Weeks v. State
| Decision Date | 03 August 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. SC 85448.,No. SC 85552.,SC 85448.,SC 85552. |
| Citation | 140 S.W.3d 39 |
| Parties | Rubin WEEKS, Appellant, v. STATE of Missouri, Respondent. and State of Missouri, Respondent, v. Rubin Weeks, Appellant. |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Appeal from the Circuit Courts of Cape Girardeau and Bollinger Counties, William L. Syler, Jr., J Ellen Y. Suni, Phillip R. Gibson, Kansas City, for Appellant.
Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon, Atty. Gen., Andrew W. Hassell, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for Respondent.
Steven A. Drizin, Chicago, IL, Sean D. O'Brien, Kansas City, Vanessa Potkin, New York, NY, for amicus curiae.
Rubin Weeks pleaded guilty to kidnapping and forcible rape in 1992. In 2001, he filed a motion with the sentencing court under what is now section 547.035, RSMo Supp.2001,1 claiming that DNA testing of the sperm samples taken in relation to the rape will demonstrate his innocence of the crimes of which he was convicted. The motion court overruled his motion based on its belief that persons, such as Mr Weeks, who were convicted based upon a guilty plea rather than after trial are not entitled to invoke the benefits of section 547.035 even if they otherwise meet its requirements.
This Court reverses. The plain language of section 547.035 states that a person committed to the department of corrections may bring a motion, not merely those committed following trial. It also states that in determining whether DNA testing is available, the sentencing court may consider the transcript of the movant's trial or guilty plea and sentencing hearing. By its terms, the statute permits persons who have pleaded guilty to seek DNA testing. The motion court clearly erred in determining otherwise and in determining that the other requirements for a court order for DNA testing were not met by Mr. Weeks. Pursuant to Rule 84.14, this Court reverses and remands with directions to order appropriate DNA testing in the manner set out in section 547.035.7.
On October 13, 1991, as J.B. began to drive home after working a late shift as a front desk clerk at a motel in Cape Girardeau County, she noticed that the car behind her was flashing its headlights. She pulled over and partially rolled down her window as the man driving the other car got out and came toward her car. The man, described as approximately 5' 10" tall and weighing about 235 pounds, reached in through the window with a knife. She struggled with him, cutting her hands and chin. The man then dragged her out of her car, forced her into his vehicle, and drove away. He touched her body inside her shirt while they were driving, ordered her to take off her pants, and touched her vaginal area. As they drove, he asked J.B. when she had last had sex. J.B., who was married, told him she had sex the day before.
As the man drove he crossed into Bollinger County and parked near a barn, where he laid J.B. on the ground, performed oral sex, and had intercourse with her. Twice during this ordeal the man stopped as he heard sounds, and then he told her to put on her clothes. She did not put on any undergarments but did put on her pants. The man then duct taped her hands, ankles, and knees and drove off. Once she was able to work free of the tape she ran down the road in her pants, leaving her pantyhose at the scene, and sought help at a nearby farmhouse.
J.B. was taken to a hospital. Using a rape kit, samples of semen were collected from her pants and with a vaginal swab.
Police suspected that the rapist might have been the man who had occupied Room 11 at the motel where J.B. worked the night of the rape. They obtained various fingerprints and cigarette butts from the room and checked on the address given when the occupant had registered. That address was for a trucking business in Mississippi. The police traveled to this business and showed a composite drawing of the suspect to one of the employees. One employee thought that it resembled Mr. Weeks, so the police focused on him. Mr. Weeks was arrested in Mississippi on November 2, 1991, and was delivered to Cape Girardeau three days later. In December 1991, Mr. Weeks was charged with kidnapping in Cape Girardeau County and was charged with armed criminal action, forcible rape, and forcible sodomy in Bollinger County.
Two months previously, when the police were searching for the rapist, the rape kit and dozens of other items retrieved from Room 11 were sent to Southeast Missouri Regional Crime Laboratory (SEMO) for fluid and print testing. SEMO issued its first report on November 8, 1991, and revised it in minor respects on November 26, 1991. The report noted that intact human spermatoza were located on both the vaginal swab and the victim's pants, which SEMO considered as evidence for J.B. "having been involved in sexual intercourse, which culminated in ejaculation." At this time, in 1991, SEMO did not conduct DNA testing. Rather, serology tests were performed on the samples in an attempt to determine blood type. These tests showed the semen had been discharged by a person with Type-A blood who was a "secretor," that is, the person's blood type could be determined by examining his bodily fluids. Usable palm prints were also found on one of the items sent to SEMO.
Based on this report, the State obtained a search warrant and collected Mr. Weeks' blood, hair, and saliva for testing. These samples were also sent to SEMO for testing in late November 1991. While these samples were being tested, Mr. Weeks was charged with the crimes mentioned above and was provided a copy of SEMO's November reports. On January 7, 1992, Mr. Weeks filed a request for production in Cape Girardeau County, requesting the results of any tests, experiments, or comparisons. Mr. Weeks filed an identical motion in Bollinger County before his February 13, 1992 plea.
SEMO completed its updated report on February 12, the day before Mr. Weeks' guilty plea hearing was scheduled. Although encompassed by the defense's requests for production, this report was not disclosed to Mr. Weeks or the trial court before the plea. This report contained both exculpatory and inconclusive information. It was exculpatory in that the report noted that someone other than Mr. Weeks smoked the cigarettes found in Room 11. Moreover, none of the hairs tested belonged to him nor was a print match found. The report was also inconclusive in two noteworthy respects. First, the report noted Mr. Weeks could not be eliminated from the population that could have deposited the seminal fluid in the victim's pants, but that "it would appear that another individual's seminal fluid is also present." Second, the report's finding indicates this inability may have been because SEMO was unable to determine Mr. Weeks' blood type from the saliva sample he provided in accordance with the search warrant. Thus, Mr. Weeks is a "non-secretor." This further suggested he could not have been the source of the semen samples. A DNA test would determine whether he was the source of these samples.
Although the report was completed on February 12, 1992, the day before the scheduled plea hearing, the prosecution did not produce it to defendant or his counsel, or to the court, nor did the prosecutor change the deadline by which Mr. Weeks had to agree to plead guilty. Accordingly, unaware of these findings in the report, the plea hearing proceeded as scheduled on February 13, 1992. Mr. Weeks pleaded guilty to kidnapping in Cape Girardeau County and to forcible rape in Bollinger County and was sentenced to concurrent terms of thirty years and life imprisonment.2 During his plea hearing, he did not personally describe the events that formed the basis of the charges. Rather, the prosecutor recited the conduct in which Mr. Weeks had allegedly engaged and asked whether he was guilty of those acts and he agreed that he was.3
Section 547.035 was effective on August 28, 2001. As the statute itself states, its purpose was to permit convicted persons an opportunity to obtain DNA testing in an effort to show their innocence in instances in which there is a reasonable probability that, if such testing results were exculpatory, the defendant would not have been convicted. Sec. 547.035.7.
On October 3, 2001, Mr. Weeks filed a post-conviction motion for forensic DNA testing under Rule 29.17 in the Circuit Court of Cape Girardeau County. A similar motion was filed on January 30, 2002, in Bollinger County.4 After reviewing the motions, the motion court issued show cause orders to the State to show why Mr. Weeks should not be entitled to such DNA testing. On April 1, 2002, the court denied the motion as to both cases in a single written judgment, without a hearing. It found that a person such as Mr. Weeks who had pleaded guilty was not entitled to invoke the statute and could not meet the statutory requirement of showing that the identity of the perpetrator was in issue. It also found that Mr. Weeks failed to satisfy his burden under section 547.035.2 of alleging facts showing that DNA testing was not reasonably available to him at the time of trial and that a reasonable probability exists that he would not have been convicted if exculpatory results had been obtained through DNA testing. Sec. 547.035.2(3)(a), (4)-(5).
Mr. Weeks appealed the court's ruling in regard to the Cape Girardeau County conviction for kidnapping to the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District. Because Mr. Weeks was also convicted of rape in Bollinger County, he appealed the denial of relief as to that crime to the Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District. After opinion by the eastern district, and prior to opinion by the southern district, this Court ordered transfer and consolidation of the two cases in this Court. Mo. Const. art. V, sec. 10.
Although section 547.035.1 does not specifically set out a standard of review, it provides that a motion for DNA testing is...
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