State v. Floyd
| Decision Date | 16 August 2011 |
| Docket Number | No. ED 95249.,ED 95249. |
| Citation | 347 S.W.3d 115 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Respondent,v.Michael FLOYD, Appellant. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Gwenda Renee' Robinson, St. Louis, MO, for appellant.Chris Koster, Atty. Gen., Jamie P. Rasmussen, Jefferson City, MO, for respondent.
The defendant, Michael R. Floyd (Floyd), appeals his convictions after trial for murder in the first degree and armed criminal action. Floyd raises two points on appeal: 1) the trial court erred and abused its discretion in admitting Floyd's statement in rebuttal; and 2) the trial court erred in admitting evidence regarding the identification of Floyd in a photo lineup and physical lineup. We affirm.
Floyd was charged with murder in the first degree and armed criminal action for the shooting of Virgil Robinson (Robinson) on March 11, 2008. The following pertinent witnesses testified in the State of Missouri's (State) case-in-chief.
On March 11, 2008 at approximately 3:00 p.m., April Abram (Abram), who had just moved to the area of Atkinson and Pope, was exploring the neighborhood trying to orient herself. When Abram was walking down Holly, she observed two young men, Robinson and Jodeci Brown (Brown), come out of a street gangway. Brown was wearing a black jogging suit and backpack, and Robinson was wearing a red bandana on his head. Brown was talking to Robinson who appeared worried and walked with his head down, as Brown told him it was going to be okay. The young men spoke to Abram who responded back. The young men crossed the street and Abram also crossed the street to avoid a pit bull dog.
As Abram approached the corner of Holly and Carter, she was only a few feet behind Robinson and Brown as they turned the corner towards a store on Athlone. She noticed another young man, Floyd, who was wearing a white jacket, white pants with red stripes, and a red and white cap on his head and was kneeling down in the alley by a trashcan. She saw Floyd get up and start walking down Carter. As she was crossing the street, a white car sped off which forced her to turn around and look. She observed Floyd put his hoodie on as he walked up to Robinson and shot him three times.
Abram fell to the ground and covered her head, but she could still see. Abram was as close to the shooting as she was to the jury in the courtroom. Brown hopped a fence as Floyd shot at him three or four times. Floyd smiled at Robinson's little brother who had run from Yeatman Market crying and hollering. Floyd then walked across the schoolyard, before jogging and disappearing. Abram did not see Brown shoot at Floyd.
Abram talked to the police about what she had seen. When asked if she could identify Floyd, Abram stated, Abram described Floyd as her same height and build, six foot and skinny, but with lighter complexion. On March 15, 2008, homicide Detective Matthias Hanewinkel (Detective Hanewinkel) showed Abram a photo lineup. Abram circled and initialed the photograph of Floyd,
Abram picked Floyd out of the photo lineup based upon his face. Abram was 100% sure that she identified him because she could never forget that face. On April 13, 2008, Abram picked Floyd out of a physical lineup and also identified Floyd in the courtroom at trial. Abram had never seen Robinson, Brown or Floyd prior to the day of the shooting. Abram did not see Floyd again until after his arrest.
Brandon Bolhous (Bolhous) is a special education teacher at Yeatman Junior Preparatory School located at 6321 Athlone. On March 11, 2008 following the end of school at 2:50 p.m., Bolhous looked out a window and saw an individual, wearing a white hoodie, shoot Brown and Robinson, and Brown return fire as he ran down Clarence. He could not identify Floyd as he could not see his face from where he was looking.
Johnny Smith (Smith) is Robinson's younger brother. Robinson went by the nickname of V–Red and often wore a red bandana. Smith ran down the street from Yeatman Market after he heard the gunshots and saw his brother lying on the street. Smith did not see the shooter's face as he ran on Holly.
Brown was fifteen on March 11, 2008, and was Robinson's “Homey.” When Brown and Robinson reached the intersection of Holly and Carter, he heard a shot, turned around, and saw an individual with a blue hoodie standing over Robinson and a white Pontiac Z34 with black tinted windows. Brown asserted that he did not see the shooter's face or shoot back at the shooter himself. Brown did not want to get involved and did not talk to the police. He maintained that he could not remember anything after the shooting happened. Brown and Robinson knew Floyd from the neighborhood.
Brown stayed in the hospital for three weeks and had a bullet removed from his back. Detective Hanewinkel showed Brown a photo lineup at the hospital, but Brown did not look at it.
Detective James Stagge (Detective Stagge) is a St. Louis Metropolitan Police Detective assigned to the Gang Unit. On March 11, 2008, Detective Stagge was at Yeatman Middle School watching Lieutenant Ronnie Robinson (Lieutenant Robinson) give a talk to the student body about gang activity. Detective Stagge saw Robinson outside the school hanging out around 2:50 p.m. Detective Stagge also knew Floyd prior to March 11, 2008.
Detective Stagge received a call for a homicide and a request for a gang unit detective. Detective Stagge was dressed in plain clothes and stood in the back of the crowd that had gathered at Robinson's murder scene. He recognized several people from the neighborhood and was told that Fat Loc had committed the murder. Detective Stagge had heard the name Fat Loc before and he eventually associated it with Floyd. Detective Stagge gave this information to the homicide detectives.
On March 11, 2008, Detective Hanewinkel responded to the murder scene at approximately 3:58 p.m. No witnesses stepped forward at the scene, but Detective Hanewinkel interviewed Abram at police headquarters later that night. After receiving information about Fat Loc from Detective Stagge, Detective Hanewinkel, on March 15, 2008, compiled one six-person photo lineup with photographs generated by a computer based upon race and build, with the hairstyles chosen by Detective Hanewinkel. Abram instantly picked out Floyd.
Previously on March 12, 2008 at the hospital, Detective Hanewinkel had shown Brown a photo lineup with Floyd in it. Brown was hesitant to talk and would not look at the photo lineup and eventually did not pick out anyone.
Detective Hanewinkel went to Floyd's residence at 4229 Holly on March 18, 2008. Detective Hanewinkel talked to Floyd's mother who said she saw part of the shooting as she was driving down the alley and the shooter was not her son.
Floyd was arrested on April 12, 2008, driving a white Pontiac G6. Abram identified Floyd on April 13, 2008 from a four-person physical lineup. Prior to identifying Floyd, Abram asked if the individuals in the physical lineup would put their hoods up, because this is the way she saw the shooter. After two pulled up their hoods and two pulled up their collars, Abram was positive that Floyd was the shooter.
Police found .40 and .380 caliber shell casings at the murder scene, but did not discover any firearms. Brown admitted to Detective Hanewinkel that he did have a gun.
Detective Hanewinkel was contacted by Lieutenant Robinson who wanted to know the status of the case as his nephew was the deceased. Detective Hanewinkel showed Lieutenant Robinson a photo of Floyd. Lieutenant Robinson identified Floyd as being at Yeatman School the day of the shooting.
Lieutenant Robinson, now a captain with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, was acquainted with Robinson, knew Robinson's dad very well and was a long-time friend of Robinson's uncle. There was no blood relation, but Lieutenant Robinson was “kind of adopted into the family” by Robinson's grandparents.
On March 11, 2008, Lieutenant Robinson, assigned to the Crime Suppression Unit and the coordinator for the Great Program, was at Yeatman School attending a graduation from a gang deterrent program. Lieutenant Robinson saw Floyd on the street adjacent to the school on Athlone, just before dismissal of school. Lieutenant Robinson knew Floyd from his work in the neighborhood during the time he worked in the Intelligence Unit.
Robinson's dad called Lieutenant Robinson after the homicide, which prompted Lieutenant Robinson to go to the homicide office where he saw a picture of Floyd on the wall. Lieutenant Robinson told the homicide detectives that he had seen Floyd in the neighborhood after Detective Hanewinkel had informed him that Floyd was a person of interest in Robinson's murder.
Detective Michael Minor (Detective Minor) was a member of the Violent Offender Unit for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. On April 12, 2008, after receiving information concerning Floyd, Detective Minor arrested Floyd in the 4500 block of Red Bud driving a white Pontiac G6. The 4500 block of Red Bud is approximately two to three blocks from the intersection of Holly and Carter.
Floyd presented the following evidence in his case-in-chief.
Essie Floyd (Ms. Floyd) is Floyd's mother and lives at 4229 Holly Avenue near Yeatman School. Ms. Floyd testified that her son had lived at 4229 Holly for seventeen years, but had recently moved out two to three weeks prior to the shooting with his girlfriend Tonya Washington to St. Charles. On March 11, 2008, Ms....
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
People v. Cardman
...suppress or by objection at trial."), aff'd and remanded , 78 Ill.2d 500, 36 Ill.Dec. 682, 401 N.E.2d 523 (1980) ; State v. Floyd , 347 S.W.3d 115, 123 (Mo. Ct. App. 2011) (the defendant waived his right to a Jackson-Denno hearing on the voluntariness of his statement because he did not fil......
-
Floyd v. Griffith
...and a concurrent term of thirty years imprisonment. The Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions and sentence. State v. Floyd, 347 S.W.3d 115 (Mo. App. 2011). Petitioner thereafter filed a motion for post-conviction relief pursuant to Missouri Supreme Court Rule 29.15, which was d......
-
State v. Wright, ED 105208
...or disprove evidence offered by defendant may be offered in rebuttal of the defendant’s testimony or evidence. See State v. Floyd, 347 S.W.3d 115, 122 (Mo. App. E.D. 2011) ; State v. Petty, 967 S.W.2d 127, 141 (Mo. App. E.D. 1998). Indeed, if the defendant first raises an issue directly or ......
-
Coleman v. Ramey
...when a defendant claimsimproper admission of evidence is whether the improper admission was outcome-determinative. State v. Floyd, 347 S.W.3d 115, 122 (Mo. App. E.D. 2011).Identification testimony is inadmissible when the pretrial identification procedure was unnecessarily suggestive, and t......
-
Hearsay
...consequences a൵ecting his medical license, rather than that he was actually intoxicated—was an issue for the jury. State v. Floyd , 347 S.W.3d 115 (Mo. App. 2011). In a criminal case, an admission is: (1) a statement of a party; (2) that tends to incriminate or connect the party with the ch......
-
Admissions
...consequences affecting his medical license, rather than that he was actually intoxicated—was an issue for the jury. State v. Floyd , 347 S.W.3d 115 (Mo. App. 2011). In a criminal case, an admission is: (1) a statement of a party; (2) that tends to incriminate or connect the party with the c......
-
Hearsay
...consequences affecting his medical license, rather than that he was actually intoxicated—was an issue for the jury. State v. Floyd , 347 S.W.3d 115 (Mo. App. 2011). In a criminal case, an admission is: (1) a statement of a party; (2) that tends to incriminate or connect the party with the c......
-
Hearsay
...consequences affecting his medical license, rather than that he was actually intoxicated—was an issue for the jury. State v. Floyd , 347 S.W.3d 115 (Mo. App. 2011). In a criminal case, an admission is: (1) a statement of a party; (2) that tends to incriminate or connect the party with the c......