State v. Shockley, 24792.
| Decision Date | 10 March 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 24791.,No. 24792.,24792.,24791. |
| Citation | 98 S.W.3d 885 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Thomas SHOCKLEY, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Ellen H. Flottman, Assistant State Public Defender, of Columbia, for appellant.
Jeremiah W. Nixon, Attorney General, Dora A. Fichter, Assistant Attorney General, Jefferson City, for respondent.
Following jury trial, Thomas Shockley ("Defendant") was convicted of burglary in the second degree, § 569.170, RSMo 2000, and felony stealing, § 570.030, RSMo 2000. With four points relied on, Defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence on both counts and contends that trial court plainly erred in instructing the jury in the disjunctive on the alternatives that Defendant either acted together with or aided Janie Easling in the commission of the alleged crimes.
Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, the following evidence was adduced at trial. After Easling and Defendant, who was Easling's boyfriend, became stranded in North Carolina, Nancy Loudermilk, Easling's aunt, traveled there to pick them up so that they could stay at the Loudermilks' home in Missouri (the home of Nancy and her husband Joseph, whom we will refer to as the Loudermilks when discussing them as a couple, Loudermilk when referring only to Nancy). Defendant and Easling stayed with the Loudermilks for four to five weeks, until they moved into a mobile home that the Loudermilks owned, which was down the street from the Loudermilks' home. When Defendant and Easling moved into the mobile home, Defendant changed the locks and expressed that "no one was going in his house." At the same time, Loudermilk decided that Defendant and Easling would no longer have permission to be in her home.
On December 8, 2000, Eunice Blythe, the Loudermilks' daughter who also lived in a mobile home on the Loudermilks' property, borrowed her parents' Ford Explorer to drive herself, as well as Defendant and Easling, to work. Blythe decided against driving her own vehicle, a 1995 Mazda 626, that day because it had a bad tire. Blythe often took Defendant and Easling to work because they did not have their own vehicle.
Two hours after arriving at work, Defendant and Easling asked Blythe to take them home because Defendant was ill "and needed to go to the doctor." Blythe drove them home after stopping by a bank, per Defendant's request, so that he could get more checks. It was approximately 10:30 a.m. when Blythe dropped Defendant and Easling off at their residence.
Loudermilk arrived home that evening around 5:30 p.m. and it appeared to her that the lock on the door had been "picked"; there was a screwdriver lying nearby. Among the items missing were a hunting knife, a camcorder, a five-gallon jug of coins worth between $1,500 and $2,000 that her grandchildren (Blythe's children) had been saving, and some collector coins that Loudermilk kept in a dresser drawer.
Deputy Buddy Thompson ("Deputy") of the Maries County Sheriff's Department was called to the scene and he saw signs that the door had been pried open. During Deputy's investigation, at approximately 6:30 p.m., Blythe returned home. Deputy asked Blythe to check on her residence and she found that her Mazda was missing. There were two sets of keys to the vehicle, one that Blythe kept in her purse and another that was kept in her parent's house. The missing set was that which she kept in her purse, which had been in her purse that morning when she drove Defendant and Easling to work.
Deputy went to Defendant and Easling's mobile home and found that they were gone. Given all of the information that he had gathered about the missing items and vehicle, as well as information that Blythe had taken Defendant and Easling home from work earlier that morning, Deputy asked his dispatch to register the vehicle as stolen.
On December 12, 2000, while responding to a call at a motel, Corporal Keith Watson ("Corporal") of the Hillsborough, North Carolina Police Department noticed a Mazda 626 in the parking lot with two people sleeping in it. Corporal, who was in full uniform, approached the driver's side of the vehicle, while another officer approached the passenger's side. Corporal knocked on the window and Defendant awoke, rolled down the window, and handed Corporal a North Carolina identification card.
Corporal ran the identification card and Missouri plates through his communication center and just as he received verification that the vehicle was stolen, Defendant drove out of the parking lot. Corporal pursued the vehicle, with lights and sirens activated, into a subdivision where Defendant exited the vehicle, but was apprehended following a short foot pursuit. During Corporal's interview with Defendant at the scene, Defendant indicated that he ran because the vehicle was stolen. Blythe later identified the vehicle as hers.
As two separate causes, Defendant was charged with one count of burglary in the second degree, in violation of § 569.170, RSMo 2000, and one count of felony stealing, in violation of § 570.030, RSMo 2000. For both charges, the information stipulated that Defendant committed the crime while "acting in concert with Janie Easling." The two cases were consolidated for trial.
At trial, Easling testified that on December 8, 2000, she and Defendant returned home from work early because they both were ill, although under cross-examination she testified that she meant to say that only Defendant was ill. Easling then provided the following account of what happened that day. While Defendant was in their residence, she went into the Loudermilks' home without permission. She took the keys to Blythe's car that were in the house, but took nothing else. She returned to the residence she shared with Defendant, woke him up, and informed him that Blythe said that they could take her car to North Carolina and later meet her in Florida. According to Easling, they had discussed taking this trip with Blythe on previous occasions.
Easling continued her account by addressing the encounter with Corporal four days later in North Carolina. Easling testified that she and Defendant fled the parking lot of the motel because she was scared given that she had stolen the vehicle. When asked whether she had told Defendant that the vehicle was stolen prior to Corporal approaching the vehicle, Easling first said, "no," but later stated it was possible that she had told him at some point prior to that, between the time that they left their residence in Missouri and arrived in North Carolina.
Regarding money, Easling testified that she and Defendant had 70 or 80 dollars with them when they left Missouri. She also testified that four new tires were purchased for the vehicle once they reached North Carolina.
At trial, the defense also called Peggy Landreth as a witness. She was a friend of the Loudermilks' son and also lived on the Loudermilks' property. On cross-examination, Landreth testified that she did not believe that Easling was capable of committing the crimes alone.
The following jury instructions are of interest to this appeal.
A person is responsible for his own conduct and he is also responsible for the conduct of another person in committing an offense if he acts with the other person with the common purpose of committing that offense or if, for the purpose of committing the offense, he aids or encourages the other person in committing it.
As to Count I, if you find and believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt:
then you are instructed that the offense of burglary in the second degree has occurred, and if you further find and believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt:
Third, that with the purpose of promoting or furthering the commission of that burglary, the defendant acted together with or encouraged Janie Easling in committing that offense,
Then you will find the defendant guilty under Count I of burglary in the second degree.
However, unless you find and believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt each and all of these propositions, you must find the defendant not guilty of that offense.
As to Count II, if you find and believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt:
then you will find the defendant guilty under Count II felony stealing.
However, unless you find and believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt each and all of these propositions, you must find the defendant not guilty of that offense.
The jury found Defendant guilty on both counts and he was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment for each, to be run concurrently. Following the denial of Defendant's motion for judgment of acquittal notwithstanding the verdict of the jury or, in the...
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