Opinion ID: 2355139
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Prior and Persistent Offender

Text: If the state charged Sanchez as a prior and persistent offender, as defined by law, and proved the charge beyond a reasonable doubt, the trial court was required to adjudge him to be such an offender based upon specific findings of fact. State v. Stephens, 88 S.W.3d 876, 886 (Mo. App.2002). That an offender has been convicted of more than one felony is not alone sufficient to prove that the offender is a persistent offender. Section 558.016.3 states: A `persistent offender' is one who has pleaded guilty to or has been found guilty of two or more felonies committed at different times.  (Emphasis added.) The state and Sanchez disagree as to when felonies can be considered to have been committed at different times for purposes of proving persistent offender status. In support of its assertion that Sanchez was a prior and persistent offender, the state offered evidence that Sanchez pleaded guilty to two firearm felonies occurring on the same date at roughly the same time. The evidence showed that on January 4, 1997, Sanchez, carrying a shotgun, entered a restaurant located in a shopping plaza. The police were notified. Sanchez left the restaurant in an old Ford truck with a red spot . . . of paint on it. When they arrived on the scene, the police spotted the truck about 100 yards from the restaurant on the plaza parking lot. The police stopped Sanchez, removed him from the truck, patted him down, and found a handgun in Sanchez's belt. As a result of this incident, Sanchez pleaded guilty to two separate felonies: carrying a concealed weapon and exhibiting a shotgun in an angry or threatening manner. Sanchez argues that these two felonies arose out of a single incident and cannot be the basis for finding him to be a persistent offender. On these facts, this Court agrees. Although the statutes do not define the phrase committed at different times, nor has this Court, felonies are not committed at different times if they are committed as a part of a continuous course of conduct in a single episode. In this case, the state failed to meet its burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the felonies were part of more than a single episode so as to establish that they were committed at different times. There was no evidence as to whether Sanchez left the plaza parking lot, what time interval occurred between when the restaurant was entered and the truck was stopped, when Sanchez acquired the handgun, or whether Sanchez had the handgun at the time he entered the restaurant. Therefore, the judgment as to Sanchez's status as a persistent offender is reversed, and the case is remanded for resentencing. [3]