State v. Johnson
Decision Date | 16 December 1986 |
Docket Number | No. 68249,68249 |
Citation | 722 S.W.2d 62 |
Parties | STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Larry JOHNSON, Appellant. |
Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Holly Simons, John Putzel, Office of Public Defender, St. Louis, for appellant.
William L. Webster, Atty. Gen., Ted Bruce, Asst. Atty. Gen., Thomas Carter II, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for respondent.
Defendant, a prior offender, was convicted by a jury on four counts: Count I, forcible rape, § 566.030, RSMo Cum.Supp.1984; Count II, forcible sodomy, § 566.060, RSMo Cum.Supp.1984; Count III, robbery in the first degree, § 569.020, RSMo 1978; Count IV, kidnapping, § 565.110, RSMo 1978. He was sentenced as follows: Count I, life imprisonment; Count II, fifteen years imprisonment, to run consecutively to the sentence in Count I; Count III, thirty years imprisonment, to run concurrently with the sentences in Counts I and II; Count IV, fifteen years imprisonment, to run consecutively to the sentences in Counts I, II and III. Following affirmance by the Court of Appeals, Eastern District, we granted transfer and now determine the cause as though on original appeal. Mo. Const. art. V, § 10. Defendant's sole claim on appeal is that the trial court abused its discretion in overruling defendant's challenge for cause of venirewoman Delahanty during voir dire, thus forcing defendant to use a peremptory strike to remove her.
The sufficiency of the evidence is not challenged, accordingly a brief recital of facts supportive of the verdicts will suffice. At approximately 12:30 a.m. on January 31, 1984, in the City of St. Louis, the victim had just entered her car when a man, his face covered by a sweat shirt hood and a scarf, forced his way into the car. The victim screamed but then quieted because she realized the man had a knife at her throat and ordered that she "[s]hut up bitch." The assailant started the car, drove to an alley, parked alongside a garage and asked the victim into which trash container she wanted her body put. He then told the victim to give him her money, and as ordered she gave him two dollars from her wallet. He restarted the car, drove to another alley and parked on an empty lot. When the victim unlocked her door, the assailant jabbed at her with his knife and said, In the parked car the victim was raped and forced to commit sodomy, and during the ordeal the victim observed the assailant's face at close range. Eventually, having stated she would not go to the police, the victim was allowed to leave with her car and returned to her apartment where she reported the crime first to a security guard and then the police. The next day she assisted in the preparation of a composite sketch of her assailant, examined a series of photographs and found one of a man whom she recognized as the assailant, and viewing a lineup identified defendant as her assailant. At trial the victim again identified defendant as the assailant.
Turning to defendant's sole claim on appeal, the pertinent portions of the voir dire examination of venirewoman Delahanty are as follows:
MR. CURRAN [for the defense]: Now, let me jump to another person for the things I want to ask. Mrs. Delahanty, the same question I just asked. You're a woman. And the charge here allegedly is rape. How is that going to influence you?
MR. MOSS [for the State]: Your honor, I object to the form of the question here. It's asking these jurors to justify for a particular belief or position whereas I think it can be asked will it influence them one way or the other, the fact that it happened to a woman?
Later during voir dire, the trial court stated:
Defense has made a motion to strike Miss Delahanty for cause and I overruled the motion. It's the Court's opinion after listening to her responses to the questions and hearing her demeanor, that even though she did at one time say she couldn't follow the Court's instructions, and then subsequently, by questioning by Mr. Moss, she said she could follow them and though at times, said she was afraid to be on the case because she would side with the woman, I think throughout all of this, it is my opinion that she can be a fair and impartial juror.
"An accused must be afforded a full panel of qualified jurors before he is required to expend his peremptory challenges; denial by a trial court of a legitimate request by an accused to excuse for cause a partial or prejudiced venireperson constitutes reversible error." State v. Hopkins, 687 S.W.2d 188, 190 (Mo. banc 1985); see also State v. Holland, 719 S.W.2d 453, 454 (Mo. banc 1986); State v. Stewart, 692 S.W.2d 295, 298 (Mo. banc 1985): State v. Draper, 675 S.W.2d 863, 865 (Mo. banc 1984). However, we are mindful of the trial court's wide discretion in determining the qualifications of a prospective juror...
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