Vinson v. Adams, ED 87355.

• Decision Date: 11 April 2006
• Docket Number: No. ED 87355.,ED 87355.
• Citation: 192 S.W.3d 492
• Parties: Ray VINSON, Jr., Respondent, v. Joe ADAMS, Appellant.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

192 S.W.3d 492

Ray VINSON, Jr., Respondent, v. Joe ADAMS, Appellant.

No. ED 87355.

Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, Division Five.

April 11, 2006.

Edward L. Dowd, Jr., Saint Louis, MO, for respondent.

Michael A. Gross, St. Louis, MO, for appellant.

OPINION

GLENN A. NORTON, Chief Judge.

Joe Adams appeals the judgment renewing a full order of protection against him under the Adult Abuse Act. The original order was based on allegations that Adams had stalked Ray Vinson, and the petition for renewal claimed that those allegations continued to exist. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Vinson and his wife have been in litigation to dissolve their marriage.¹ Vinson's wife hired Adams to provide security and to keep Vinson under observation. Thereafter, Vinson filed a petition under the Adult Abuse Act alleging that Adams was stalking him. After a hearing, the court entered a full order of protection upon allegations that Adams inquired into purchasing a gun, followed Vinson down a hallway at Vinson's place of business and threatened him with physical harm then and on one other occasion. That order was effective until September 25, 2005.² Vinson moved to renew the order, claiming that the allegations in his original petition still existed and that, since the date of the original petition, Adams had followed Vinson to Nevada, disturbed his peace, stalked him and his friends and rummaged through his possessions.

At the hearing on the motion to renew, there was evidence that Adams is still employed by Vinson's wife to provide her and her employees protection against Vinson and that Adams continues to investigate Vinson's activities. Vinson testified that he believed expiration of the original order would place him in imminent and present danger of continued abuse by Adams because:

Well, I mean, from what I know now, Adams is a convicted felon. He's threatened my life. He's admitted to killing other people. He's now sleeping with my wife, and we're in the middle of this divorce. Certainly, Adams has all the incentive in the world to get rid of me. When he buys a license plate that says BYE RAY and parks it in front of the office, in front of the employees, it certainly is telling, I think, that he means to get rid of Ray. I mean, even going out of a courtroom, Adams turned around to me and said, "I will get you. I'll get you." And he's even stated that his — most of his enemies are dead. And he's stated people like me ... are certainly his enemies. He follows me. They harass me constantly.

He testified that the circumstances that originally formed the basis of the order of protection continued to exist. Vinson testified that he felt he was still in danger and had hired people for protection because of Adams. Vinson said that Adams continued to threaten him, follow him, harass him and stalk him. Vinson admitted that he never witnessed Adams personally following or stalking him, but believed Adams had directed his agents to follow him: "I fear that they're around, because there's so many of them, I guess, that are following me that I can't tell you specifically that I've ever actually turned around and seen Joe there." Adams testified that he had not followed Vinson and had not had any of his agents do so.

Vinson testified that he received a picture of Adams's "BYE RAY" license plate. Above those words was a depiction of skull and crossbones, which Vinson considered indicative of death. Adams admitted that he owned the license plate, but testified, as did Vinson's wife, that "BYE RAY" was a reference to a joke that they could ditch the people Vinson had hired to keep them under surveillance.

The court found that Vinson failed to prove that Adams had committed any subsequent acts of abuse since the time of the original petition, but also found that Vinson had proven that he still feared Adams. Therefore, the court renewed the original order, which is now effective until April 30, 2006. Adams appeals.

II. DISCUSSION

In this court-tried case, we will sustain the trial court's judgment unless it is not supported by substantial evidence, it is against the weight of the evidence, or it erroneously declares or applies the law. Capps v. Capps, 715 S.W.2d 547, 549 (Mo. App. E.D.1986) (citing Murphy v. Carron, 536 S.W.2d 30, 32 (Mo. banc 1976)). "Substantial evidence is competent evidence from which the trier of fact could reasonably decide the case." Wallace v. Van Pelt, 969 S.W.2d 380, 382 (Mo.App. W.D. 1998). We defer to the trial court's determinations regarding credibility and view all facts and any inferences therefrom favorably to the judgment. Id. at 383.

"A full order of protection may be renewed for a period of time the court deems appropriate." Section 455.040.1 RSMo Cum.Supp.2004. The court is not required to find a subsequent act of abuse to renew an order of protection. Id. Rather, the petitioner must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that expiration of the full order "will place the petitioner in an immediate and present danger of abuse." Capps, 715 S.W.2d at 552; see, e.g., Bandelier v. Bandelier, 757 S.W.2d 281, 283 (Mo.App. W.D.1988)

(wife's bare statement that husband had been in her home several times was insufficient evidence that wife was in immediate and present danger of abuse by husband to support renewal order, even though his actions may have violated original order); Jenkins v. Jenkins, 784 S.W.2d 640, 644 (Mo.App. W.D.1990) (wife's testimony recounting acts of...