State v. Meggerson

• Citation: 474 P.3d 761
• Decision Date: 23 October 2020
• Docket Number: No. 117,131,117,131
• Parties: STATE of Kansas, Appellee, v. Cecil MEGGERSON, Appellant.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Kansas

474 P.3d 761

STATE of Kansas, Appellee,

v.Cecil MEGGERSON, Appellant.

No. 117,131

Supreme Court of Kansas.

Opinion filed October 23, 2020.

Jeffrey C. Leiker, of Leiker Law Office P.A., of Kansas City, argued the cause and was on the brief for appellant.

Daniel G. Obermeier, assistant district attorney, argued the cause, and Ethan Zipf-Sigler, assistant district attorney, Mark A. Dupree Sr., district attorney, and Derek Schmidt, attorney general, were on the brief for appellee.

The opinion of the court was delivered by Stegall, J.

After a string of violent robberies in Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas, Cecil Meggerson and Dyron King were jointly tried. The jury convicted Meggerson of attempted capital murder of Deputy Scott Wood, aggravated robbery of Patricia Pope, aggravated robbery of Deputy Scott Wood, aggravated robbery of Daniel Bayer, aggravated battery of Deputy Scott Wood, aggravated battery of Daniel Bayer, conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery, criminal possession of a weapon by a convicted felon on March 3, 2015, and criminal possession of a weapon by a convicted felon on March 4, 2015. The jury acquitted Meggerson on charges of aggravated robbery of Reginald Jones. The district court imposed a hard 25 sentence and a consecutive term of 449 months with the Department of Corrections. Meggerson directly appealed.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

We previously decided King's appeal in State v. King , 308 Kan. 16, 417 P.3d 1073 (2018). In that decision, we described the key events as follows:

"Don's Market and Liquors robbery

"On the evening of February 27, 2015, three men wearing black clothing and brandishing guns entered Don's Market and Liquors at 3000 Southwest Boulevard, Kansas City, Missouri. The cashier noticed one of the men was armed with a revolver and another carried a semiautomatic handgun with ‘a longer magazine.’ The man with the revolver—wearing a white mask and a pair of black and white gloves—came around the counter and demanded money. The cashier emptied the cash from the register into a plastic sack. The robbers then demanded the cashier's wallet, but when he was unable to locate it, he was pushed to the ground. The robbers left with the plastic sack, various types of liquor, cartons of cigarettes, and lottery tickets.

"The store's surveillance cameras showed the man with the white mask was also wearing black and white batting gloves and gray ‘boot style’ shoes. Another robber was carrying a ‘MAC-11 style’ semiautomatic gun with an extended magazine. This suspect wore a mask and Nike shoes with a distinctive yellow or white toe pattern. The third robber was wearing all black and carrying a revolver with a wood handle. Surveillance video from a nearby business showed the three suspects exit the store and get in a black four-door sedan with no front license plate.

"Family Dollar robbery

"Around 8:45 p.m. on March 3, 2015, Patricia Pope was working as a cashier at the Family Dollar located at 1225 Quindaro, Kansas City, Kansas. Reginald Jones was a customer in the store at the time. Pope was restocking the shelves when she noticed Jones make his way to the front register to pay for his items. As she walked to the front to help Jones, a taller man with a handgun came through the front door wearing black clothing, a mask, and gloves. The suspect approached Jones and pointed the gun at him. While this was occurring, two other individuals who were wearing dark clothing entered the store.

"The taller suspect spoke to Jones, but Pope could not make out what was said. He then struck Jones in the forehead with the handgun, and Jones fell to the ground, bleeding heavily. While on the ground, Jones was told to give up his keys and billfold. Jones tossed them his keys and said to take his car. But the robbers eventually left the store without taking the keys.

"After striking Jones, the taller suspect grabbed Pope and pushed her toward the counter. Once behind the counter, the man used a tool to pry open the cash register. He emptied the contents of the drawer into a store trash can and then repeated the same process at another cash register.

"While the taller man was prying open the drawers, another robber shoved Pope to the ground near the store's safe, demanding she open it. When Pope said she could not open it, the man fired two shots near her, one hitting the ground by her leg. Pope repeated that she was unable to open the safe, so he fired a third shot over her shoulder next to her face. The robbers left the store with the contents of the cash registers and some Newport cigarettes from behind the counter.

"Pope noticed the taller suspect had on blue ‘workman's boots or workman's shoes.’ Pope told a responding officer she could tell all three suspects were black males, but she later testified at trial that she could not discern their race. The store's surveillance video revealed one of the men was wearing a hoodie with a large gold eagle on the back. Another suspect wore black and white gloves and had a MAC-style semiautomatic handgun with an extended magazine. All three suspects had a firearm, one of which was a revolver with a wood handle. In addition to the surveillance video, investigators recovered two shell casings and a bullet from the store.

"Shamrock robbery

"Shortly after 10 p.m. on March 3, 2015, three armed men dressed in black robbed a Shamrock gas station at 8505 Woodland Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri. Brenden Foxworthy and Dustin Paquet were working the evening shift. Both Foxworthy and Paquet described one of the robbers as taller than the others. The taller robber, who was wearing a black mask covering his entire face, ordered Foxworthy to open the registers and safe. Foxworthy opened the registers, but when he was unable to open the safe, he was struck several times on top of his head with a gun. Foxworthy fell to the ground where he remained until the suspects left.

"Paquet observed one of the suspects was carrying a handgun with an extended magazine. All three robbers concealed their faces with either a mask, scarf, or hoodie. At some point before Foxworthy was struck, a shot was fired. After the suspects had left the store, Foxworthy heard shots being fired in the parking lot.

"Surveillance footage showed the tallest robber was wearing all black clothing and wielding a semiautomatic handgun with an extended magazine. He was wearing black and white batting gloves and a gray boot style shoe. The second suspect was dressed in all black and wore a mask with a University of Missouri Tiger's logo. He had on two-tone gray gloves and was carrying a revolver with a wood handle. The last suspect wore a black hoodie with a distinctive gold eagle design on the back and a pair of gloves with a faded yellow logo. He also wore Nike shoes with a unique yellow and white toe pattern.

"Foxworthy and Paquet told officers that the suspects took money and bottles of Patron. Video surveillance showed the robbers also took bottles of Rémy Martin, 1800 Tequila, and other bottles of tequila. Officers recovered several bullet shell casings from the parking lot.

"Kicks 66 robbery

"Around 12:45 a.m. on March 4, 2015, three masked men robbed a Kicks 66 gas station at the corner of 79th Street and Wornall Road in Kansas City, Missouri. Dannella Villa, the general manager, was training Derrick Brining that night. Villa saw three armed men dressed in dark clothing with their faces covered run through the front door. All three men were armed with handguns. Villa noticed one of the men had a mask with some sort of design. She described the height of the robbers as ‘one tall, one medium, and one short.’

"When they entered the store, Villa and Brining dropped to the ground, and Villa pressed the store's panic button. The tallest suspect and the medium-height suspect approached Villa and demanded money. One of the men came around the counter, and the other jumped over while firing gunshots. After opening one of the cash registers, Villa tried to open another but struggled to do so. The medium-height suspect used his pistol to hit her twice on the top of her head and once on her face. While striking Villa, he said, ‘I'm gonna kill you, bitch.’ Villa fell to the ground, acting as though she was unconscious.

"While they were behind the counter, the robbers tried to intimidate Villa and Brining by firing several shots near them. The robbers also tried to get Brining to open the safe, but because it was his first night on the job, he did not know how. Brining was struck several times with the butt of a gun. The robbers fired gunshots at the safe, trying to open it, and one of the bullets ricocheted off of the safe and struck Brining in the knuckle. They eventually abandoned their attempt to shoot open the safe, opting to ransack the store before leaving with the money from the registers.

"Villa saw enough of the tall and medium robbers' skin to discern they were black. The store's video surveillance cameras showed one of the robbers wore a distinctive gray boot style shoe and was wearing black and white Easton batting gloves. Another robber was carrying a revolver with a wood handle, had on two-toned black and gray gloves, and was wearing a mask with a University of Missouri logo. The third robber was wearing a jacket with a gold eagle emblem on the back.

"While entering the store, one of the suspects used a section of picket fence to prop open the door. Officers later discovered the section of fence was taken from a privacy fence located behind the gas station. While examining the fence behind the store, officers discovered a pack of Newport cigarettes and a knotted section of black t-shirt. Officers also recovered numerous bullet fragments and empty shell casings from the gas station.

"7-Eleven robbery

"The final robbery occurred at the 7-Eleven convenience store located at 4331 Shawnee Drive in Kansas City, Kansas. In the early morning hours of March 4, 2015, Dan Bayer was the only person working the overnight

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