State v. Hudson, WD
| Decision Date | 24 June 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. WD,WD |
| Citation | 950 S.W.2d 543 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Gregory A. HUDSON, Appellant. 52960. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Susan L. Hogan, Appellate Defender, Kansas City, for appellant.
Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon, Attorney General, Cheryl A. Caponegro, Assistant Attorney General, Jefferson City, for respondent.
Before ULRICH, C.J., P.J., and LOWENSTEIN and EDWIN H. SMITH, JJ.
Gregory A. Hudson was convicted of murder in the first degree, § 571.020.1, RSMo 1994, and armed criminal action, § 571.015, RSMo 1994. Mr. Hudson was sentenced as a prior, persistent offender to consecutive terms of life imprisonment without probation or parole and life imprisonment, respectively. He claims the trial court erred when it: (1) overruled his motions for acquittal at the close of the state's and all the evidence; (2) chastised defense counsel in the presence of the jury during cross examination of the state's fingerprint expert; and (3) sustained the state's objection to defense counsel asking if the victim and Mr. Hudson were friends. The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
On November 14, 1994, firefighters from Kansas City, Missouri, were sent to a truck fire located at Tenth and Olive. A deceased man, Roderick Morgan, was discovered laying in the seat of a water department truck. He had been shot. Upon opening the truck door, police observed a spent shell casing fall from inside the truck.
Kansas City, Missouri detectives interviewed Bruford Logan who lived near the scene. Mr. Logan reported that he saw a water department truck stop on his street and a blue Cadillac drive up behind it. A tall, slender, brown-skinned man exited the car and went to the water truck. Mr. Logan said he heard three or four shots and saw the man return to the Cadillac and leave.
Police obtained seven shell casings from the scene--three on the ground, two on the driver's seat, one on the victim and one on the truck's floorboard. A spent bullet was located in the right door interior. Detectives also lifted a latent palm print from the exterior left door above and forward of the chrome handle.
A search warrant was executed on November 18, 1994, at Mr. Hudson's home. Two shell casings were recovered from the driveway of the house. Mr. Hudson's brother, Claude Hudson, present at the search, explained that the casings were a result of Mr. Hudson's firing shots into the air.
Police analyzed the bullets and shell casings and concluded that the three bullets recovered from the victim and the bullet and casings taken from the truck as well as the two casings from Mr. Hudson's home were fired by the same .40 caliber weapon. Police also examined the latent palm print found on the truck and concluded that it was from Mr. Hudson's left palm. The state's fingerprint expert testified that rain would have washed away the print. Rain fell on November 13, 1994, the day before the murder and the water truck was stored in an outdoor lot exposed to the elements.
Mr. Hudson did not testify but presented an alibi defense through various witnesses.
Mr. Hudson's first claim asserts error in the trial court's denial of his motions for directed verdict at the close of the state's case and at the close of all the evidence. Because Mr. Hudson presented evidence after the close of the state's case, he waived any claim of error arising from the denial of his motion for a directed verdict at the close of the state's evidence. State v. White, 798 S.W.2d 694, 696-97 (Mo. banc 1990). Review is limited, therefore, to Mr. Hudson's claim that the trial court erred in failing to grant his motion for judgment of acquittal at the close of all the evidence.
Mr. Hudson complains that the state failed to present sufficient "objective, independent evidence" or that the state failed to "forge a sufficient chain of circumstantial evidence" that proves he was guilty of first degree murder and armed criminal action beyond a reasonable doubt.
In all criminal convictions reviewed by an appellate court for sufficiency of the evidence, the reviewing court accepts as true all of the evidence favorable to the state, including all favorable inferences drawn from the evidence and disregards all evidence and inferences unfavorable. State v. Silvey, 894 S.W.2d 662, 673 (Mo. banc 1995). Appellate review is limited to determining whether sufficient evidence was presented from which a reasonable juror might have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Id.; State v. Williams, 623 S.W.2d 552, 553 (Mo.1981). The evidence is not reweighed nor is the reliability or credibility of witnesses reassessed. State v. Idlebird, 896 S.W.2d 656, 661 (Mo.App. W.D.1995). This court's function, therefore, is to determine whether the evidence was sufficient to support the verdict and not to reweigh the evidence. State v. Davis, 936 S.W.2d 838, 843 (Mo.App.1996). A jury may convict entirely from circumstantial evidence, therefore, if the evidence reasonably convinces the jury of the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Grim, 854 S.W.2d 403, 408 (Mo. banc 1993), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 997, 114 S.Ct. 562, 126 L.Ed.2d 462 (1993). The court in Grim determined that circumstantial evidence cases need not be held to a higher standard than direct evidence cases. The court resolved that "[i]f a jury is convinced beyond a reasonable doubt, so long as the evidence meets the minimal appellate standard required by due process, we need not disturb the result simply because the case depended wholly, mostly, or partially upon circumstantial proof." Id. at 406.
The evidence shows that a blue Cadillac with Kansas plates was driven up behind the victim's water truck moments before the shooting. A man exited the car, approached the water truck, shot the victim, returned to his car, and sped away. Mr. Hudson's girlfriend owned a blue Cadillac and papers found in the car linked Mr. Hudson to it. Shell casings found in the driveway of Mr. Hudson's home and those found at the murder scene were fired by the same .40 caliber handgun. Mr. Hudson's brother told police that Mr. Hudson had fired a weapon that produced the spent shell casings found in Mr. Hudson's driveway with markings that matched those found at the murder scene. Mr. Hudson's left palm print was found on the left exterior door of the truck in which the victim was shot. The truck was stored outside and rain had fallen the day before the murder. The amount of rain that fell would have caused the erasure of the palm print had it been placed on the truck before the rain.
A jury could reasonably infer from the evidence that Mr. Hudson drove his girlfriend's Cadillac to the murder scene, drove up behind the water truck, parked the vehicle, got out of the Cadillac and approached the truck in which the victim sat with a .40 caliber weapon, placed his left palm on the left door panel, shot the victim, and left. The evidence was sufficient to convict. Mr. Hudson's first claim of error is denied.
Mr. Hudson claims the trial court's comment before the jury that defense counsel's inquiry of the state's handwriting expert was "ridiculous" violated his right to due process and to a fair trial under the Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I, §§ 10 & 18(a) of the Missouri Constitution. He asserts that the judge "failed to maintain his impartiality and neutrality, and his remarks may have prejudiced the jury against [him]." He claims that the judge's comments imparted a hostile attitude by the judge toward defense counsel. The essence of Mr. Hudson's claim is that the trial court's comment suggested to the jury that the expert witness's conclusion that the source of the palm print on the truck in which the victim was shot was Mr. Hudson's hand should not be questioned. The following is the colloquy between defense counsel and police fingerprint expert during cross-examination of the witness:
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