State v. Wrice, No. ED 97890.

• Court: Court of Appeal of Missouri (US)
• Writing for the Court: ROBERT M. CLAYTON III
• Citation: 389 S.W.3d 738
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Sedrick WRICE, Appellant.
• Docket Number: No. ED 97890.
• Decision Date: 15 January 2013

389 S.W.3d 738

STATE of Missouri, Respondent,
v.
Sedrick WRICE, Appellant.

No. ED 97890.

Missouri Court of Appeals,
Eastern District,
Division Five.

Jan. 15, 2013.

[389 S.W.3d 739]

Edward Scott Thompson, Missouri Public Defender Office, St. Louis, MO, for Appellant.

Chris Koster, Attorney General, Gregory L. Barnes, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, MO, for Respondent.

ROBERT M. CLAYTON III, Judge.

Sedrick Wrice (“Wrice”) appeals from the judgment entered upon a jury's verdict convicting him of burglary in the second degree. He asserts there was insufficient evidence to support the conviction, and the trial court erred in sentencing him as a prior and persistent offender. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Wrice was charged as a prior and persistent offender with the class C felony of burglary in the second degree. After a

[389 S.W.3d 740]

trial, the jury returned a verdict of guilty. The trial court sentenced Wrice to ten years' imprisonment in the Missouri Department of Corrections. This appeal follows.

II. DISCUSSION

On appeal, Wrice challenges the trial court's judgment in two respects. In his first point, he asserts there was insufficient evidence to establish that he knowingly unlawfully entered the building and that he acted with the intent to commit a crime. In his second point, he argues the trial court erred in sentencing him as a prior and persistent offender because the State failed to prove his prior offenses and the court failed to make its persistent-offender finding before submitting the case to the jury.

A. Sufficiency of the Evidence

We review challenges to sufficiency of the evidence supporting a criminal conviction for whether sufficient evidence was presented at trial from which a reasonable juror might have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of all the essential elements of the crime. State v. Gibbs, 306 S.W.3d 178, 181 (Mo.App. E.D.2010). We accept as true all evidence supporting the jury's verdict, including all favorable inferences therefrom, and disregard all contrary evidence and negative inferences. Id.

A person commits the class C felony of burglary in the second degree if he “knowingly enters unlawfully ... a building or inhabitable structure for the purpose of committing a crime therein.” Section 569.170 RSMo (2000). ¹ Intent to commit a crime is most often proved by circumstantial evidence and it may be inferred from surrounding facts or the act itself. See State v. Vernon, 337 S.W.3d 88, 92 (Mo.App. W.D.2011); State v. Green, 812 S.W.2d 779, 789 (Mo.App. W.D.1991) (intent to commit burglary exists where defendant unlawfully enters building containing items of value).

1. Knowingly Unlawfully Entered the Building

Wrice challenges his conviction for burglary in the second degree, asserting there was insufficient evidence to establish that he knowingly unlawfully entered the building. Specifically, he argues the State's evidence that someone was engaged in stealing copper from the building and he was found near the scene was insufficient to show he entered the building unlawfully. We disagree.

Here, the evidence demonstrated that Wrice knowingly entered the building without permission. Officers Mitchell Simpher and Jennifer Story both testified that as they were driving past 5872 Minerva (“the building”) in response to a 911 report of a burglary in progress, they witnessed an African–American male in a dark-colored jacket or sweatshirt pulling another African–American male in a red-colored jacket or sweatshirt out of a set of doors in the rear of the building. The officers circled the building and then detained two men behind the building. One man, later identified as Wrice, was wearing a red jacket, gloves and an illuminated headlamp. It was 3:00 p.m. on a sunny day. The other man, later identified as Earnesto McCullough (“McCullough”), was wearing a black jacket and rubber gloves and was holding bolt cutters. Both men were dirty and damp. The doors at the back of the building were open, and the locking mechanism had been cut. Inside the doors, there was a 3–6 foot drop into the boiler room. The basement area was

[389 S.W.3d 741]

also dark and damp. The representative for the building's owner testified the building was locked and no one had permission to be inside. Based on this evidence, a reasonable jury could have determined that Wrice and McCullough had knowingly been inside the abandoned building without permission. Gibbs, 306 S.W.3d at 181.

2. Purpose to Commit a Crime

Wrice further asserts there was insufficient evidence to establish that he entered the building for the purpose of committing a crime therein. He contends the State's evidence that he was wearing gloves and a headlamp was not sufficient to establish purpose to commit a crime. We disagree.

The evidence showed that when they were arrested, Wrice was wearing gloves and a headlamp and McCullough was carrying bolt cutters. The officers' investigation into the building revealed a large amount of copper piping that appeared to have been pulled from the walls. As discussed above, the eyewitness and circumstantial evidence was sufficient to establish Wrice and McCullough had been inside the building. Although Wrice was not discovered to have any copper on his person, a...