State v. Uka
| Decision Date | 22 August 2000 |
| Citation | 25 S.W.3d 624 |
| Parties | (Mo.App. E.D. 2000) . State of Missouri, Respondent, v. Sami Uka, Appellant. Case Number: ED76870 Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District Handdown Date: 0 |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Appeal From: Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis, Hon. John J. Riley
Counsel for Appellant: Richard H. Sindel
Counsel for Respondent: Linda Lemke
Opinion Summary: Sami Uka appeals from the circuit court judgment on a conviction after a jury verdict finding him guilty of the unlawful use of a weapon and harassment. Uka received a sentence of six months' imprisonment for harassment and a suspended imposition of sentence with three years probation for the unlawful use of a weapon. He claims the trial court erred in admitting evidence of his prior bad conduct toward the victim and in refusing to admit photographic evidence that victim suffered no mistreatment at Uka's hands.
AFFIRMED IN PART AND DISMISSED IN PART.
Division Two holds: (1) A defendant may not appeal from a conviction where there is a suspended imposition of sentence. Therefore, this Court dismisses Uka's appeal on the count of unlawful use of a weapon. (2) Defense counsel's questioning of the victim as to whether she despised and detested Uka opened the door to permit the state to question the victim as to her specific reasons for detesting him. Any error in refusing to admit the photographic evidence was harmless as similar impeaching testimony detailing the victim's healthy disposition was before the jury.
Opinion Vote: AFFIRMED IN PART AND DISMISSED IN PART. Crandall Jr., and J. Dowd, JJ., concur.
Sami Uka ("Defendant") appeals from the judgment on a conviction by the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis after a jury verdict finding him guilty of one count of the unlawful use of a weapon, section 571.030 RSMo (Supp. 1999), and one count of harassment, section 565.090 RSMo (1994). Defendant received a sentence of six months' imprisonment on the harassment count and a suspended imposition of sentence with three years probation on the unlawful use of a weapon count. A defendant may not appeal from a conviction where there is a suspended imposition of sentence. State v. Hanners, 827 S.W.2d 273, 274 (Mo. App. 1992). Therefore, we dismiss defendant's appeal on the count of unlawful use of a weapon. As to the remaining appeal, defendant claims the trial court erred in admitting evidence of defendant's prior bad conduct toward victim and in refusing to admit photographic evidence that victim suffered no mistreatment at the hands of defendant. We affirm.
Shipqe Rexha ("victim") came to the United States from Albania in early 1995 to live and work with defendant, her brother-in-law, and her sister, defendant's wife. Victim testified that upon arrival, she was forced to work thirteen-hour days without pay and provide $11,000 to defendant for immigration purposes. Later that year, victim's husband sold their house in Albania and moved to the United States. Both victim and her husband lived in defendant's St. Louis home until a series of disputes prompted them to obtain their own home.
After moving out, victim and her husband began receiving a series of phone calls from defendant and his wife in which defendant and his wife threatened to kill victim and her husband. Victim began keeping a handwritten log of the times of the phone calls; in addition, the telephone company placed a tracer on victim's phone. On September 10, 1996, at around 5:30 a.m., defendant phoned victim and threatened to kill her, chop her body into pieces, and "land [her] back in a trash can." A short time later, victim and her husband witnessed defendant drive up their street in a minivan, park in front of their house, and point a shotgun toward the window while shouting "I'll blow your brains away...I'm going to kill you." Victim immediately called the police. A police officer, upon arrival at defendant's residence, discovered the minivan parked in the driveway. The officer noticed the hood of the minivan over the engine was "very hot," and he discovered a shotgun case in the rear of the minivan. A shotgun with one live shell was found inside the case. Defendant was arrested and taken into custody. A trial was held, and defendant was found guilty of one count of harassment and one count of the unlawful use of a weapon. This appeal follows.
Defendant's first point on appeal asserts the trial court erred in finding that defense counsel's question to victim about whether victim blamed defendant's wife for her "problems" opened the door to allow the state to present evidence of those "problems." Defendant complains the admitted evidence constituted inadmissible prior bad acts of the defendant, the admitted evidence was not logically relevant, and its probative value was outweighed by its prejudicial impact.
The general rule concerning the admission of evidence of uncharged crimes, wrongs, or acts is that evidence of prior uncharged misconduct is inadmissible for the purpose of showing the propensity of the defendant to commit such crimes. State v. Bernard, 849 S.W.2d 10, 13 (Mo. 1993). Nevertheless, evidence of other uncharged misconduct has a legitimate tendency to prove the specific crime charged when it tends to establish motive, intent, the...
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