, if at all, only for plain error under Rule 30.20. State v. McCoy, 971 S.W.2d 861 (Mo. App. 1998); State v. Martindale, 945 S.W.2d 669, 973-74 (Mo. App. 1997).1
We do not find plain error here, however. "Instructional error rises to the level of plain error only if the instruction is so misdirected or so failed to adequately instruct the jury that it is apparent to the appellate court that the error affected the jury's verdict and caused manifest injustice or a miscarriage of justice." State v. Brown, 913 S.W.2d 919, 921 (Mo. App. 1996). Appellant...
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