State v. Danikas
| Decision Date | 28 December 1999 |
| Citation | 11 S.W.3d 782 |
| Parties | (Mo.App W.D. 1999) . State of Missouri, Respondent, v. Randy E. Danikas, Appellant. WD56698 Missouri Court of Appeals Western District Handdown Date: |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Appeal From: Circuit Court of Jackson County, Hon. Vernon E. Scoville, III
Counsel for Appellant: Andrew A. Schroeder
Counsel for Respondent: John Munson Morris
Opinion Summary:
Randy E. Danikas appeals his jury conviction and life sentences for first degree murder and armed criminal action for killing his wife.
AFFIRMED.
Division III holds:
(1) The trial court did not abuse its discretion by admitting testimony concerning Danikas's prior acts, namely assaults and abuse of the victim. The testimony was logically and legally relevant to show that the shooting of the victim was not accidental as Danikas claimed but, rather, done with the requisite deliberation. As to Danikas's challenge to autopsy evidence of bruises and abrasions, even assuming, arguendo, that this should have been excluded as being legally irrelevant, any error was harmless given other evidence sufficient to convict.
(2) Likewise, assuming arguendothat the admission evidence regarding the bumper stickers was erroneous, its exclusion would not have changed the outcome of the case.
Randy E. Danikas appeals the judgment of his jury conviction in the Circuit Court of Jackson County for murder in the first degree, section 565.020,1 for killing his wife, Holly Danikas, for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole, and for armed criminal action, section 571.015, for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
The appellant asserts two points on appeal. In Point I, he claims that the trial court erred in overruling his pretrial motion in limine and admitting, at trial, evidence of his past abuse of the murder victim, because it constituted evidence of uncharged crimes that was not logically and legally relevant in proving his guilt. In Point II, he claims that the trial court erred in admitting, over his objections, evidence concerning bumper stickers on his car that read, "A man with a gun has more fun," and "A woman with a gun has more fun," because such evidence was not relevant in proving his guilt. We affirm.
On April 22, 1997, Katrina Beatty arrived at the home of the appellant and his wife, the victim. The three had planned to gamble at a local riverboat casino that night, but the appellant and Mrs. Danikas began to argue. During the argument, the appellant struck the victim and ordered her to return from the casino with the $20 he had given her with which to gamble, or he would kill her. The appellant also told Beatty, "[t]ake [the victim] to the boat or I will kill her." He then pushed the victim out of the house before she could put on her shoes. The appellant did not accompany Beatty and the victim to the casino that night.
After stopping by Beatty's house to pick up some shoes for the victim, the two arrived at approximately 8 p.m. at Harrah's Casino, where the victim promptly lost the $20. The two then drove to Levi Spencer's house. While there, Beatty, the victim and Spencer smoked methamphetamine, and Beatty borrowed $50 from Spencer. Beatty and the victim returned to the casino at about 12:30 a.m., where the victim lost her share of the $50. To prevent the victim from incurring the wrath of the appellant, as he had threatened, Beatty gave the victim $20.
After stopping to buy cigarettes, Beatty and the victim returned to the victim's residence around 5 a.m. When they tried to enter the house, the appellant held the front door closed so that they could not enter. Eventually, the appellant allowed Beatty and the victim to enter the home, after which he began arguing with the victim. During the argument, the appellant struck the victim, who held up a pillow in an attempt to block the blows. The couple then went into the bedroom and continued arguing. Beatty, who remained in the living room, said she heard the victim say, "No, Randy, stop, Randy don't."
At some point, two of the Danikases's friends stopped by, at which time the appellant and the victim quit arguing. Beatty then left with the friends and went to the house of the appellant's cousin. Shortly thereafter, the appellant arrived at his cousin's and asked Beatty where she and the victim had been the previous night. Beatty told him about visiting the home of Spencer. The appellant then spoke with his uncle, who lived with the appellant and the victim. At the time, he was showing those present some firearms he wished to sell. The appellant asked him about the compatibility of a .22 caliber bullet with a .22 caliber rifle.
At approximately 7:20 a.m., the appellant left his cousin's and went home. Approximately 45 minutes later, he arrived at the hospital with the victim, who had been shot in the stomach. The victim subsequently died from the gunshot wound.
An officer from the Independence Police Department was dispatched to the hospital in response to a call about the shooting. After he arrived at the hospital, he spoke with the appellant about what happened. He told the police officer that he had been cleaning a .22 caliber rifle in his living room and had placed a shell in the chamber to test whether it was functioning properly. He stated that while he was cleaning the gun, he and the victim began arguing. He told the officer that she grabbed the barrel of the rifle and pulled it toward her stomach. As she pulled the gun toward her, the appellant claimed that his finger slipped and he accidentally shot her in the stomach. Later that day at the hospital, the appellant recounted the same story to a detective.
Pursuant to a request by the police, the appellant gave permission for a search of his home. Pursuant to their search, the police found a .22 caliber rifle and a spent .22 caliber bullet in the living room, a plastic baggie containing ammunition in one bedroom, and two live .22 caliber bullets in another bedroom. The officers dusted the rifle for fingerprints, but did not discover any prints of value on the barrel to establish whether the victim grabbed it as the appellant claimed. In addition to searching the house, the officers searched the appellant's car, and found a clump of hair on the floorboard and two bumper stickers, which stated, "A man with a gun has more fun" and "A woman with a gun has more fun."
After being transported to the police station and being read his Miranda rights, the appellant again was asked what had happened regarding the shooting. He gave a statement to police in which he said he had been angry with the victim because she had been out all night and had been at a "dope house" with another man. He also said the end of the barrel was touching the victim's stomach when the gun discharged. Upon request of the police officers, the appellant agreed to re-enact the sequence of events leading up to the shooting. While doing so, he again stated that the victim pulled the gun flush against her stomach.
After the re-enactment was completed, but before the interrogation of the appellant resumed, the police officer interrogating the appellant learned that the rifle recovered from the appellant's home had to be cocked in order to fire. As a result, the officer asked the appellant why he had not mentioned this fact before. The appellant replied that he was not sure. When another officer, Officer Terry Dorman, took over the interrogation, the appellant told him that he had loaded the gun and pointed the rifle at the victim to threaten her, rather than to clean the gun. The appellant also said that he had threatened and abused the victim in the past.
Dr. Sam Gulino, a forensic pathologist, performed an autopsy on the victim and testified to his findings at trial. He found her body to be covered with multiple bruises and abrasions that were approximately two weeks old. He also found a lack of stipple marks near the wound, from which he concluded that the fatal shot was fired either from over two feet away or into an intermediate object, such as a pillow. A firearms and tool mark expert found that the rifle had been fired from a range over twelve inches.
The appellant was indicted on June 20, 1997, and later was charged by information with one count of murder in the first degree and one count of armed criminal action in the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri. On June 24, 1998, the appellant filed three separate motions to suppress evidence, one with respect to the search of the appellant's residence, one with respect to his vehicle, and one with respect to his statements given to the police. All three motions were overruled.
On September 10, 1998, the appellant filed an all-encompassing motion in limine, requesting the trial court to prohibit the State from mentioning, inter alia, at trial, testimony and other evidence of the appellant's prior abuse of the victim. The motion was overruled. The appellant also filed a motion to dismiss the charge of murder in the first degree on September 15, 1998, on the ground that
the Missouri homicide statute, RSMo section 565.020, et seq., fails to make a meaningful, reasoned distinction between the offenses of premeditated homicide and undifferentiated purposeful homicide, in violation of the defendant's rights to a fair and impartial jury, to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, and to due process of law.
The trial court overruled the appellant's motion and the trial commenced later that day.
At trial, which commenced on September 15, 1998, the appellant claimed that the shooting of the victim was accidental. At the close of the State's evidence and all the evidence, he moved for a judgment of acquittal alleging that the State had failed to prove all of the elements of the...
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