State v. Wolf

• Decision Date: 29 October 2002
• Docket Number: No. WD 60277.,WD 60277.
• Citation: 91 S.W.3d 636
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Joshua A. WOLF, Appellant.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

91 S.W.3d 636

STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v.Joshua A. WOLF, Appellant.

No. WD 60277.

Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District.

October 29, 2002.

Motion for Rehearing and/or Transfer to Supreme Court December 24, 2002.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Stephen C. Wilson, Cape Girardeau, MO, for appellant.

Jeremiah W.(Jay) Nixon, Attorney General, Karen L. Kramer, Assistant Attorney General, Jefferson City, MO, for respondent.

Before ULRICH, P.J., and SPINDEN and EDWIN H. SMITH, JJ.

EDWIN H. SMITH, Judge.

Joshua A. Wolf appeals the judgment of his convictions, after a jury trial in the Circuit Court of Boone County, of murder in the first degree, § 565.020;¹ armed criminal action (ACA), § 571.015; and arson in the second degree, § 569.050.The appellant was sentenced to concurrent sentences in the Missouri Department of Corrections of life, without the possibility of parole, for first-degree murder; life for ACA; and seven years for second-degree arson.

The appellant raises two points on appeal.In Point I, he claims that the trial court erred in overruling his pretrial motion to suppress his confession and any evidence resulting therefrom because his confession was obtained in violation of his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.In Point II, he claims that the trial court erred in overruling his motion for a continuance, filed in conjunction with his motion for a mental examination to determine whether he suffered from a mental disease or defect at the time of the charged offenses, which would exclude him from responsibility for those alleged criminal acts, because it violated the implicit requirement of § 552.030, governing such mental examinations, "that a reasonable amount of time be permitted to have the examination performed."

We affirm.

Facts

In the spring of 2000, the appellant was living in Columbus, Ohio, with his maternal grandparents, William and Carol Jean Lindley.He was sixteen years old at that time and had been living with his grandparents from the time that he was seven or eight years old.Late that spring, the appellant's grandmother took a job at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri.The appellant and his grandmother moved to Cape Girardeau County in April 2000, with the grandfather planning to join them in June following his retirement.The grandmother began her new job on May 1, 2000, and the appellant enrolled in the ninth grade at the public junior high school the following day.

On the morning of Saturday, May 6, 2000, the grandmother was at home talking with her sister on the telephone.During their conversation, the grandmother told her sister that the appellant wanted an all-terrain vehicle and a new stereo system, but that she was not going to buy them for him.In ending the conversation, the grandmother stated that she had to get off of the telephone because the appellant was upset with her.That afternoon, the grandmother called her brother.During their conversation, the grandmother informed her brother that the appellant was not going with her to pick up her husband from the airport the following week because the appellant was in a bad mood.Sometime during the two hours following that call, the appellant stood at the top of the stairway above the family room with a .22 rifle and fired one shot at his grandmother, striking her in the head as she sat in a chair watching television.The grandmother died immediately from the shot.

Immediately following the shooting, the appellant left the house in the grandmother's vehicle and drove to an automated teller machine (ATM), where he withdrew $350 from his grandmother's checking account.He used that money to purchase various pieces of stereo equipment from an electronics store.The next morning, he returned to the same ATM and withdrew an additional $300 from the grandmother's checking account, using that money to buy parts for the installation of a car stereo.The receipts for the parts that were purchased were found later in the grandmother's vehicle.

On Monday morning, May 8, 2000, the appellant went to school and informed the principal that that day was going to be his last day because he was moving back to Ohio.Shortly after 1:00 p.m. that afternoon, the appellant left school in his grandmother's vehicle and returned to their house.At 3:16 p.m., an emergency operator received a 911 call, which reported a fire at the grandmother's residence.Emergency personnel soon arrived on the scene and found the appellant standing outside the house.Although the appellant did not appear to be injured, paramedics took him to Saint Francis Hospital as a precautionary measure.Firefighters from the Cape Girardeau Fire Department entered the house, and upon finding that the fire was primarily limited to the family room, extinguished it.The grandmother's body was found on the floor of the family room, with the lower half of her body badly burnt.A subsequent investigation by the Missouri Division of Fire Safety determined that the fire had been intentionally started, most likely with the use of a fire accelerant, such as gasoline.

Deputy Sheriff David Craig of the Cape Girardeau County Sheriffs Office was dispatched to the hospital to speak with the appellant about the fire.The appellant told Deputy Craig that he had been down in the basement playing pool when he heard a loud noise upstairs and began to smell smoke.The appellant then claimed that he called 911 and crawled up a stairwell leading to the garage.The appellant did not mention anything about his grandmother being inside the house during the fire.Deputy Craig collected the clothes the appellant had been wearing and took him from the hospital to the juvenile office.Later that night, the appellant was questioned by Lt. John Brown of the Cape Girardeau Police Department and Detective James Humphreys of the Jackson Police Department.At that time, the appellant recounted a story similar to that which he had told Deputy Craig earlier that evening.

The next morning, the appellant was again questioned by Lt. Brown.Also present during this interrogation were Detective Humphreys, the appellant's uncle, and a juvenile officer.²The juvenile officer read the appellant his Miranda rights, and after indicating that he understood these rights, the appellant agreed to waive his right to remain silent and answer questions from Lt. Brown.Upon questioning by Lt. Brown, the appellant initially denied killing his grandmother and trying to destroy evidence of the crime.However, upon further questioning, the appellant ultimately confessed to killing his grandmother and attempting to burn the house down.

A petition was filed in the Circuit Court of Cape Girardeau County, Juvenile Division, by the Juvenile Officer of Cape Girardeau County alleging acts by the appellant, which, if committed by an adult, would have constituted murder in the first degree, § 565.020;ACA, § 571.015; and second-degree arson, § 569.050.While under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, the appellant underwent two psychological evaluations to determine whether he suffered from a mental disease or defect which would exclude him from responsibility for the charged offenses.Those evaluations resulted in both examining physicians concluding that the appellant did not know or appreciate the nature, quality and wrongfulness of his conduct at the time he committed the offenses.The juvenile officer subsequently filed a motion to dismiss the juvenile petition to allowprosecution of the appellant as an adult, which the juvenile court heard and sustained on June 23, 2000.On that same day, the State filed a complaint in the Circuit Court of Cape Girardeau County charging the appellant with the same three offenses with which he was charged in the juvenile division.

On June 27, 2000, the State filed a motion, pursuant to § 552.020and§ 552.030, requesting a mental examination of the appellant in order to determine whether he was competent to assist in his own defense and to determine whether he was suffering from a mental disease or defect at the time of the offenses excluding responsibility.In granting the State's motion, the circuit court ordered that the appellant submit to a mental exam to be performed at the Fulton State Hospital.The mental examination was subsequently conducted by Dr. Jerome Peters, a senior psychiatrist with the Missouri Department of Mental Health, who diagnosed the appellant as suffering from major depressive disorder and antisocial personality traits.However, in his report, filed in the circuit court on September 5, 2000, Dr. Peters concluded, inter alia, that the appellant understood the nature, quality, and wrongfulness of his conduct when he committed the offenses, and that he was competent to stand trial.

A preliminary hearing was conducted on October 16, 2000, and upon the court's finding that there was probable cause to believe that the appellant had committed the three alleged felonies, he was bound over to the circuit court.On October 26, 2000, the appellant was charged by information with murder in the first degree, § 565.020;ACA, § 571.015; and second-degree. arson, § 569.050.On October 30, 2000, the appellant entered pleas of not guilty or, in the alternative, not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, to each of the charges.The appellant filed a motion for change of venue in the circuit court on November 9, 2000.The motion was sustained, with the case being transferred to the Circuit Court of Boone County on November 13, 2000.

On March 29, 2001, the appellant filed a motion for another mental examination pursuant to § 552.030, along with a motion to continue the trial date from April 17, 2001.The appellant contended in his motion for continuance, inter alia, that the mental exam, if granted, could not reasonably be conducted before April 17, 2001, necessitating a continuance.The trial court took up and heard both of the...