State v. Stallings, s. 57761
| Decision Date | 28 May 1991 |
| Docket Number | 59113,Nos. 57761,s. 57761 |
| Citation | 812 S.W.2d 772 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Plaintiff/Respondent, v. Michael J. STALLINGS, Defendant/Appellant. Michael J. STALLINGS, Movant/Appellant, v. STATE of Missouri, Respondent/Respondent. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Henry B. Robertson, Asst. Public Defender, St. Louis, for defendant/appellant.
William L. Webster, Atty. Gen., Robert P. Sass, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for plaintiff/respondent.
Defendant appeals his convictions of murder in the first degree, § 565.020, RSMo 1986, two counts of armed criminal action, § 571.015, RSMo 1986, assault in the first degree, § 565.050, RSMo 1986, and burglary in the second degree, § 569.170, RSMo 1986, for which defendant was sentenced by a jury to serve concurrent sentences of life, ten, ten, twenty, and four years imprisonment respectively. Defendant also appeals from the dismissal, without an evidentiary hearing, of his Rule 29.15 motion to vacate judgment and sentence. Pursuant to Rule 29.15(1), these appeals have been consolidated for review. We affirm.
The evidence at trial revealed that, in 1985, Donna Stallings divorced defendant because he was abusive to her. Although defendant returned to live in Ms. Stallings' home for a short time after the divorce, he renewed his abuse and was removed from the home by the police. Ms. Stallings' sister, Brenda Abshier, moved in to the home to help care for Ms. Stallings' children and deter defendant from visiting. Ms. Stallings also changed the deadbolt lock on her front door, although she never retrieved the other lock's key from defendant.
Ms. Stallings testified that defendant's jealousy led him to threaten suicide many times in the few months before the shooting, including one incident where defendant played Russian roulette. On February 27, 1987, Ms. Stallings called the police when defendant refused to leave her home. After the police gave defendant an opportunity to remove his clothing and other belongings, they told him that, because Ms. Stallings did not want him there, he would be charged with trespassing if he returned, and with burglary if he entered the premises. On March 3, after defendant returned, Ms. Stallings called the police and had defendant arrested for trespassing. The police told defendant that he would be arrested every time he returned to the home. On March 17, defendant came to the house to use tools that he still kept there. When Ms. Stallings told defendant that she had to break their plans for the evening because of a prior commitment, he asked for the bullets to his handgun, then smashed her curling iron, kicked the thermostat off the wall, and turned over a fish tank as Ms. Stallings ran to the neighbor's house to call the police. After he ran Ms. Stallings' car into her garage wall, defendant was arrested. At the urging of his parents and Ms. Stallings, defendant was admitted as an inpatient to the stress unit of a nearby hospital for psychiatric care. Defendant apparently received counseling and medication but discontinued both after a short time.
Two weeks before the May 26 shooting, Abshier returned home to find defendant hiding in the bushes by the front door. When she refused to let him inside he left. The next morning, Ms. Stallings drove up to the home and saw defendant, splattered with blood, run to her car with a knife. He got in the car and drove her to their children's school. During this episode defendant slapped Ms. Stallings with the knife and used it to mutilate her shoes. In addition to threatening to kill himself, he told her she wouldn't have to worry about the children ever again, and threatened to use tape he had placed around his midsection to bind her and put her in the trunk. Ms. Stallings eventually convinced defendant to let her go. When she returned home, she found that the phone line had been severed.
On May 25, the day before the shooting incident, Ms. Stallings and Ms. Abshier returned from a weekend camping trip with Randy Webber, who was Ms. Stallings' boyfriend, and Webber's roommate, Rob Smith. When defendant arrived at the home, she told him he should leave and call later, as it was not a good time. Despite Ms. Stallings' statement that she did not want to be in the house with him by herself, defendant entered the home. Webber and Smith followed defendant into the house, and after telling defendant he could not speak with Ms. Stallings, Webber grabbed defendant from behind and Smith attempted to punch him. Defendant told Ms. Stallings that Webber could not have her and his children. The police were called again. Ms. Stallings and Abshier did not return home that night. 1
The next day at dusk, Abshier and Smith returned to Ms. Stallings' home. After Abshier unlocked the front door, the two entered the home and heard a sound from upstairs. Smith took out a pocket knife that he often carried and opened it. Abshier told him not to go upstairs and said they should leave. Smith told her to stay at the bottom of the stairs and quickly climbed the stairs two at a time. Immediately after he turned left out of sight at the top of the stairs, Abshier heard two "pops" like a gun firing, a moan, and a thump. As she attempted to leave by the front door to call the police, she mistakenly locked the door. She heard a series of "pops", felt a burning sensation and fell to the floor.
Defendant came downstairs and looked out the windows for others. He returned to Abshier and asked for the phone number of the place where Ms. Stallings was staying but Abshier said she did not have it. He brought her to the top of the stairs and found the phone number in Abshier's purse. Defendant called pretending to be Abshier's sister, but did not speak to Ms. Stallings. Defendant called his parents and told the person answering that he had shot Abshier and Smith, and then called an ambulance at Abshier's insistence. During the phone calls, Abshier tried to calm defendant, but he said that she was making him anxious and told her he would shoot her again if she didn't shut up. Defendant sat down in front of the couch and Abshier heard a shot. Holding his stomach, defendant got up, unlocked the front door, and then sat down on the couch.
When a police officer arrived at the home in response to a call from the telephone operator, he started upstairs to render aid to Abshier. He saw defendant reach for a rifle on the floor next to the couch upon which defendant was sitting. The officer placed the rifle out of defendant's reach. Defendant told another officer rendering first aid to him that there was another person in the bedroom. The officer found Smith dead in the bedroom upstairs. When the officer searched the rest of the home, he found items smashed throughout the home, cut marks in the drywall, and slashes in paintings and clothing. Defendant's rifle was fully loaded when the police arrived.
Defendant testified that he went to the house at about 4:30 a.m. on his way to work, to get an electric meter he had borrowed from his employer. Defendant left and returned to the house several times. Defendant returned to the house on foot the final time after leaving his car in his child's school parking lot, because he claimed it would not start. He attempted to phone Ms. Stallings several times, but did not reach her.
He became depressed and thought of slashing his wrists, but could not. He used a razor to slash paintings on the wall, wedding pictures, and clothing in the closet. While in the closet he saw a rifle, which he used to smash belongings in the bedroom. He claimed that when Smith approached him with an open knife and threatened to kill him, he shot Smith in self-defense. He said that he never reloaded the rifle, and that he did not reach for the rifle when police arrived.
Defendant was charged with first degree murder in the death of Smith, first degree assault in the shooting of Abshier, second degree burglary for his entry into the home, and two counts of armed criminal action for his use of the rifle. Defendant's defenses were self-defense to the murder charge, and diminished capacity to both the murder and the assault. After his convictions, defendant filed a direct appeal and an appeal from his Rule 29.15 motion, which was denied without an evidentiary hearing.
Defendant in his principal point contends that the verdict was coerced because of the length of time that the trial court permitted the jury to deliberate, and because the trial court submitted MAI-CR3d 312.10, the so-called hammer instruction, toward the end of deliberations. On Friday at 4:42 p.m., after five days of trial, the case was submitted to the jury. At 8:55 p.m. the jury sent the trial court a note with a question concerning the instructions. With the approval of counsel, the court instructed the jury to be guided by the instructions. At 2:30 a.m. the foreman informed the court by note that the jury was deadlocked 11 to 1 on the issue of self-defense, but did not indicate which party was favored by the deadlock. When the court proposed to tender the hammer instruction, defendant's counsel objected and requested that the court instruct the jury to "consider the instructions and arrive at a verdict and if they can't, then they are to indicate that they cannot do so." When the jury returned to the courtroom, the court asked the foreman if there was any possibility of arriving at a verdict upon further deliberations, to which he replied "that's always the possibility ... but after quite numerous hours we've tended to have a stalemate." The court then said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I know it's late and I think that perhaps we're even more tired than you are because we have spent the hours in inactivity where at least you've had an opportunity to yell at each other a little...
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