State v. Jeffrey

Decision Date25 June 2013
Docket NumberNo. SC 93172.,SC 93172.
Citation400 S.W.3d 303
PartiesSTATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Gene Morris JEFFREY, Appellant.
CourtMissouri Supreme Court

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

Tyler Patrick Coyle, Ellen H. Flottman, Public Defender's Office, Columbia, for Jeffrey.

Jessica P. Meredith, Attorney General's Office, Jefferson City, for The State.

ZEL M. FISCHER, Judge.

The jury found Gene Jeffrey guilty of two counts of sexual misconduct involving a child under § 566.0831 and two counts of attempted sexual misconduct involving a child. The evidence was that Jeffrey knowingly exposed his genitals to girls less than 15 years of age from the front door or window of his home. On appeal, Jeffrey argues that § 566.083 is unconstitutionally overbroad because it infringes on activities protected by the First and Fourteenth amendments and is unconstitutional as applied to him. In the alternative, Jeffrey argues that the State presented insufficient evidence to support his convictions.

The record shows that Jeffrey stood nude in either his front doorway or a front window just as young girls passed his home. Several witnesses testified that, when they saw him, Jeffrey was facing the street. Jeffrey has not demonstrated that § 566.083 is overbroad because he has failed to show how the statute serves to discourage the citizens of this State from engaging in protected speech. This Court concludes, therefore, that § 566.083 is not unconstitutionally overbroad, that it is constitutional as applied to Jeffrey, and that his conviction is supported by sufficient evidence. The judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.

Factual and Procedural History

One afternoon in early January 2010, M.T., a 10–year–old girl, was walking home from school. The girl frequently walked the approximate half-mile from the school to her home. As she passed the home of Gene Jeffrey, M.T. saw Jeffrey standing behind the glass storm door of his home, facing the street. Jeffrey was fully nude, and M.T. could see his whole body. Frightened by the experience, M.T. did not initially tell anyone what she had seen.

Later that month, on January 22, M.T. again was walking home from school. She was joined by her friend and classmate, A.K.O., who was also 10 years old. As the two girls approached Jeffrey's home, A.K.O. saw Jeffrey standing behind the glass storm door of his home facing the street. Jeffrey was fully nude, and A.K.O. could see him from head to ankles. A.K.O. looked away, and when she looked back, the front door was closed. A.K.O. told M.T. what she had seen. M.T. did not look but told her friend that she had seen a nude man at that house about a week before. Upon arriving at A.K.O.'s home, the girls told A.K.O.'s mother about what had happened, and A.K.O.'s mother reported the incident to the police.

In response to the report, Deputy Jenkins visited Jeffrey's home. Deputy Jenkins told Jeffrey that two girls had seen a nude man through the glass storm door as they were walking home from school. Jeffrey, who was in his early 70s, told Deputy Jenkins that he was retired and that he had taken a shower prior to going hunting around the time the girls reported seeing the nude man. Jeffrey stated that he may have gone to the front door to shut it either before or after taking his shower. He denied seeing the girls outside and questioned whether anyone could see into his house through the glass door.

Ten months later, on November 10, 2010, A.K.O. again was walking home from school. As she passed Jeffrey's home, she saw Jeffrey standing nude in front of a bedroom window with the blinds pulled up halfway. Jeffrey was facing the street, and A.K.O. saw from his chest to his knees. When she arrived home, A.K.O. told her mother about what she saw. A.K.O.'s mother drove A.K.O. back to Jeffrey's house to “see what was going on.” A.K.O.'s mother noticed the blinds pulled up “unusually high.” She could see the furniture inside the house but did not see anyone inside. As A.K.O.'s mother was driving up, she saw another girl, M.K.H., walking toward Jeffrey's house from the opposite direction. When M.K.H. was almost directly in front of the house, Jeffrey appeared in front of the window, completely nude. M.K.H. did not see Jeffrey. A.K.O.'s mother could see him from his knees to his chest and drove directly in front of the house to block M.K.H's view. As soon as she stepped on the gas, Jeffrey stepped out of the window. A.K.O.'s mother picked up M.K.H. and called the police.

Several days later, Lieutenant Scott Schoenfeld went to Jeffrey's home to investigate. Jeffrey told Lieutenant Schoenfeld that he had been hunting that day, and he had taken a shower around the time the girls would have been walking by his house. Jeffrey denied raising the blinds. He also denied standing in the window, claiming instead he might have been sitting on the bed and might have been getting some clothes from the room after his shower. Jeffrey stated that he did not see anyone looking his way. When asked if anyone had ever said anything to him about people being able to see into his home, Jeffrey stated that no one had. When asked if he remembered talking to Deputy Jenkins, Jeffrey stated that he did remember the conversation but that it had involved the front door.

Jeffrey was charged with one count of sexual misconduct involving a child in violation of § 566.083 and one count of attempted sexual misconduct involving a child for the January 22 incident, and he was charged with one count of sexual misconduct involving a child and one count of attempted sexual misconduct involving a child for the November 10 incident. Jeffrey was tried by a jury, which found him guilty of all four counts. The jury recommended a sentence of 60 days for each of the first two counts and 15 days and a fine for each of the second two counts. The judge imposed the recommend sentences to run consecutively, ordered them executed, and released Jeffrey after giving him credit for time served.

Jeffrey appealed his conviction arguing that § 566.083 is unconstitutionally overbroad and that his conviction is not supported by sufficient evidence. This Court has exclusive appellate jurisdiction over cases involving the validity of a statute. Mo. Const. art. V, § 3.

Section 566.083 is Not Overbroad
Standard of Review

Whether a statute is constitutional is an issue of law that this Court reviews de novo. State v. Vaughn, 366 S.W.3d 513, 517 (Mo. banc 2012). Statutes are presumed constitutional and will be found unconstitutional only if they clearly contravene a constitutional provision.” Id. “The person challenging the validity of the statute has the burden of proving the act clearly and undoubtedly violates the constitutional limitations.” Id.

Analysis

Jeffrey argues that § 566.083 is constitutionally overbroad because it potentially could be applied in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment right of privacy and First Amendment right of free speech. Section 566.083.1(1) provides:

1. A person commits the crime of sexual misconduct involving a child if the person:

(1) Knowingly exposes his or her genitals to a child less than fifteen years of age under circumstances in which he or she knows that his or her conduct is likely to cause affront or alarm to the child[.]

Jeffrey argues the statute is overbroad because it punishes innocent, protected conduct in addition to conduct the statute may lawfully prohibit. Jeffrey asserts that he is being punished merely for being nude in his own home.

The overbreadth doctrine was born in the First Amendment jurisprudence of the United States Supreme Court. See New York v. Ferber, 458 U.S. 747, 768, 102 S.Ct. 3348, 73 L.Ed.2d 1113 (1982). The doctrine resulted from the Supreme Court's recognition that the right to free expression is of ultimate importance to a democratic government. See id. at 768–69, 102 S.Ct. 3348. As a result, the Supreme Court has recognized—as has this Court—that it is better to invalidate laws that potentially could be construed to punish protected speech, even if those laws might be constitutionally applied, rather than to let such a law stand and chill protected speech. The Supreme Court has stated, “The doctrine is predicated on the sensitive nature of protected expression: ‘persons whose expression is constitutionally protected may well refrain from exercising their rights for fear of criminal sanctions by a statute susceptible of application to protected expression.’ Id.

An overbreadth challenge is a facial challenge to a statute. Generally, to prevail in a facial challenge, the party challenging the statute must demonstrate that no set of circumstances exists under which the statute may be constitutionally applied. State v. Perry, 275 S.W.3d 237, 243 (Mo. banc 2009). Thus, the general rule is that “a person to whom a statute may constitutionally be applied may not challenge that statute on the ground that it may conceivably be applied unconstitutionally to others in situations not before the Court.” Ferber, 458 U.S. at 767, 102 S.Ct. 3348. [I]t ‘would indeed be undesirable for this Court to consider every conceivable situation which might possibly arise in the application of complex and comprehensive litigation.’ United States v. Raines, 362 U.S. 17, 21, 80 S.Ct. 519, 4 L.Ed.2d 524 (1960). By focusing on the case at hand, this Court avoids ruling on—and thereby forming constitutional rules on—hypothetical cases.

The overbreadth doctrine provides an exception to this general rule. Acknowledging the importance of the right to free expression and the danger of statutes that chill protected speech, the overbreadth doctrine “allow[s] persons to attack overly broad statutes even though the conduct of the person making the attack is clearly unprotected and could be proscribed by a law drawn with the requisite specificity.” Ferber, 458 U.S. at 769, 102 S.Ct. 3348. Because of the potentially far-reaching effects of this doctrine, however, the United States Supreme Court has limited its...

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