State v. Watson, 60134
| Decision Date | 18 August 1992 |
| Docket Number | No. 60134,60134 |
| Citation | 839 S.W.2d 611 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Plaintiff/Respondent, v. James WATSON, Defendant/Appellant. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
John Klosterman, St. Louis, for defendant/appellant.
William L. Webster, Atty. Gen., Rudolph R. Rhodes, IV, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for plaintiff/respondent.
A jury found defendant James Watson guilty of the offenses of second degree murder in violation of § 565.021 RSMo 1986 and armed criminal action in violation of § 571.015 RSMo 1986. The trial court sentenced him to concurrent terms of thirty years imprisonment for second degree murder and three years imprisonment for armed criminal action. The charges arose out of the shooting death of Clarence Grimes during a drug transaction. At trial defendant admitted shooting Grimes, but claimed he had acted in self-defense. Defendant appeals from the judgment on the grounds that the trial court erred in denying his motion for acquittal for insufficiency of the evidence, in denying his motion for acquittal based on the state's opening statement, in overruling his objection to statements made in closing argument and in denying a motion for a mistrial when a witness "burst into tears." He further contends the trial court plainly erred in not declaring a mistrial or granting other relief when the prosecutor argued that defendant had not presented evidence to support his claim of self-defense. We affirm.
The evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, reveals that Youree Hall advised defendant, who was his close friend, that he had a problem with the victim, Clarence Grimes, and he owed Grimes approximately $6,000. At that time defendant had never met Grimes. On February 13, 1990, Hall came to defendant's house and told defendant that Grimes was coming over to sell Hall some drugs. Hall asked defendant to accompany him and to carry Hall's .45 caliber automatic pistol "to watch his back." Defendant agreed to do this. After Grimes arrived defendant asked them to take their business around the corner, which they did, and defendant followed them. Hall told Grimes he had $10,000. Grimes gave Hall a blue bag. Hall pulled a plastic bag out of the blue bag and handed it to defendant who agreed it was cocaine. Hall gave Grimes a brown paper bag. Grimes turned away without looking into the brown paper bag he was holding and then turned back towards defendant. Defendant shot him in the forehead. Defendant and Hall ran to defendant's house, left the pistol and the cocaine, picked up two women, and went to a downtown hotel. They later had a friend retrieve both the weapon and the cocaine, deliver the cocaine to Hall at the hotel, and destroy the weapon. In the month following the shooting, Hall gave defendant $4,000.
Grimes was discovered by police lying unconscious in the street where he was shot. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital where he died from the gunshot wound the next day. The police also retrieved from the scene a brown paper bag with Grimes' blood type on it which contained only donuts, cookies and a wrapper.
When initially questioned by police, defendant denied any knowledge of either the victim or the shooting. The second time he was questioned, defendant denied knowledge of the shooting and told the police he had spent the entire evening with Youree Hall and that they had spent the entire night at the downtown hotel. The third time he was questioned, after being apprised of the evidence against him, he admitted the shooting in a taped statement which was played to the jury at trial. In his statement he said that he shot Grimes because, as Grimes turned back towards him, his right hand moved towards his waistband. He thought Grimes might have a weapon, but he did not see one.
In his first point defendant claims the trial court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal at the close of all the evidence because the state failed to adduce sufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant did not act in self-defense. Defendant's claim of self-defense was based on his trial testimony that he believed the victim was reaching for a gun. Defendant argues that this is one of those rare cases where defendant was entitled to acquittal by the court as a matter of law. We disagree.
Section 563.031.1 RSMo 1986 provides that self-defense may be justification for the use of physical force when and to the extent a person reasonably believes such force is necessary to defend himself from what that person reasonably believes to be the use or imminent use of unlawful force by the other person. Deadly force may be used in self-defense only when there is: "(1) an absence of aggression or provocation on the part of the defender, (2) a real or apparently real necessity for the defender to kill in order to save himself from an immediate danger of serious bodily injury or death, (3) a reasonable cause for the defender's belief in such necessity, and (4) an attempt by the defender to do all within his power consistent with his personal safety to avoid the danger and need to take a life." State v. Chambers, 671 S.W.2d 781, 783 (Mo. banc 1984). Some affirmative action, gesture, or communication by the person feared, indicating the immediacy of the danger, the ability to avoid it, and the necessity of using deadly force must also be present. Id.
The defendant has the burden of injecting the issue of justification. § 563.031.4. However it does not matter which side produces the evidence. State v. Morley, 748 S.W.2d 66, 68 (Mo.App.1988). If there is evidence to support the defense, then the state has the burden of disproving self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. If all the evidence is undisputed and uncontradicted and conclusively establishes self-defense, the trial court may find self-defense as a matter of law and dispose of a murder charge by acquittal. State v. Lett, 715 S.W.2d 557, 559 (Mo.App.1986); State v. Thornton, 532 S.W.2d 37, 42-43 (Mo.App.1975). If the evidence is not free of dispute, self-defense is a jury question. Lett, 715 S.W.2d at 559; Thornton, 532 S.W.2d at 43.
This is not one of the rare cases in which defendant would be entitled to acquittal on the grounds of self-defense as a matter of law. In testing the sufficiency of the evidence on a motion to direct a verdict of acquittal, we view the evidence and all reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the state and we disregard all contradictory evidence and inferences. State v. Caldwell, 434 S.W.2d 571, 574-75 (Mo.1968). Defendant relies on his statements to police officers and his trial testimony in support of his argument that all of the evidence established self-defense. Although there was no other witness who testified to the events surrounding the shooting, other evidence adduced at trial supported reasonable inferences consistent with murder and consciousness of guilt and inconsistent with self-defense. Defendant knew Hall had a problem with the victim and owed the victim money. Defendant voluntarily accompanied Hall to the crime scene armed with Hall's weapon. Hall represented to the victim that he had $10,000, but the bag Hall gave the victim in exchange for the cocaine contained donuts and cookies instead of money. The victim was not aware of the true contents of the bag when he turned back towards defendant. Defendant never saw the victim with a weapon and there was no evidence that the victim had a weapon. After the shooting defendant fled the scene, temporarily disposed of the gun and cocaine, and went to a hotel with Hall and two women. He later had someone destroy the gun. He received $4,000 from Hall after the shooting. He denied knowledge of the shooting to the police on two occasions and used his presence at the hotel as an alibi. He did not confess until he learned there was substantial evidence against him. This evidence presents a jury question on the issue of self-defense. The trial court did not err in failing to direct a verdict of acquittal.
In his second point, defendant asserts the trial court erred in overruling his motion for judgment of acquittal after the state's opening statement. He argues that the state failed to set forth in its opening statement any evidence that defendant acted with deliberation or cool reflection.
The state's opening statement provided in pertinent part:
... the defendant tells the police that on the night of February 13th he met with Youree Hall, and they were going to meet Clarence Grimes for purposes of obtaining some drugs.
Prior to meeting with Clarence Grimes, Youree Hall gave the defendant a .45 caliber automatic. They proceeded and met with Clarence Grimes, and during this drug transaction, the defendant shot Clarence Grimes once in the head with the .45 caliber. They ran from the scene and after that, Youree Hall paid the defendant approximately $4,000.
The state is required to make an opening statement in the trial of a criminal offense. Rule 27.02(d); § 546.070(1) RSMo 1986. An opening statement will withstand a motion for judgment of acquittal if it contains facts sufficient to make a submissible case. State v. Spain, 759 S.W.2d 871, 874 (Mo.App.1988). We will not reverse a conviction because of a defective opening statement absent a showing of prejudice to the defendant. Id.
Defendant was charged with first degree murder. To make a submissible case of murder in the first degree, the state was required to show, beyond a reasonable doubt, that defendant "knowingly cause[d] the death of another person after deliberation upon the matter." § 565.020.1 RSMo 1986. "Deliberation" is defined as "cool reflection for any length of time no matter how brief." § 565.002(3) RSMo 1986. Deliberation may be inferred from the circumstances surrounding the homicide. State v. Grubbs, 724 S.W.2d 494, 498 (Mo. banc 1987), cert. denied, Grubbs v. Missouri, 482 U.S. 931, 107...
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