State v. Johnson
| Decision Date | 05 March 2019 |
| Docket Number | WD 80945 |
| Citation | 576 S.W.3d 205 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Joanthony Deaundre JOHNSON, Appellant. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Jedd C. Schneider, Columbia for appellant.
Daniel N. McPherson, Jefferson City for respondent.
Before Division Three: Mark D. Pfeiffer, Presiding Judge, Lisa White Hardwick and Anthony Rex Gabbert, Judges
Joanthony Johnson was convicted by a jury of two counts of first-degree sodomy, two counts of first-degree rape, and one count of attempted first-degree sexual abuse and sentenced to 100 years in prison. He brings five points on appeal. In Points I-III, he contends the circuit court erred in admitting evidence from his cell phone because the search of the phone was invalid under the Fourth Amendment and the compulsion of his phone’s passcode violated his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. In Point IV, Johnson argues that the court erred in denying his motion for improper joinder and severance of the charges. In Point V, he asserts that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction for attempted first-degree sexual abuse. For reasons explained herein, we affirm.
On the night of August 21, 2015, C.N., a college student, went with her roommates to The FieldHouse bar in Columbia. C.N. got separated from her friends. The next memory she had was of smoking "dabs," which are a condensed form of THC more potent than leaf marijuana, in the kitchen of Johnson’s apartment. C.N. remembered feeling sick to her stomach afterwards and holding onto the toilet in Johnson’s bathroom. Her head was spinning, and she thought she was going to vomit. Johnson came into the bathroom, grabbed C.N.’s arm, told her she was fine, and tried to get her out of the bathroom. She repeatedly told him that she did not feel well and wanted to be left alone, but he continued to grab her. Johnson took C.N. into the bedroom. C.N.’s next memory was of waking up, face down, on the bed the next morning. Johnson was behind her, and she was unsure of what was happening. After this, C.N. occasionally saw Johnson out at The FieldHouse and Roxy’s, another Columbia bar. She did not confront Johnson or report the incident to the police because she was unsure whether Johnson had done anything to her that night.
A few weeks later, on September 13, 2015, K.B., then nineteen years old, went to Willie’s bar in Columbia with her friends, S.C. and J.L. K.B. and S.C. met Johnson while sitting at the bar, and they drank shots with him. They decided to accompany Johnson and his friend back to Johnson’s apartment so they could buy some Xanax and continue drinking. At the apartment, Johnson offered K.B. and S.C. cocaine. After the two women each snorted a line, they went to the bathroom together and questioned whether the substance Johnson had given them was actually cocaine.
Johnson, K.B., and S.C. went to another apartment to buy the Xanax. On the way to the apartment, S.C. started experiencing "really weird visuals." S.C. saw a rainbow grid, her vision became blurry, and she felt groggy. After buying the Xanax, Johnson gave K.B. and S.C. each a pill. K.B. took her pill, but S.C. did not take hers. The three went back to Johnson’s apartment, where S.C. retrieved K.B.’s shoes and purse. When K.B. and S.C. announced their intention to leave at that time, Johnson insisted on accompanying them to the entrance of the apartment building. As they walked down the hallway, K.B. started "freaking out." She began crying, screaming, and crawling back down the hallway toward Johnson’s apartment. Johnson took K.B. into his apartment, while S.C. went downstairs to try to find their friend J.L., who was attempting to call her.
By the time S.C. arrived in the lobby of Johnson’s apartment building, her memory was getting fuzzy, and she felt like she was losing control of her muscles. She tried to go back upstairs to Johnson’s apartment to find K.B., but she could not find the door to the stairwell. S.C. began rehearsing facts like her name and birthday and K.B.’s name and birthday. Finally, S.C. decided to sit in the lobby, where a couple found her. She gave her phone to the couple and asked them to call J.L. and direct him to the building. The couple did so and also called the police.
When J.L. arrived, he went upstairs and began knocking on apartment doors before he was eventually directed to Johnson’s apartment. J.L. knocked loudly and "assertively" on Johnson’s door for ten to fifteen minutes. Johnson did not answer the door, even though J.L. could hear music or a television inside the apartment. J.L. explained who he was and said that he was looking for his friend, K.B. Johnson still did not answer the door. J.L. went downstairs and gave the police Johnson’s apartment number. When the police went to Johnson’s apartment, the police had to knock on his door for "a very long time" before Johnson finally came to the door.
When the police entered the apartment, Johnson unlocked the door to his bedroom. K.B. was lying on Johnson’s bed. Because K.B. did not respond to the officers and appeared "heavily intoxicated" and "high on something," they called for an ambulance. K.B. was wearing camo pants and a baggy white T-shirt. The T-shirt was not on her properly, as only one arm was through a sleeve. The other arm was draped over the shirt, which caused K.B.’s armpit and the underside of her breast to be exposed when she tried to sit up. K.B.’s clothes were piled in a corner and appeared to have been peeled off of her, because her underwear was still inside of her pants. Johnson told the officer that he had removed K.B.’s clothes because she had vomited "everywhere" on them, but the officer did not see any vomit on her clothes. The officers found a jar of Vaseline on the table next to the bed.
The officers recovered a baggie from Johnson’s living room that was labeled "4-ACO-DMT fumarate," which is a substance associated with hallucinogenic mushrooms. The baggie was also marked, "Not for human consumption." Residue from white powder was nearby and appeared to have been lined up with a credit card. The officers collected the powder, but the powder blew away when it was taken outside for testing. Due to an officer’s mistakenly coding his report of the incident as a non-criminal matter, the police did not follow up or investigate the incident as a criminal matter.
A couple of months later, on November 19, 2015, T.T., then twenty-one years old, went to Roxy’s bar and saw Johnson there. T.T. had first met Johnson in late 2014 or early 2015.1 When T.T. encountered Johnson again at Roxy’s on the evening of November 19, 2015, Johnson went to the bar multiple times and bought a shot and mixed drinks for her. T.T. was not with Johnson when he got the drinks and could not see if he put anything in them. Johnson invited T.T. and her friends to a party at his place after the bar closed. After having three drinks, T.T. went outside the bar to smoke a cigarette. T.T.’s next memory was tripping while walking with Johnson near a parking garage. Johnson held on to T.T. and told her, "Come on." The next thing T.T. remembered was waking up at around 6:30 or 7:00 a.m. in Johnson’s bed. She was lying on her stomach and wearing nothing but her bra and underwear.
T.T. had no memory of taking off her clothes. T.T. asked Johnson if there had been a party, and he said no one but her had come to the apartment. T.T. felt "very weird, weird and groggy," but she did not feel hungover. Although she had consumed alcohol in the past, she had never before blacked out from drinking. Her body was sore, and her neck felt as though someone had choked her. T.T. found a bruise on the back of her thigh that looked like the imprint of three fingers. T.T. did not report the incident to the police because she was not sure what had happened.
Two and a half months later, in the early morning hours of February 4, 2016, M.V., then seventeen years old, met Johnson outside of The FieldHouse. M.V. and her friend, H.J., had been drinking at the bar using fake IDs. M.V. had also snorted cocaine while inside the bar. Outside the bar, Johnson offered to provide M.V. and H.J. some dabs at his apartment. They agreed to go and went with him and two other women to Johnson’s apartment.
Once inside the apartment, M.V. and H.J. smoked the dabs that Johnson gave them. Johnson also mixed drinks for M.V. The two other women eventually left, and M.V. and H. J. fell asleep on Johnson’s couch. M.V. got up during the night and tried to find something to eat. She ate three chocolate peanut butter balls from a bag that she found in Johnson’s refrigerator. M.V.’s next memory was of waking up and feeling hazy. She thought someone had spiked her drink, and she tried to get H.J. to wake up but was unsuccessful. M.V. passed out again. When she woke up, she felt lethargic and totally out of it.
At that point, Johnson came out of his bedroom. M.V. told him that she wanted to go to the doctor. She repeatedly told him that someone had put something in her drink. Johnson told her she was fine, grabbed her by her waist, and walked her into his bedroom. M.V. knew that Johnson was going to take advantage of her because she was not in control of her body.
Johnson laid M.V. down on his bed and removed her spandex shorts. He then climbed on top of her and had vaginal intercourse with her. M.V. had no ability to resist him because she felt so weak and could not do anything other than make unhappy grunting noises. Johnson appeared to be turned on by those noises and went faster. According to M.V., the effects that she was feeling were worse than she had experienced when she had taken acid on prior occasions. She seized, twitched, and hit herself, and she also kept passing out and regaining consciousness. M.V. passed out after Johnson had finished raping her the first time. When she woke up, Johnson...
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