State v. Clayter
| Decision Date | 26 September 2014 |
| Docket Number | 109,590. |
| Citation | 334 P.3d 910 (Table) |
| Parties | STATE of Kansas, Appellee, v. Antonio Michael CLAYTER, Appellant. |
| Court | Kansas Court of Appeals |
Scott A. Johnson, legal intern, and Randall L. Hodgkinson, of Kansas Appellate Defender Office, for appellant.
Charles D. Baskins, county attorney, and Derek Schmidt, attorney general, for appellee.
Before ATCHESON, P.J., HILL and ARNOLD–BURGER, JJ.
Shortly after being banned from the Highland Community College campus, Antonio Michael Clayter returned to spend the night with his girlfriend. Campus security, which had been alerted to his presence, discovered him in his girlfriend's dorm room, and an officer from the Highland Police Department, who was completing a campus walk-through with campus security, arrested him for criminal trespass. When another individual arrived on the scene and demanded the return of a backpack, chaos ensued, resulting in injury to the Highland police officer, multiple arrests, and the discovery of marijuana in a backpack that Clayter claimed belonged to him. A jury convicted Clayter of six crimes arising from the incident; Clayter appeals these convictions, alleging eight points of error.
First, we find that based on the evidence, a rational factfinder—in this case, the jury—could easily infer that the events in March 2012 occurred in Doniphan County, Kansas. Therefore, evidence presented by the State sufficiently established venue, and Clayter's argument on this issue fails. Next, because the record is silent regarding Clayter's presence when the jury questions were answered by the district court judge, we must presume his right to be present at every critical stage of the trial was violated. However, we find the error to be harmless. Third, we find that because Clayter was convicted of a crime that was not charged—that crime being aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer—his simple battery conviction is void, it must be reversed and a judgment of acquittal entered. This finding necessarily results in the vacation of the court's restitution order related to injuries suffered by the victim of the battery. Fourth, because there was no evidence supporting an element of the charge—that the owner of the property had advised Clayter not to return—a rational factfinder could not have found Clayter guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of criminal trespass and, accordingly, we must reverse his conviction for that charge. We find that the evidence was sufficient to support Clayter's remaining convictions. In sum, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and vacate in part.
In March 2012, Clayter was charged with aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, possession of marijuana with intent to sell, aggravated escape from custody, obstructing official duty, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, criminal trespass, and possession of marijuana without a tax stamp. These offenses all arose out of a single incident on the campus of Highland Community College in Highland, Kansas. The State subsequently amended the complaint twice, eliminating the counts of obstructing official duty and possession of marijuana and amending the aggravated battery charge to simple battery and the aggravated escape from custody charge to attempted aggravated escape. The case proceeded to jury trial in September 2012.
At trial, Officer Arthur Buckingham from the Highland Police Department testified. On the night in question, Buckingham had joined Highland Community College security officer Michael Stonebarger on a routine patrol around campus. Stonebarger received word that Clayter—who had been previously banned from campus—was presently on campus and in his girlfriend's room in the Hearthford Dormitory. Stonebarger and Buckingham proceeded to the room, where Clayter's girlfriend Callie Percival informed them that Clayter was not in the room. Buckingham testified that they told Percival that they were going to check the room; when they did, they found Clayter hiding under a bed. Clayter initially refused to come out from under the bed but complied after Buckingham aimed his taser in Clayter's direction. At that time, Buckingham arrested Clayter for criminal trespass. Had it ended there, this would be a simple case. But that was not to be. It was at this point that chaos ensued.
Buckingham testified that, after placing Clayter under arrest and reading him his Miranda rights, he asked Clayter whether there were any illegal drugs in the room. Clayter replied that there were not. Buckingham searched Clayter and found “two rather large wads of money in” either the pocket or waistband of his shorts. As Buckingham walked a handcuffed Clayter toward the door, someone knocked at the door and Percival stated that she wanted to come back into the dorm room. Buckingham testified that several people, including Jonathan Ogletree, were at the door with Percival. Stonebarger, who was nearby, immediately told Ogletree that he was not permitted to be on campus and needed to leave. Ogletree responded by saying that he needed to collect some belongings from Percival's room. When Buckingham told Ogletree he could not come in, “[h]e became a little agitated ... becoming more adamant that he wanted into the [dorm room] and that he really needed to get the stuff.”
During this time, Percival emerged from the room opposite the kitchen with “a black, dark in color backpack from under the couch or beside the couch” and attempted to hand it to Ogletree. Ogletree in turn attempted to force his way past Stonebarger into the room, and a struggle ensued. As Percival continued to make her way toward the door with the backpack (or bag), Buckingham stopped her and noticed “a strong smell of marijuana, fresh marijuana not burnt” that “appeared to be coming from that bag.” Buckingham told Percival to turn over the bag because he knew it contained marijuana.
Buckingham testified that as he approached Percival, he released Clayter and Clayter seized this opportunity to run for the door. Buckingham and Stonebarger together attempted to close the door to the dorm room and also confine Clayter near the kitchen area, but Clayter continued to try to crawl out the door on his knees. At the same time, Ogletree continued his attempts to force his way into the dorm room, and Percival continued to try to hand the backpack off to Ogletree. When the commotion finally ended and the officers shut the door—with Ogletree outside and Percival and Clayter still in the apartment, Buckingham discovered that Percival was “on the couch attempting to open a window with the backpack in her hand.” Buckingham explained that, in his opinion, Percival intended to shove the backpack out the window. Regardless, Stonebarger stopped her from opening the window, and a minor scuffle over the bag followed. At that time, as Stonebarger worked to subdue Percival, Clayter “stood up and said to leave her alone, that everything in the bag was his.”
As Stonebarger and Percival continued to struggle, Buckingham testified that Clayter “duck[ed] his head and charge[d] our direction, basically directly at me and [Stonebarger] and [Percival] .” Buckingham, who stood between Clayter and the struggle, grappled with Clayter in an attempt to “get him headed back the other direction”; however, their “feet got tangled up or something,” and both Buckingham and Clayter ended up on the floor. Buckingham testified that he landed with his elbow “straight out as opposed to closer to [his] body” and that pain shot up his left arm and shoulder. Clayter continued to physically struggle with Buckingham, pinning him to the ground, but Stonebarger—who had placed Percival in handcuffs—intervened and pulled Clayter away.
Buckingham testified that he called for backup after the physical altercation ended. He also opened the controversial backpack and discovered “two clear cellophane plastic bags” inside, one of which contained loose marijuana and the other which contained a number of individual, smaller baggies of marijuana. As Buckingham removed one of the bags, Clayter reiterated that the contents of the backpack belonged to him and not Percival. Buckingham also found an electronic scale in the backpack.
Buckingham testified that, after leaving Highland Community College, he was transported to the hospital for his shoulder injury. Doctors ultimately diagnosed him with a dislocated shoulder
, a fractured humerus, and “a massive rotator cuff tear.” Buckingham explained that he believed the injury occurred as a direct result of Clayter rushing toward him in the dorm room.
On cross-examination, Buckingham admitted that he initiated contact with Clayter when Clayter rushed toward him, but he also noted that he “didn't feel [he] had any other choice.” Buckingham explained that the reason he and Stonebarger stayed and searched Percival's room was because Stonebarger believed “the information that he received was good, and he as the campus security has the right to look through those rooms at any time.” Buckingham acknowledged that when the backpack first materialized, Percival claimed that it belonged to Ogletree and that Clayter did not correct her. Buckingham also testified that Ogletree also stated that the bag belonged to him, reaching his arm into the room in an attempt to retrieve the bag. However, Buckingham elected against arresting or otherwise detaining Ogletree at that time due to both the ongoing struggle and the fact that he was not certain about the presence of marijuana until he opened the bag.
On redirect examination, Buckingham testified that if he had not acted evasively when Clayter charged toward him, Clayter would have collided either with him or with Stonebarger.
Next, Stonebarger testified. Stonebarger stated that he serves both as the head of security for Highland Community College and as a reserve officer for the Highland Police Department. Stonebarger explained...
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