Justia Missouri Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Defendant subsequently filed a motion for post-conviction relief. The motion court denied the motion after an evidentiary hearing on five of Defendant's fourteen allegations of error. The supreme Court affirmed, holding, among other things, that the motion court did not clearly err in (1) denying Defendant's claim that his trial counsel were ineffective for failing to investigate and present a diminished capacity defense; (2) failing to find the State committed a Brady violation; and (3) failing to find Defendant's trial counsel were ineffective for failing to object to the admission of a reenactment video without an evidentiary hearing.View "Johnson v. State" on Justia Law

Defendant pleaded guilty to two counts of failure to register as a sex offender pursuant to a plea agreement. After judgment was entered, Defendant filed a timely amended post-conviction motion seeking to vacate the judgment against him, contending that his plea counsel was ineffective and that the plea and sentencing court erred. Defendant’s post-conviction counsel subsequently withdrew from the case, and a second appointed lawyer filed a late second amended post-conviction motion. The circuit court overruled Defendant’s second amended motion without an evidentiary hearing, concluding that the record refuted Defendant’s claims. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the arguments raised in the late-filed second amended motion were time-barred; and (2) the motion court did not err in finding that Defendant was not entitled to a hearing on the claims raised in his first amended motion because the claims were refuted by the record. View "Stanley v. State" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of two counts of sexual misconduct involving a child pursuant to Mo. Rev. Stat. 566.083 and two counts of attempted sexual misconduct involving a child. The convictions arose from incidents in which Defendant knowingly exposed his genitals to young girls from the front door or window of his house. Defendant appealed, arguing (1) section 566.083 is unconstitutionally overbroad because it infringes on activities protected by Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, (2) the statute is unconstitutional as applied, and (3) insufficient evidence supported his convictions. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) because Defendant failed to show how section 566.083 serves to discourage citizens from engaging in protected speech, Defendant failed to demonstrate that the statute is overbroad; (2) section 566.083 is constitutional as applied to Defendant; and (3) the evidence presented at trial was sufficient for a jury to convict Defendant of the crimes beyond a reasonable doubt.View "State v. Jeffrey" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. The court of appeals affirmed Defendant's conviction and denied her motion for post-conviction relief. Approximately thirteen years later, Defendant filed a motion to re-open her post-conviction proceedings, claiming that she had been abandoned by her appointed counsel and that her conviction should be vacated to correct a manifest injustice. The motion court denied Defendant relief, finding that Defendant's motion was a prohibited successive motion. The Supreme Court affirmed after directing attorneys in such situations to file a motion for post-conviction relief due to abandonment, holding that the motion court did not clearly err in overruling Defendant's motion, as a motion to "re-open" does not exist in the Court's rules.View "Eastburn v. State" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Appellant was convicted of forcible rape and sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment. Appellant appealed, arguing, among other things, that the trial court erred in excluding his mother and grandmother as testifying as surrebuttal witnesses. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) the trial court erred in excluding Appellant's grandmother and mother from testifying in surrebuttal, and because the excluded testimony, if believed by the jury, would have bolstered Appellant's defense of consent and corroborated his testimony and would have contradicted the State's evidence of a necessary element of the crime, the error was prejudicial; (2) the trial court abused its discretion in prohibiting Appellant from asking venire panel members whether they could consider the possibility that two teenagers had consensual sexual intercourse. Remanded for a new trial. View "State v. Ousley" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to death for one of the murders. The Supreme Court reversed the death sentence and remanded the case for a retrial of the penalty phase. At the retrial, Defendant was again sentenced to death. Defendant subsequently filed a pro se Mo. R. Crim. P. 29.15 motion for post-conviction relief challenging various aspects of his penalty-phase retrial. The judge assigned to hear the Rule 29.15 motion had presided over Defendant's first trial, Defendant's first post-conviction motion hearing, and the penalty-phase retrial. The motion court overruled Defendant's second Rule 29.15 motion. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) the judge presiding over Defendant's post-conviction proceedings erred in overruling Defendant's motion to disqualify the judge for cause because a reasonable person could find an appearance of impropriety where the judge's references in the record to extrajudicial information in Defendant's first trial suggested that the judge relied on that information in ruling on Defendant's Rule 29.15 motion; and (2) therefore, recusal was required. Remanded. View "Anderson v. State" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of first-degree assault and armed criminal action. The Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's judgment, holding (1) Defendant did not meet his burden of demonstrating that three of the prosecutor's peremptory strikes violated his equal protection rights and right to a fair trial pursuant to Batson v. Kentucky, and thus the trial court did not err in overruling Defendant's Batson challenges to the peremptory strikes; and (2) the trial court did not err in failing to admonish the prosecutor sua sponte or declare a mistrial for alleged prejudicial statements the prosecutor made during closing arguments. View "State v. Carter" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance to a minor and attempted statutory sodomy in the second degree. The trial court imposed an aggregate sentence of nine years' imprisonment and placed Defendant in the sex offender assessment unit program pursuant to Mo. Rev. Stat. 559.115. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) gaps in the trial transcript did not deny Defendant of meaningful appellate review; (2) the trial court did not abuse its discretion in excluding defense witnesses due to a discovery violation; (3) the trial court did not err in failing to suppress the evidence of marijuana seized from Defendant's home without a warrant because Defendant freely consented to the search of his home; and (4) Defendant's argument that section 559.115 was unconstitutional as applied was without merit. View "State v. Hillman" on Justia Law

After a trial, Defendant was convicted of one count of attempted use of a child in a sexual performance in violation of Mo. Rev. Stat. 568.080. Defendant appealed, arguing, among other things, that his constitutional right to protected speech was violated because his e-mail exchange with an officer posing as the sixteen-year-old victim did not contemplate or solicit a criminal act. The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment and sentence, holding (1) because Defendant attempted to induce the victim to engage in a sexual performance, Defendant was not punished for fantasy speech, and thus, section 568.080 was not unconstitutional as applied to Defendant; and (2) the evidence was sufficient to support the conviction. View " State v. Blankenship" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Appellant was convicted of first-degree statutory sodomy. Appellant's conviction was confirmed on appeal. Appellant filed a pro se motion for post-conviction relief, alleging that he received ineffective assistance of counsel and that the prosecutor committed misconduct. The motion court overruled Appellant's post-conviction relief motion without an evidentiary hearing. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) Appellant's motion for post-conviction relief failed to allege facts not refuted conclusively by the record to support his claims for ineffective assistance of counsel; and (2) the motion court did not clearly err in finding that the prosecutor's conduct was appropriate. View "McIntosh v. State" on Justia Law