Opinion ID: 1663903
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the armed criminal action count

Text: The information by separate count charged Reynolds with armed criminal action in the commission of the burglary in the first degree felony in violation of § 571.015, RSMo 1986. Reynolds contends on appeal that the evidence was insufficient to convict him of armed criminal action and that the trial court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal at the close of all the evidence. The evidence most favorable to the conviction shows that in the early morning of September 7, 1987, Andrae and Nell Bopp, an elderly couple, were asleep in the bedroom of their home. He was awakened by a scratching noise from the aluminum storm window, four or so feet from the bed. He saw the top of the head of someone trying to push the storm window out of the way. He then retrieved a gun from the dresser drawer and called the police. Apparently, the intruder could not raise the bedroom window, and as Mr. Bopp waited in the hallway, he heard noises of prying and breaking at the back door. There was jimmying at the door, but it would not open, so a man broke the glass out of the back door, reached inside, unlocked the door, and two men came inside. Mr. Bopp shot the two men, one moaned, and they both ran outside. They dropped a screwdriver and a pair of glasses on the floor. Police officers arrested Reynolds and Jones in the Bopp backyard as they were running away. Officers searched Reynolds and found a knife in a sheath in his boot, hooked inside the boot. They inspected the interior and found broken glass inside the Bopp home and on the back porch area, several bullet holes in the walls, a pair of men's reading glasses and the screwdriver. The screwdriver was found on the kitchen floor of the home. There were pry marks on the storm window of the bedroom, but the witness could not recall any on the doors. The officer testified that the screwdriver found was the screwdriver used by the men who broke into the house. Armed criminal action § 571.015.1 provides: [A]ny person who commits any felony under the laws of this state by, with, or through the use, assistance, or aid of a dangerous instrument or deadly weapon is also guilty of the crime of armed criminal action ... The dangerous instrument or deadly weapon described in the information was, to-wit: a knife. The prosecution does not seriously contend that the knife was used to gain the unlawful entry or in the course of the burglary, nor does the prosecution seriously contend that the screwdriver used in the burglary was a dangerous instrument or deadly weapon. Indeed, no evidence allows an inference that the knife found on the person of defendant Reynolds was ever out of its sheath hooked within the boot during the burglary episode or that either of the Bopp couple was ever aware of the knife. Nor was there any evidence that any jimmy or pry mark was that left by a knife. The evidence does allow an inference that the screwdriver was used to attempt or gain entry, but not an inference that it was a dangerous instrument or deadly weapon and used as such in the burglary. [7] The actual theory of the prosecution is that the evidence that the knife was on his person, and so accessible to Reynolds during the burglary, suffices to prove the armed criminal action, whether he used the knife or not. Thus, the argument goes, even if [Reynolds] did not remove the knife from his boot prior to his arrest, sufficient evidence still existed to warrant his conviction for armed criminal action. The prosecution supports that argument of sufficiency for conviction with a single decision, State v. Hart, 805 S.W.2d 234 (Mo.App.1991). In that case, the armed criminal action charged was in commission of an attempted rape. The defendant gave testimony that for a few weeks before the attempted rape, he kept some duct tape, rope, a knife and a plastic bag in his car that he intended to use to assault a woman, not yet targeted. The knife was to be used in the getaway. He found the opportunity at a shopping mall, placed the knife in his sock and the rope and some condoms in his pocket. During the assault on the woman, she struggled, and the knife fell out of his sock. He ran away and was captured by bystanders. One of them testified that the defendant told him that he was going to rape and kill the victim. Hart sustained the conviction for armed criminal action on the rationale that the evidence of intention to use the weapon in the commission of a felony, even without actual use, suffices to prove the offense, as long as the weapon is accessible for use. It is a legitimate inference deducible from the evidence that defendant put the knife in his sock with the intention of using it in the commission of the attempted rape. The fact that the attempt did not progress to the point of necessitating the use of the knife by defendant does not negate the inference.... The fact that the knife fell out of defendant's sock during the struggle does not prevent the elements of the crime from being established. The knife would have still been accessible to defendant had a rescuer not intervened. Id. at 240. Hart does not hold, as the prosecution argues, that evidence that a weapon is on the person of the actor during the commission of the felony, and so accessible for use in that enterprise, suffices to prove the armed criminal action offense. Nor does it hold that evidence of a weapon on the person of the actor and accessible during the commission of the felony, even though not used, proves the intention to use the weapon. Hart holds, rather, that where the intention of the felon to use the weapon is otherwise shown, the fact that the weapon, still accessible, was not used does not negate the inference [of the intention to use it], or prevent the elements of the crime from being established. Id. at 240. The rationale in Hart , that evidence of the intention to use a weapon, without actual use, suffices to prove armed criminal action, stands alone. Nor has it been followed. We assume as valid for purpose of decision that, as Hart implies, the intention to use a deadly weaponor other culpable mental stateis an element of the armed criminal action section. [8] We determine, nevertheless, that Hart is irrelevant to the argument here and otherwise misconstrues the armed criminal action statute. Hart is irrelevant to the argument here because there is no contention that the intention to use a weapon is an element of the offense. Hart misconstrues the armed criminal action statute because § 571.015, in clearest terms, imposes its penalty upon those who use dangerous instruments or deadly weapons in the commission of felonies. The New Missouri Code: A Manual for Court Related Personnel, ch. 16.2 (1979). The explicit language could hardly be simpler or more expressive of the legislative intent: [A]ny person who commits any felony ... by, with, or through the use, assistance, or aid of a dangerous instrument or deadly weapon is also guilty of the crime of armed criminal action. It means that the use of a dangerous instrument or deadly weapon is an element of the crime. State v. Tyler, 587 S.W.2d 918, 927 (Mo.App.1979). It means also that the intention to use, without actual use, is not enough to convict under the statute. That, except for Hart , is the uniform understanding the appellate decisions impart to the statute. There was no evidence that Reynolds committed the burglary by, with, or through the use of the knife or other deadly weapon. The conviction for armed criminal action cannot stand and is reversed.