State v. Drisdel

• Decision Date: 04 February 2014
• Docket Number: No. ED 98695.,ED 98695.
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, Plaintiff/Respondent, v. Leonardo DRISDEL, Defendant/Appellant.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

417 S.W.3d 773

STATE of Missouri, Plaintiff/Respondent,

v.Leonardo DRISDEL, Defendant/Appellant.

No. ED 98695.

Missouri Court of Appeals,

Eastern District,

Division Four.

Oct. 8, 2013.

Motion for Rehearing and/or Transfer to Supreme Court Denied Nov. 19, 2013.

Application for Transfer Denied Feb. 4, 2014.

C. John PlebanTalmage Newton, IV—(co-counsel), St. Louis, MO, for appellant.

Timothy Blackwell, Jefferson City, MO, for respondent.

LISA S. VAN AMBURG, Presiding Judge.

INTRODUCTION

Leonardo Drisdel (“Defendant”) appeals from the judgment entered upon a jury verdict finding him guilty of murder in the first degree, in violation of section 565.020, RSMo (2000), and armed criminal action, in violation of section 571.015, RSMo (2000).¹ The trial court sentenced Defendant to concurrent terms of life imprisonment without parole and 150 years. On appeal, Defendant alleges twelve points of error. We affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On the evening of June 5, 2005, Defendant abruptly left his house around 8:30 p.m., telling his wife he would return in ten minutes. At 12:15 a.m., Defendant returned home. His wife met him in the unlit hallway leading to their bedroom and noticed he was nervous and jittery. In the light of the bathroom, she saw that his head, face, arms, hands and clothing were covered in blood. She watched while he disrobed, kneeled in the bathtub and began to wash the blood off himself. As he rinsed, she saw that he had a cut on his finger and a small bump on his forehead. Defendant then finished rinsing, wiped the bathroom down with a washcloth, toilet paper and ammonia, washed his soiled clothes in the washing machine, shaved off his mustache and goatee, changed into fresh clothes and departed.

After Defendant left, his wife contacted the police, who located him a few hours later near a bus stop close to his house. The police noticed the cut on his finger, but did not see any other injuries. They took Defendant into custody and located the victim's body in her apartment later that morning. Signs of a struggle were evident throughout the apartment. The victim, a young woman, had suffered numerous violent injuries consistent with being repeatedly beaten, cut, bitten and smothered. Ultimately, the forensic pathologist determined her cause of death to be from head trauma and asphyxia.

The State charged Defendant with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. At trial Defendant asserted his Fifth Amendment privilege not to testify. His statements to police linking him to the crime were not admitted into evidence. However, the State connected Defendant to the murder through his blood and DNA that the police found at the crime scene, bite wounds to the victim that were matched to his teeth, and the victim's blood that police found in his bathroom and on the clothes he wore the night of the murder. The jury returned a verdict finding Defendant guilty of first-degree murder (“Count I”) and armed criminal action (“Count II”). Defendant waived jury sentencing as to Count II. On the record, the trial court dismissed the jury and deferred sentencing to a later date. Thereafter, Defendant filed a timely motion for judgment of acquittal, or in the alternative, new trial, which the trial court denied. The court then sentenced Defendant to concurrent terms of imprisonment for life without parole or probation as to Count I and 150 years as to Count II. Defendant now appeals.

POINT I

Defendant's first point on appeal contends the trial court erred in refusing to allow him to present the defense of not guilty by reason of a mental disease or defect. Specifically, Defendant contends the court effectively precluded this defense by ordering him to discuss the facts of the alleged crime with the State's examining psychologist, thereby violating his privilege against self-incrimination and his attorney-client privilege. We disagree.

“The trial court has considerable discretion in ruling upon requests to rely upon mental disease or defect as a defense.” State v. Isa, 850 S.W.2d 876, 886 (Mo. banc 1993). We review for an abuse of discretion. State v. Opry, 266 S.W.3d 890, 893 (Mo.App. S.D.2008).

Section 552.030 allows a defendant who has pled the defense of mental disease or defect and the State the opportunity to examine the defendant through the use of a neutral expert. State ex rel. Jordan v. Mehan, 597 S.W.2d 724, 726 (Mo.App. E.D.1980). When a defendant voluntarily places his mental condition into controversy he is subject to a mental examination, and any statements made during that examination are not considered compelled statements. See State v. Worthington, 8 S.W.3d 83, 91–92 (Mo. banc 1999); see also State v. Carter, 641 S.W.2d 54, 57 (Mo. banc 1982). Thus, once a defendant places his mental condition at issue, he waives both his privilege against self-incrimination and attorney-client privilege to the extent that experts for the State may properly examine him to determine his sanity. State v. Thompson, 985 S.W.2d 779, 786 (Mo. banc 1999); State v. Swinburne, 324 S.W.2d 746, 750 (Mo. banc 1959) (quoting State v. Cochran, 356 Mo. 778, 203 S.W.2d 707, 711 (1947)).²

Here, Defendant pled the defense of mental disease or defect and submitted the findings of his own mental expert. Thereafter, the State performed its own psychological examination but Defendant refused to provide any offense-specific information to the State's mental examiner. The State's expert testified at a pre-trial hearing that he needed Defendant's explanation of the events surrounding the crime to make a professional determination regarding Defendant's criminal responsibility.³ Because Defendant placed his mental condition at issue, he voluntarily subjected himself to a mental examination by the State's expert. Therefore, any statements required of the defendant by the expert during the examination cannot be characterized as “compelled,” and do not violate Defendant's rights to remain silent or to counsel. See Worthington, 8 S.W.3d at 92. Accordingly, we find no error. Point denied.

POINT II

In his second point, Defendant contends the trial court erred in overruling his objections under Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), to the State peremptorily striking four African–American venire members from the venire panel. We disagree.

Under Batson, it is unconstitutional for a party to exercise a peremptory challenge to remove a potential juror based solely on that juror's race, ethnicity or gender. State v. Marlowe, 89 S.W.3d 464, 468 (Mo. banc 2002). In reviewing a trial court's decision on a Batson challenge, we afford great deference to the court's findings of fact, which largely depend on its evaluation of credibility and demeanor. State v. McFadden, 369 S.W.3d 727, 739 (Mo. banc 2012). We will reverse only if the court's decision is clearly erroneous. State v. Collins, 290 S.W.3d 736, 740 (Mo.App. E.D.2009). A finding is clearly erroneous if we are left with a definite and firm impression a mistake has been made. Id. However, whether the trial court applied the correct legal standard in reviewing a Batson challenge is a question of law, which we review de novo. State v. Rousan, 961 S.W.2d 831, 845 (Mo. banc 1998).

When a defendant lodges a Batson challenge, proper procedure requires three steps. State v. Parker, 836 S.W.2d 930, 939 (Mo. banc 1992). First, the defendant must specifically object on the grounds that the venire member was struck because of her race. Id. “The trial court will then require the state to come forward with reasonably specific and clear race-neutral explanations for the strike.” Id.Assuming the prosecutor is able to articulate a race-neutral reason for the strike, the defendant must then prove that the state's proffered reasons are merely pretextual, and the strikes are racially motivated. Id.

To show the State's reasons for striking a venire member are pretextual, the defense must present evidence or specific analysis. State v. Durham, 299 S.W.3d 316, 323 (Mo.App. W.D.2009). The trial court must then decide whether the opponent of the strike has proved purposeful racial discrimination. Purkett v. Elem, 514 U.S. 765, 767, 115 S.Ct. 1769, 131 L.Ed.2d 834 (1995). In determining pretext, we consider the existence of similarly-situated venire members of a different race who were not struck, the degree of logical relevance between the proffered explanation and the case to be tried, the prosecutor's demeanor or statements made during voir dire, as well as the court's past experiences with the attorney and the demeanor of the excluded venire member. State v. Chambers, 234 S.W.3d 501, 515 (Mo.App. E.D.2007). Ultimately, however, our focus is on the plausibility of the prosecutor's explanation in light of the totality of the facts and circumstances of the case. Parker, 836 S.W.2d at 934.

Here, Defendant failed to show the prosecutor's race-neutral explanations were pretextual and thereby failed to carry his burden of proof to establish the existence of purposeful discrimination. Defendant objected to the State striking four African–American panelists. The State then offered the following race-neutral explanations for each strike: the first panel member was struck because she had an outstanding warrant for her arrest; the second because at some point he indicated he was not sure he could follow the court's instruction regarding voluntary intoxication; and the last two panelists were struck due to the State's concern they might be biased because of their work experiences (one panelist worked for a criminal defense firm and the other was a former city investigator).

In the third step, Defendant argued the State's explanations were pretextual because four of the six venire members peremptorily struck from the panel were African–American, Defendant is African–American, the victim is white and one of the venire members indicated her employment would not influence her as a juror. ⁴...