State v. Douglas

• Decision Date: 19 February 2004
• Docket Number: No. 25376.,25376.
• Citation: 132 S.W.3d 251
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. William W. DOUGLAS, Jr., Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

132 S.W.3d 251

STATE of Missouri, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. William W. DOUGLAS, Jr., Defendant-Appellant.

No. 25376.

Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District, Division Two.

February 19, 2004.

Rehearing Denied March 12, 2004.

William W. Douglas, Richland, pro se.

Devin Ledom, Asst. Prosecuting Atty., Camdenton, for Respondent.

JEFFREY W. BATES, Judge.

William Douglas, Jr., ("Defendant") was charged by amended information with three misdemeanor offenses: (1) violating § 252.040 by pursuing a wild turkey from a motor vehicle; (2) violating § 252.040 by shooting at a wild turkey during the closed season; and (3) violating § 571.030(7) by discharging a firearm on, along or across a public highway.¹ A mistrial was declared in Defendant's first trial because the jury was unable to reach a verdict. At the second trial, the jury found Defendant guilty of each offense. The trial court sentenced Defendant to 30 days in jail and imposed fines totaling $400.00.

Defendant has appealed from the judgment and presents three points of error for decision. He contends that the trial court erred in the following respects: (1) sustaining the State's objection to Defendant's efforts to impeach the State's witnesses with their prior testimony; (2) denying Defendant's motion to strike venireperson David Boeckman for cause; and (3) allowing the State to introduce the statements of Joyce Richardson in evidence without disclosing her prior criminal conviction to Defendant in response to his pretrial discovery request. We affirm the trial court's judgment.

Defendant does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction. We consider the facts and all reasonable inferences derived therefrom in a light most favorable to the verdict, and we reject all contrary evidence and inferences. State v. Harp, 101 S.W.3d 367, 370 (Mo.App.2003). Viewed from that perspective, the evidence reveals the following facts.

On April 13, 2001, Conservation Agent Jack Cramer ("Agent Cramer") received a telephone call from Joyce Richardson ("Richardson"). Richardson reported that she lived on Seven Springs Road, which is near Stoutland, Missouri. At around 7:20 a.m., she heard a shot near her home. When she went to investigate, she observed a truck stopped on the road a few hundred yards from her house. As the truck drove past Richardson's house, she got into her car and followed it. The truck pulled over and stopped on the side of the road. Richardson stopped her car behind the truck. She wrote down the description and license number of the vehicle. It was a green Chevrolet truck bearing the Missouri license plate number 698KFO. Richardson got out of her car and approached the truck. She recognized the driver of the vehicle as Defendant. Defendant's son was in the truck with him. Defendant told Richardson they had shot at a coyote.

After receiving that report, Agent Cramer checked the identity of the owner of Missouri plate number 698KFO. It was registered to William W. Douglas on Belshe Road in Richland, Missouri. That is Defendant's name and address. At around 4:00 p.m. that afternoon, Agent Cramer met Richardson at the location where the shot was fired to look for evidence. Agent Cramer then drove to Defendant's home in Richland and arrived there about 5:30 p.m. He did not find anyone at home or see any vehicles parked there. He drove around the area and then met with a local police officer to verify that he had gone to the correct address. Agent Cramer left his business card with the police officer. Between 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., Agent Cramer returned to Defendant's house three different times, but no one was home. Agent Cramer then left the area and returned to his own home, arriving there about 7:30 p.m. Later that evening, Defendant called Agent Cramer at home. Defendant admitted that he and his son had been driving in Defendant's truck on the road near Richardson's house. Defendant's 15-year-old son had gotten out of Defendant's truck, entered a field and shot at a coyote with a .30-06 rifle. Agent Cramer informed Defendant that coyote season was closed from April 1, 2001, through the end of turkey season that year. Because a juvenile was involved, Agent Cramer decided not to issue a citation for that violation.

On the same day that the coyote-shooting incident occurred (April 13, 2001), Donna Willcockson ("Willcockson") traveled from her home in Lebanon, Missouri, to Montreal, Missouri, to go mushroom hunting with her brother, Brian Foley; her sister, Melissa Wells ("Wells"); and Wells' three-year-old twin sons. Wells drove the group to Montreal in her automobile. After gathering mushrooms for several hours, they headed back to Willcockson's home in Lebanon. Wells was driving, and Willcockson was sitting in the front passenger seat. Foley and the twins were in the back seat.

During the return trip, Wells was driving south on State Route T and came up behind a dark-colored Chevrolet pickup truck ("the Chevrolet") that was stopped in the road in Wells' lane of travel. Wells pulled up behind the Chevrolet and stopped about 15-20 feet behind it. There were two people in the Chevrolet. One was sitting in the driver's seat, and the other was sitting in the middle of the seat next to the driver. Both persons were looking out the driver's side window of the Chevrolet into a field that adjoined the northbound lane of Route T. Wells and Willcockson were not able to identify or describe either of the persons sitting in the Chevrolet. As Wells and Willcockson were sitting behind the Chevrolet, they observed the person in the driver's seat of that vehicle point the barrel of a gun out the driver's side window and fire two shots at a wild turkey that was in the field across from where the Chevrolet was stopped. Each shot traveled across the northbound lane of Route T. When the first shot was fired, Willcockson looked at her watch and noted that it was 5:40 p.m. She then wrote down the time, a description of the truck and its Missouri license plate number, 698KFO, on a piece of paper. After the second shot was fired, the Chevrolet drove off at high rate of speed. When Willcockson arrived home in Lebanon, she called the Department of Conservation hotline and reported what she had observed.²

Willcockson's telephone report was originally sent to Pulaski County Conservation Agent Aaron Pondrom. The report stated that two persons in a dark-colored Chevrolet pickup bearing Missouri plate 698KFO were seen shooting a turkey in closed season from T Highway near Stoutland. Pondrom passed this information along to Camden County Conservation Agent Randy Doman ("Agent Doman").

On May 5, 2001, Agent Doman went to Defendant's home in Richland, Missouri, to question him. When Agent Doman arrived, he observed a dark-colored Chevrolet pickup truck in the driveway. The truck had a Missouri license plate bearing the number 698KFO. Agent Doman questioned Defendant about both the coyote-shooting and the turkey-shooting incidents that occurred on April 13, 2001. Defendant denied that he had been involved in the turkey-shooting incident. During the interview, however, Defendant did acknowledge that the truck outside his house belonged to him. Defendant also admitted that he and his son had been driving around in the truck all day on April 13, 2001, but Defendant said he had returned home by 4:00 p.m. that day. Defendant did not respond when Agent Doman asked Defendant to explain where he was at 5:40 p.m. At the conclusion of the interview, Agent Doman issued Defendant three tickets charging him with the misdemeanor offenses noted above.³ The three charges were consolidated for trial.

At trial, the prosecutor introduced the foregoing evidence, which tended to prove that Defendant was the person who fired the shots at the wild turkey from the Chevrolet while it was stopped on T Highway. Defendant, on the other hand, denied that he was the person involved in the turkey-shooting incident and presented both testimonial and documentary evidence in an effort to establish that he was spreading fertilizer at another location when the fateful shots were fired. After hearing all of this evidence, the jury found Defendant guilty on all three charges, and this appeal followed. Additional facts necessary to the disposition of the case are provided below as we discuss Defendant's arguments on appeal.

Both at trial and on appeal, Defendant has chosen to proceed pro se and conduct his own defense. We fully acknowledge his right to do so, but we must hold him to the same standards of practice and procedure that we would expect of an attorney in order to ensure fairness and impartiality. See State v. Watkins, 102 S.W.3d 570, 571 (Mo.App.2003); In re S.I.G., 26 S.W.3d 616, 618 (Mo.App.2000). While Defendant's points relied on and brief are not in full compliance with the rules of appellate procedure, they are not so defective as to impede our review. The State of Missouri certainly has suffered no prejudice by reason of the manner in which Defendant's points are presented since it declined to file a brief or participate in oral argument. Therefore, we have exercised our discretion to review Defendant's points on the merits, rather than dismiss the appeal on procedural grounds.

In Defendant's first point relied on, he contends that the trial court erred in sustaining the State's objection to Defendant's efforts to impeach Wells and Agent Cramer with their prior testimony. This contention of error arose in the following fashion. Both Wells and Agent Cramer testified at Defendant's first trial, which resulted in a mistrial. In compliance with § 543.335, a record of this trial was kept using sound recording devices. Thus, the testimony that Wells and Agent Cramer gave at the first trial was preserved in question and answer format on audiotape. After the first trial ended in a mistrial, Defendant could have had this testimony transcribed so it would be available to...