State v. Davis

• Decision Date: 12 September 2006
• Docket Number: No. WD 64993.,WD 64993.
• Citation: 210 S.W.3d 229
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Maurice T. DAVIS, Appellant.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

210 S.W.3d 229

STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Maurice T. DAVIS, Appellant.

No. WD 64993.

Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District.

September 12, 2006.

Motion for Rehearing and/or Transfer to Supreme Court Denied October 31, 2006.

Application for Transfer Denied January 30, 2007.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Maurice T. Davis, Jefferson City, pro se.

Shaun J. Mackelprang, Assistant Attorney General, Jefferson City, for respondent.

Before VICTOR C. HOWARD, Presiding Judge, JOSEPH M. ELLIS, Judge, and LISA WHITE HARDWICK, Judge.

JOSEPH M. ELLIS, Judge.

Maurice T. Davis appeals from his conviction by jury of two counts of murder in the first degree, § 565.020, and two counts of armed criminal action, § 571.015. Appellant was sentenced to terms of life imprisonment without opportunity for probation or parole on the two murder counts and terms of life imprisonment on the armed criminal action counts. Appellant does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence adduced at trial reflects the following.

Prior to August 6, 1997, Ernest Hill gave Appellant $7,500 to travel from Omaha, Nebraska, to a supplier in Texas to purchase cocaine. Appellant hid Hill's money, along with $7,500 of his own, underneath the hood of his car, in a manner that he had been taught by Charles Taylor, who was a former boyfriend of Appellant's sister and the father of Appellant's ten-year-old niece, C'Toria. On his way from Omaha to Texas, Appellant stopped in Kansas City and stayed overnight at Mr. Taylor's home at 8044 Michigan Street. When Appellant later arrived in Texas, he discovered that the money was missing from underneath his car hood. Appellant returned to Omaha and informed Hill that their money had been stolen and that he thought Mr. Taylor had taken it. Appellant told Hill that he was going back to Kansas City to retrieve the money.

About 5 a.m. on August 6, 1997, at least two men burst into the Taylor's home. The men were dressed in black, wore gloves, and their faces were covered. They were brandishing flashlights and handguns. C'Toria Taylor was sleeping in the living room along with her two younger brothers, who were 8 and 4, when the men entered the home. When Mr. Taylor appeared from the bedroom, the men yelled out, "Freeze, police!" The men then overpowered Mr. Taylor and took him into the kitchen. Mr. Taylor's wife, Glendora, was also taken to the kitchen, where both Mr. and Mrs. Taylor were duct-taped to chairs. One of the men returned to the living room to watch the children. A man in the kitchen spoke with Mr. Taylor for five or six minutes. At some point, C'Toria heard the man ask Mr. Taylor where the money was. Shortly thereafter, the gunmen shot Mr. and Mrs. Taylor in the head and left the house with two shoeboxes under their arms. After looking in the kitchen and seeing that her parents were dead, C'Toria gathered up her brothers and went to look for help. A neighbor let the children inside her house and called 911.

Upon arriving at the scene, the police discovered the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, both of whom had been shot in the head. Mrs. Taylor was found duct-taped to a chair with the back of her head resting on a kitchen counter. Mr. Taylor was found duct-taped to a chair lying on the floor of the hallway adjacent to the kitchen in a pool of blood.

Less than half a block away, police recovered two pair of gloves, two black scarves and two black stocking caps that had been discarded alongside the street. A saliva stain was later discovered on one of the scarves, and the scarf was sent away for DNA testing.

Police subsequently obtained statements from three different individuals, including Hill, who stated that Appellant had admitted killing Mr. and Mrs. Taylor over drug-money that he thought they had stolen from his car. In October 1997, pursuant to a court order, Detective Marcus Regan of the Kansas City Police Department went to Omaha, Nebraska, to retrieve hair, saliva, and blood samples from Appellant, who was incarcerated in a Nebraska prison. After DNA tests were performed on the saliva stain from the scarf and Appellant's blood, it was determined that the chance that another person other than Appellant left the saliva on the scarf was one in 105 million males in the general population.

Appellant was subsequently charged by indictment with two counts of murder in the first degree and two counts of armed criminal action related to the murders of Mr. and Mrs. Taylor. Appellant was tried by jury in the Circuit Court of Jackson County and found guilty as charged. The jury recommended sentences of life imprisonment without chance for probation or parole on each of the murder counts and life imprisonment on each of the armed criminal action counts. On December 17, 2004, the trial court imposed sentence on Appellant in accordance with the jury's recommendations. Appellant, acting pro se, brings eight points on appeal from those convictions.

Because we conclude that discussion of Appellant's Points II through VII would have no precedential value, we will affirm as to those points by summary order pursuant to Rule 30.25(b). We are furnishing the parties a memorandum of the reasons for our decision as to those issues. In this opinion, we address only Appellant's Point I, wherein he generally claims a violation of the Interstate Agreement on Detainers Act ("the IAD"), and Point VIII, where he seeks plain error review of his claim that the verdict directing instructions for murder in the first degree failed to comply with MAI-CR 3d 304.04 by failing to require a finding that Appellant personally deliberated.

In his first point, Appellant claims that the trial court erred in failing to grant his motion to dismiss and in entering its judgment and sentencing him because the case should have been dismissed pursuant to the provisions of the IAD. Appellant contends that a detainer was lodged against him while he was incarcerated in Nebraska, that Missouri requested and received temporary custody of him to conduct his murder trial, that the State failed to try his case within 120 days, and that the State returned him to Nebraska prior to trying his case. Appellant argues that these latter two actions violated the provisions of the IAD and required dismissal of the case against him. The State concedes that Appellant was transferred between Nebraska and Missouri several times and that he was not tried within 120 days of his original transfer but contends that the provisions of the IAD were inapplicable because Appellant was extradited pursuant to an executive agreement between governors.

We review de novo the trial court's application of the law in refusing to dismiss the indictments against Appellant under the IAD. State v. Lybarger, 165 S.W.3d 180, 184 (Mo.App. W.D.2005). But "[t]o the extent the application of law is based on the evidence presented, we view the facts in a light most favorable to the judgment, giving deference to the trial court's factual findings and credibility determinations." Id.

The record reflects the following facts related to the transfers of Appellant between Nebraska and Missouri. On October 28, 1997, a complaint was filed against Appellant, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. On December 3, 1997, Appellant was sentenced in the State of Nebraska, in an unrelated case, to a term of imprisonment of seven to fourteen years. On January 5, 1998, after discovering that Appellant was incarcerated in a penitentiary in Nebraska, a detainer was lodged against Appellant by the Jackson County Prosecutor's office.

On July 24, 1998, the Governor of Missouri and the Governor of Nebraska entered into an "Executive Agreement" to have Appellant returned to Missouri to face the pending charges in Jackson County. The State of Nebraska subsequently filed a "Motion to Transfer Temporary Custody" under the "Executive Agreement on Detainer" in a district court in Nebraska asking the court to order the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services to deliver temporary custody of Appellant to the State of Missouri pursuant to the executive agreement. A hearing was conducted on the motion to transfer custody on August 18, 1998. At that hearing, defendant and his attorney agreed to waive his right to challenge his transfer to the State of Missouri. The court ordered Appellant transferred to the State of Missouri pursuant to the executive agreement.

Appellant was transferred into Missouri custody on September 14, 1998. On October 6, 1998, Appellant was charged by indictment with two counts of murder in the first degree and two counts of armed criminal action related to the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Taylor.

On January 25, 2000, Appellant filed a Motion for Emergency Trial Setting. In that motion, Appellant acknowledged that he had previously signed a waiver of extradition to be returned to Missouri. The motion averred that on December 23, 1999, counsel for Appellant and the prosecuting attorney had agreed to continue the case and that Appellant would be returned to the State of Nebraska. Appellant requested the emergency trial setting because he had not yet been transferred back to Nebraska. On March 10, 2000, the State dismissed its indictment against Appellant.¹ Appellant was returned to the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services on March 22, 2000. The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services subsequently cancelled the detainer against Appellant on February 22, 2001.

On September 19, 2000, a Closed Re-Indictment was filed in Missouri against Appellant again charging him with two counts of murder in the first degree and two counts of armed criminal action related to the killings of Mr. and Mrs. Taylor. On May 20, 2001, the Governor of Missouri sent a "Requisition Demand and Agent Authorization" to the Governor of Nebraska requesting apprehension and delivery of Appellant to the State of...