State v. Shafer, 75868
| Citation | 969 S.W.2d 719 |
| Decision Date | 26 May 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. 75868,75868 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Robert Andrew SHAFER, Appellant. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Missouri |
J. Gregory Mermelstein, Asst. Public Defender, Columbia, Robert A. Shafer, Mineral Point, for Appellant.
Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon, Atty. Gen., Theodore A. Bruce, Daniel G. Cierpoit, Asst. Attys. Gen., Jefferson City, for Respondent.
Robert Shafer pled guilty to two counts of murder in the first degree and two counts of armed criminal action. He received two sentences of death and two life sentences. Schafer appealed and also filed a Rule 24.035 motion seeking to set aside his guilty plea and sentence. The motion court overruled the motion on the guilty plea but entered an order setting aside the death sentence. We have jurisdiction. MO. CONST. ART. V, SEC. 3 . We affirm the judgment of guilt and the decision of the motion court overruling the Rule 24.035 motion as to the guilty plea. We reverse the decision of the motion court setting aside the death sentence. The sentence of death is affirmed.
The facts in this case are best told by Shafer himself. Here is his written confession, typed without change in spelling, punctuation, grammar or syntax:
On April 29, 1990 at about 10:30 a.m. I got fired from my job. I called my friend David Steinmeyer and asked him to come over and get high with me. David and I got stoned from about 11:00 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. with my sister, Francine, and a friend. During this time David and I talked about robbing some homosexuals, and beating them up. (My sister did not have any knowledge of this.) At 1:30 p.m., David and I went behind the apartments to play baseball with some friends. We all got stoned and drank some beer. David and I talked more about robbing somebody while playing softball. At about 4:45 p.m. David left to go to work at 5:00 p.m. I stayed and played softball until about 6:30 p.m. I went home, took a shower and got stoned some more. At about 7:25 p.m. I went up to Hardee's on North 94 to talk to David again.
I left Hardee's at 7:45 p.m. and went back home to wait for David to get off work at 8:00 p.m. At 8:15 p.m. David came to my house, we sat and got stoned and talked more about robbing somebody. David changed from his work clothes into some of mine. I went into my sister's bedroom, got the .22 revolver and got 5 .22 shells from the kitchen. I put the shells in my pocket and the .22 into my waistband. At about 8:45 p.m. David and I left my house. We walked behind the Marina apartments until we got to North 94. We walked down North 94 until we got to Tecumseh Street. We walked to Tecumseh and Second Street and talked to a St. Charles County Sheriff's Deputy. The Deputy told us to keep on going. David and I walked to North Main Street, down North Main to the North River Road. (Earlier that day David and I talked about where to look for somebody to rob and decided to look at Blanchette's landing on North River Road.) Once on the North River Broad we went to Blanchette's Landing. We hid in the dark to see how many people were there. We seen 4-5 parked cars. As we approached the eastern part of the landing this is where we saw the guys, Parker and Young. David and I hid in the bathroom and tried to look at Parker and Young. We heard the loud music, saw Parker and Young hugging and drinking beer. (This is when we knew they would be ones we robbed.) David and I walked up to Parker and Young and started talking to them. (It seemed like Young was apprehensive about talking to us.) They asked us what we were doing out so late, and I told them we were going to see some girls in St. Peters. I offered Young $5.00 to drive us to St. Peters. I gave the $5.00 to Parker and he gave it to Young. We sat there and talked for about 5 minutes and drank a beer they gave us. At about 9:30 p.m. we got into the car to go to St. Peters. I got in the car behind Parker on the passenger side and David got behind Young on the driver side. At this point I gave David the gun, but, kept the 5 .22 shells. Young drove down the North River Road until he got to North Main, he drove until he got to Tecumseh Street. At Fourth Street drove until he got to the hill leading to Fifth Street. He drove all the way down Fifth Street until he got to the on ramp for I-70 West. During the drive from the North River Road we all exchanged conversation. They asked us our names, if we got high and other general conversation. (David and I knew right away Young was gay.) Young did seem real apprehensive about the whole incident, but, hadn't said much so far. Once we were on I-70 West I put 3 of the .22 shells in the gun and gave it back to David to hold. (David and I talked among ourselves about what we would do and Parker asked how come we were whispering.) Once we got to the Cave Springs Exit at St. Peters Young exited. I was going to have him drop us off at the Cave Springs Sunoco, but, I thought my brother-in-law Jeff was at work there, so I didn't. I asked Young to take us farther into St. Peters, which he agreed to. (Young said, "There isn't anything going on, is there?") Young drove the car down Cave Springs Road until he got to Mexico Road. At Mexico Road he turned right, going west until the got to Jungerman Road, he turned left, going south. He went down Jungerman Road until he got to a 7-11 on the right hand side and turned left on Oak Tree, going east. He followed Oak Tree until I told him to turn on Peach Street. Parker then said his nephew lived on Peach, so I told Young it was the wrong street. Young drove down Oak Tree until it turned into Cherry Tree. He drove down Cherry Tree until he came to Timberidge. He drove down Timberidge until he got to New Muegge Road. He drove down New Muegge Road until he came to the Hackman and Country Club Road intersection. At Country Club Road, he took a left and went until he came to Berlekamp. At Berlekamp he went to a circular drive and I told him that was the house. The lights were off so I told him it was the right house, but, nobody was home now. (During this whole drive through St. Peters Young kept asking if anything was wrong, he seemed scared.) (David and I whispered a lot because we didn't know where we were, or if they knew we would rob them.) At this house Young sensed something was wrong and told us to get out and find another ride from there. I asked Young to take us back to I-70 where we would get out and find a ride. At this point Young drove back pretty much the same way we had came as far as I can remember. On the trip back to I-70 we all talked about partying some time at Parker's house in St. Charles, and David and I decided to take the car when we stopped next time. Back at Cave Springs and I-70 Young got on the south service road, going east. I told him we could be dropped off at another friend's house on the service road. He drove until he got to Spring Road. At Spring Road Young turned right, going south. Spring Road dead ends and at the dead end Young pulled into a driveway on the right side. I told Young to turn off the headlights and the motor, because my "friend" could be asleep. (I got the gun from David now.) As Parker got out he opened the seat for me to get out. On my way out I punched Parker in the face and stomach and pushed him into a hole. He tried to get up and I kicked him again. David was fighting with Young on the other side of the car, but, Young was on top of David. I dragged Parker over to Young, pointed the gun at Young's head and told him to stop fighting. I gave the gun to David an told him to shoot if they tried to get away. I got in the driver's seat, Young behind me, David in the passenger seat and Parker behind him. I told them all we would do is rob them and leave them somewhere unless they tried to get away. (David kept them at gun point while I drove.) I drove back to the south service road and turned left, going west. I took the service road all the way to Mid Rivers Drive. At Mid Rivers Drive I crossed the over-pass to the north service road. I drove down the north service road past the Quick Trip on the right, through old town St. Peters. At the stop sign Young tried to reach for the door handle. Instead of stopping I drove through the stop sign. (From Cave Springs to Mid Rivers Drive Young tried once to choke me from behind.) At the railroad tracks next to the Lone Wolf Park I turned onto Salt River Road. I drove down Salt River Road until I got to Silvers Road on the right side, this is where I planned on robbing Young and Parker because it was dark and away from people. I drove down Silvers Road for a ways and stopped. I turned off the car and headlights next. (Along the way from Cave Springs to Mid Rivers David asked if we would kill or shoot the guys, I said no until Young tried to choke me and get away.)
After I stopped the car I opened the door to let Young out on the passenger side. David and Parker started to fight and Parker ended up in the ditch. As Young got out he punched me in the face, I fought with him until he also ended up in the ditch. David came up to me after Young was in the ditch and we talked for a few seconds. I seen Parker trying to run away so I chased him. As I caught up to him he fell into the ditch again. I was not too far away when I fired 2 shots from the .22 revolver. I know at least one (1) shot hit Parker in the face because I had some blood on my hand. (Right after I shot Parker I ran over to where Young was laying in the ditch). Young begged me not to shoot him, he said he didn't remember what I looked like, he wouldn't go to the police. I fired one (1) shot at Young, hitting him in the back I think because he was trying to run away into the field. I took the last 2 shells out of my pocket, put them in the gun and fired one (1) shot. I then walked closer to Young and fired another one (1) shot into his head. Young did not move, but, made noises. (David was back at the car.) I walked over to David...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
People v. Taylor, S054774.
...547-548; State v. Thornblad (Minn.Ct.App.1994) 513 N.W.2d 260, 262-263; Dunn v. State (Miss.1997) 693 So.2d 1333, 1340; State v. Shafer (Mo.1998) 969 S.W.2d 719, 728-729; State v. Tribble (2005) 179 Vt. 235, 892 A.2d 232, 240, fn. 2.) Only Wisconsin and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ......
-
Metheny v. State
...compulsory process"). See also Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 243, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 1712, 23 L.Ed.2d 274, 279 (1969); State v. Shafer, 969 S.W.2d 719, 731-32 (Mo. 1998). 15. The factual basis requirement has also been referred to, in one of the few treatises on the topic, as the "accuracy r......
-
Shafer v. Bowersox
...court's decision. Shafer's direct appeal and the appeal of the post-conviction court's decision were consolidated. See State v. Shafer, 969 S.W.2d 719(Mo.), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 969, 119 S.Ct. 419, 142 L.Ed.2d 340 (1998). On May 26, 1998, the Missouri Supreme Court affirmed Shafer's convi......
-
State v. Barnett
...the murders were committed for the purpose of receiving money or any other thing of monetary value is not unconstitutional); State v. Shafer, 969 S.W.2d 719 (Mo. banc 1998) (robbery and pecuniary gain statutory aggravators are not duplicative). Point denied. Finally, Barnett claims that the......
-
Right to Counsel in Misdemeanor Prosecutions After Alabama v. Shelton: No-Lawyer-Courts and Their Consequences on the Poor and Communities of Color in St. Louis
...Haste and waste in Florida’s misde-meanor courts. Retrieved from https://www.nacdl.org/reports/threeminutejustice/State v. Shafer, 969 S.W.2d 719, 729 (1998).State v. Young, No. 13-1226 (2015).United States v. Cash, 47 F.3d 1083, 1088–1089 (1995).V.A.M.R. Rule 33.01(d).V.A.M.S. 600.086.Von ......