State v. Kemp
| Decision Date | 30 January 2007 |
| Docket Number | No. SC 87371.,SC 87371. |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Lamont C. KEMP, Appellant. |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Margaret M. Johnston, Office of Public Defender, Columbia, for Appellant.
Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon, Atty. Gen., Karen L. Kramer, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for Respondent.
A jury convicted Lamont Kemp of felonious restraint and unlawful use of a weapon for holding his girlfriend, Jackie Washington, hostage at gunpoint beginning the evening of October 10, 2003, and ending at approximately 8:30 a.m. the following day. Because the state was unable to procure Jackie as a witness at trial, it introduced evidence of Jackie's out-of-court statements through the testimony of Kemp's neighbors and a portion of the 911 call made the morning of October 11. Kemp appeals the trial court's admission of Jackie's out-of-court statements. He contends that the trial court abused its discretion in admitting the statements under the excited utterance exception to the rule against hearsay evidence and that admission of the statements violated his constitutional right to confront the witnesses against him. The judgment is affirmed.
On the morning of October 11, 2003, Laura Johnson was watching television in her living room on the outskirts of Columbia, Missouri, while her husband Michael slept in their bedroom. At about 8:30 a.m., Laura heard someone banging on the door and a woman screaming, "Help me, please help me." Laura looked out the living room window and saw a woman wearing a little green chemise that covered her below the waist. She was naked above the waist.
Michael, wakened by the banging and screaming at the door, emerged from the bedroom. Laura reported to him what she had seen. Michael put on some pants and ran out the front door, but he saw nothing. He asked Laura where the woman had gone. Laura told him the woman had run down the street. Michael ran after the woman and saw her running south on Scott Boulevard. She was still naked above the waist and falling to the ground as she tried to run. Michael described her as "frantic" and "emotionally distraught"; she was crying, having trouble breathing, and shaking. When Michael caught up to her, she told him that her boyfriend had been holding her hostage at gunpoint all night.
Michael brought the woman, who identified herself as Jackie Washington, back to the Johnson home. On the way there, Jackie fell several times. She and Michael entered the Johnson home through the back door. Once inside, Jackie remained frantic. She was crying and bending down and taking deep breaths. According to Laura, she looked "very frantic, very upset, very emotional," and "all in a fit." Laura heard her saying,
Laura called 911. Although only Laura spoke directly to the operator, several persons, including Jackie, can be heard speaking in the background:
911: 911, what is your emergency?
LAURA: Um, yes, we had this lady that came screaming down the street banging on our door yelling, and she's in our yard right now half naked.
[pause]
And she's not telling us exactly why, she's just hysterical.
[giggles]
[pause]
My husband's trying to calm her down right now.
911: Is she white or black?
LAURA: Black.
911: Adult?
LAURA: Oh, she says her boyfriend has had her locked up for eight hours with a gun and she was just now able to escape.
911: Where is the boyfriend?
[pause]
911: There's a gun, maybe. [pause] No.
JACKIE: . . . couldn't get out `til a while ago.
911: So the boyfriend's across the street down the road, do we know an address?
911: Is she OK? Does she need an ambulance?
911: Is she inside with you now?
LAURA: Yeah, she's inside with us right now.
911: What's her name?
911: What's his name—what's the boyfriend's name?
911: OK. [pause] And he is still in, in the apartment across the street?
911: What kind of gun is it?
LAURA: Is it like a . . .
911: Lamar Kemp.
LAURA: [whispering] You got a shirt she can put on? [pause] Here, ma'am.
911: Can you ask her if it's like a shotgun or a pistol?
911: It is a pistol?
LAURA: Yes.
911: Ask her if it's black or silver.
911: Does she know where he hides it?
911: OK. Is there anybody else in the house with him?
911: Ask her if it's . . . mean.
911: He did chase her?
LAURA: Yes.
911: So does he know where she's at then?
911: OK. So the last time she saw him, he was not in the apartment, right?
LAURA: He was on the back porch. [pause] You want to have a seat on the couch? [pause] Come sit down on the couch.
[Jackie breathing heavily]
911: Do you think she needs an ambulance?
911: Is she having chest pain?
LAURA: A little bit, probably from running and screaming. She thinks she's OK, though.
911: Can I have your name?
LAURA: Laura, L-A-U-R-A, Johnson.
911: OK. And you're at [phone number omitted]?
LAURA: Yes.
911: And you're at [address omitted], right?
LAURA: Correct. He's, I guess now that I know he's right across the street from us.
911: Yeah. And you're in apartment A also?
LAURA: Correct.
LAURA: And he's in apartment B.
LAURA: [laughs] [pause] Michael?
911: I've got five officers on the way, so . . .
911: Was there drug use involved?
911: He is? Was she also?
LAURA: No, he was.
911: Did he have her tied up, or . . . ?
LAURA: Did you hear that?
911: Hello? [pause] Right. [pause] Apartment B.
LAURA: We think he's out front.
911: You do?
LAURA: Yeah.
911: Of your house?
911: It's not him?
911: How big are the dogs?
LAURA: They're not a problem, she said.
...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Taylor v. Steele
...that is used to prove the truth of the matter asserted and that depends on the veracity of the statement for its value." State v. Kemp , 212 S.W.3d 135, 146 (Mo. banc 2007). "Generally, courts exclude hearsay because the out-of-court statement is not subject to cross-examination, is not off......
-
People v. Sutton
...assist the police in addressing ongoing emergencies. The State cites State v. Ayer, 154 N.H. 500, 917 A.2d 214 (2006), and State v. Kemp, 212 S.W.3d 135 (Mo.2007). In Ayer, within minutes of a shooting, police officers arrived on the scene and an officer approached defendant's wife, who was......
-
State v. Brandolese
...Clause unless the requirements of Crawford v. Washington , 541 U.S. 36, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004), are met. State v. Kemp , 212 S.W.3d 135, 147-48 (Mo. banc 2007).12 The first incident for which Brandolese alleges error involves the neighbor witness's volunteered statement that......
-
State v. Johnson
...statement that is used to prove the truth of the matter asserted and depends on the veracity of the statement for its value." State v. Kemp, 212 S.W.3d 135, 146 (Mo. banc 2007). The victim impact statement offered during the sentencing phase was offered to show the effect of the crime on th......