Yale v. City of Independence, No. 74845

• Decision Date: 26 January 1993
• Docket Number: No. 74845
• Citation: 846 S.W.2d 193
• Parties: Ronald YALE, Appellant, v. CITY OF INDEPENDENCE, Respondent.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

Page 193

846 S.W.2d 193

Ronald YALE, Appellant, v. CITY OF INDEPENDENCE, Respondent.

No. 74845.

Supreme Court of Missouri En Banc.

Jan. 26, 1993.

David Edward Martin, Independence, for appellant.

Joy Rushing, Asst. City Counselor, Independence, for respondent.

LIMBAUGH, Judge.

Ronald Yale appeals an order of summary judgment dismissing his wrongful discharge action. We granted transfer to consider whether a plea of guilty to a felony charge followed by a disposition of "suspended imposition of sentence" constitutes a "conviction" under the City of Independence personnel manual, the provisions of which authorize termination of employees convicted of a felony. The judgment is reversed and remanded.

On November 4, 1988, Yale pleaded guilty to one count of sodomy, a class B felony. The court suspended the imposition of sentence and placed Yale on probation for five years. Shortly thereafter, the City of Independence dismissed Yale without pay from his position as a firefighter, subject to further termination proceedings. The city personnel board, following a hearing, recommended that Yale's termination be upheld pursuant to the City's personnel manual, which authorized termination for the "conviction of a felony, criminal offense, or crime of moral turpitude." The manual did not define the term "conviction."

Yale subsequently filed a petition for wrongful discharge seeking in Count I, reinstatement as a firefighter as well as compensatory and punitive damages, and in Count II, damages for invasion of privacy. The parties filed a joint motion for summary judgment based on stipulated facts. In the motion, they agreed that the sole issue was whether Yale's plea of guilty and the resulting suspended imposition of sentence constitute a "conviction of a felony" within the meaning of the city personnel manual. ¹ If so, the discharge of Yale was proper. The trial court, finding "no genuine issue as to any material fact," ruled as a matter of law in favor of the City of Independence and dismissed the petition.

Despite the City's argument to the contrary, this is not a judicial review of the personnel board's administrative decision as in an appeal from the decision of an administrative agency under Chapter 536, RSMo; it is instead an appellate review of the trial court's ruling on the narrow issue raised in the motion for summary judgment.

The precise issue of whether the disposition of suspended imposition of sentence constitutes a conviction apparently has never been addressed by this Court. This question has been discussed, however, in several appellate court decisions, most notably, Meyer v. Missouri Real Estate Comm'n, 238 Mo.App. 476, 183 S.W.2d 342 (1944). In that case, the Missouri Real Estate Commission sought to revoke the license of a broker who had pleaded nolo contendere to seven charges of embezzlement and who subsequently received a suspended imposition of sentence along with a three-year term of probation. The Meyer court noted that the term "conviction" is subject to more than one meaning depending upon the context in which it is used. Id. 183 S.W.2d at 343. For example, where the term is used in its common law sense to designate a particular stage of a criminal prosecution triable by a jury, the term "conviction" may merely include "the confession of the accused in open court, or the verdict returned against him by the jury." Id.

However, when the term refers to a determination of guilt from a prior proceeding, and bears directly upon the status or rights of an individual in a subsequent case, there is a different meaning. In these situations in which collateral punitive consequences may attach, a "conviction" is not established, nor is a person deemed "convicted," unless it is shown that a judgment has been pronounced upon the verdict. Id. at 344.

Meyer was expressly reaffirmed in Warren v. Director, Missouri Division of Health, 565 S.W.2d 740 (Mo.App.1978), which held that the term "conviction" requires a final judgment "when the context of the situation involves some collateral adverse consequences such as the loss of privileges or the imposition of a disability." Warren, at 743. See also State v. Zirfas, 823 S.W.2d 90 (Mo.App.1991); Simon v. Missouri State Bd. of Pharmacy, 570 S.W.2d 334 (Mo.App.1978).

It is well-settled that a suspended imposition of sentence is not a final judgment. State v. Lynch, 679 S.W.2d 858, 860 (Mo. banc 1984); Meyer, at 345. The word "sentence" in legal terms means "a judgment or final judgment." Lynch, at 860. Where imposition of sentence has been suspended, there can be no judgment. State v. LaPlant, 673 S.W.2d 782, 785 (Mo. banc 1984); see also State v. Bachman, 675 S.W.2d 41, 45 (Mo.App.1984).

No statute states expressly that a disposition of "suspended imposition of sentence" is not a final judgment, but by establishing that disposition as a separate sentencing alternative under § 557.011.2, RSMo 1986, ² the legislature tacitly endorses that conclusion. In subsections (3) and (4) of that statute, delineating the two sentencing alternatives in which probation can be awarded, the disposition of suspended execution of sentence is distinguished from suspended imposition of sentence solely by the fact that a sentence is imposed in one but not the other. But if the effect of both dispositions is for a conviction to result, as the City contends, there would be no difference between the two dispositions and no reason for the legislature to distinguish between them. In other words, the legislature would not have provided for suspended imposition of sentence unless it was to have an effect different from the other approved dispositions.

The obvious legislative purpose of the sentencing alternative of suspended imposition of sentence is to allow a defendant to avoid the stigma of a lifetime conviction and the punitive collateral consequences that follow. That legislative purpose is further evidenced in statutes concerning closed records; under § 610.105, RSMo 1986, if imposition of sentence is suspended, the official records are closed following successful completion of probation and termination of the case. Closed records are made available only in limited circumstances and are largely inaccessible to the general public. § 610.120, RSMo Supp.1991. Thus, with suspended imposition of sentence, trial judges have a tool for handling offenders worthy of the most lenient treatment. Worthy offenders have a chance to clear their records by demonstrating...