Opinion ID: 1657019
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Sufficiency of the Evidence to Prove Second Degree Murder

Text: In considering whether the evidence is sufficient to support the jury's verdict, we must look to the elements of the crime and consider each in turn. Under the Dulany standard, we are required to take the evidence in the light most favorable to the State and to grant the State all reasonable inferences from the evidence. We disregard contrary inferences, unless they are such a natural and logical extension of the evidence that a reasonable juror would be unable to disregard them. Taking the evidence in this light, we consider whether a reasonable juror could find each of the elements beyond a reasonable doubt. In this case, we believe a reasonable juror could find beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Grim was guilty of second degree murder. The State chose to submit the charge of second degree murder in the disjunctive, permitting the jury to convict if it found that Mr. Grim aided and encouraged another person in committing the murder or if it found that Mr. Grim committed the murder himself. [7] For the sake of clarity, we will discuss the two disjunctive theories separately. First, the jury could have found that Mr. Grim was guilty as a principal. Essentially, the instruction required the jury to find 1) Mr. Grim stabbed Ms. Bradford to death and 2) it was his purpose to cause serious physical injury or death. The testimony of the medical examiner directly supported the conclusion that someone stabbed Ms. Bradford to death. The second element of the crime is supported because the evidence of the nature of the attack supports the conclusion that the attacker intended to cause Ms. Bradford serious physical injury; a person stabbing an elderly woman four times with a sharp object could scarcely intend anything less. The remaining issue is whether there is sufficient evidence to support a conclusion that it was Mr. Grim who stabbed Ms. Bradford. The evidence regarding the thumbprint on the wallet provides support for concluding that Mr. Grim was the one who stabbed Ms. Bradford. Because fingerprints are unique, it is possible for experts to compare a latent print found on an object with prints on file and establish the identity of the person who left the latent print. In this case, the experts were thorough in their explanation of how fingerprints worked and how the print found on the wallet matched the thumb of Mr. Grim. A fingerprint can also prove presence at a particular place because prints are left through physical contact between people and things. If there is adequate evidence of where the object was when the person left the print, the print is evidence that the person was in the same place. The wallet was found inside Ms. Bradford's house following her murder and contained a picture of her long dead husband. From these facts the jury could conclude that the wallet was in the house before the murder, during the murder, and after the murder until the police took it to the lab. This conclusion is all the more reasonable because it is overwhelmingly improbable that anyone breaking into Ms. Bradford's home would bring along a wallet containing a picture of her late husband and then leave it behind for the police to find. This conclusion in turn supports the conclusion that Mr. Grim was inside the house when he left the print. A fingerprint, by itself, normally proves little more than identity and presence. However, in some cases the circumstances surrounding a print or the peculiar location or nature of the fingerprint provide additional evidence of how, when, or why the person touched the object. For example, in State v. Boyington, 831 S.W.2d 642 (Mo. App.1992), a bloody palmprint was found on the inside of a car trunk that contained a bullet-riddled corpse. This sort of location of a print tends to show that the person making the print was involved in the murder both because the print was in blood and because the print was inside the trunk with the body. In this case, the jury could conclude that the print was made in Ms. Bradford's blood. As a preliminary matter, the jury could conclude that the blood on the wallet was Ms. Bradford's. Ms. Bradford was stabbed to death and found face down in a pool of blood. There was blood on the floor in the bedroom and some blood on the walls near her body. Given the nature of the murder, the jury could conclude that all of the blood surrounding the body belonged to Ms. Bradford. Further, the laboratory tests indicated that the blood on the coin flap of the wallet matched Ms. Bradford's blood, at least as to the four enzymes that were testable on the wallet. Absent any other reasonable source of blood, the logical and sound inference from the evidence was that the blood on the coin flap of the wallet was Ms. Bradford's. The conclusion that the thumbprint was made in Ms. Bradford's blood follows from this conclusion because Ms. Owens' testimony that the fingerprint looked the same as the blood on the rest of the wallet supports the conclusion that it was the same; i.e., it was blood and it was Ms. Bradford's blood. In addition, Ms. Owens testified directly based upon her visual examination that there was blood on the insert. Though this testimony might not have the weight of the chemical tests performed on the other blood, on review we consider the evidence favorable to the State to be true. Thus, the print was made in Ms. Bradford's blood. Suppose that the police had caught Mr. Grim in the house minutes after the murder. The testimony of police officers that Mr. Grim had blood on his hands would be admissible for the purpose of showing that Mr. Grim committed the murder. The fact that there was blood on Mr. Grim's thumb would tend to prove that Mr. Grim committed the murder. Other inferences would be possible; having blood on his thumb would also be consistent with trying to assist Ms. Bradford or trying to determine whether she was dead. However, it is left to the jury to resolve which is true. In this case, there is no direct testimony that Mr. Grim had the victim's blood on his hands. However, there is evidence from which the jury could conclude that Mr. Grim was standing only a few feet from the dead body and that he left a print in the victim's blood. Of course, we are not deciding the admissibility of this evidence. Rather, we are faced with the question of whether this thumbprint in blood is enough to support the conclusion that Mr. Grim stabbed Ms. Bradford. That the print was in blood supports a number of inferences. One reasonable inference is that Mr. Grim got blood on his thumb as he held the knife and stabbed Ms. Bradford in the chest and arm. Another inference is that Mr. Grim came into the house after the murder, but before the blood was dry, touched some wet blood, and then touched the inside of the wallet. However, we are bound to consider the inferences favorable to the State unless the contrary inference is such that it would necessarily give rise to a reasonable doubt in a reasonable juror's mind. See Dulany, 781 S.W.2d 52, 55. Nor should we consider this thumbprint in isolation from the other circumstances. To reach any of the pools of blood, a person coming through the back door would have to step over the body and walk into the bedroom, or would have to reach under Ms. Bradford's head or chest. Even the blood on the floor and walls is confined to areas immediately around the body and is in relatively small amounts. Further, the testimony that a fingerprint cannot be made in dried blood limits, to a certain extent, the time during which Mr. Grim might have wandered into the house and left his print. These circumstances reduce the persuasive force of the argument that Mr. Grim came in later and got blood on his thumb in some way other than by participating in the killing. Further, his print was left inside a wallet that was found closed. If he came along later, Mr. Grim chose to thumb through Ms. Bradford's wallet, close the wallet, lay it on the table, and leave without telling anyone about the crime. While this is a permissible inference, the question of which version of the facts actually happened is precisely the sort of issue that should be left to a jury to decide. The bloody thumbprint inside Ms. Bradford's wallet gives rise to a reasonable inference that Mr. Grim was involved in the murder. There are other potential inferences, but they are not so believable and inescapable as to convince us that they would give rise to a reasonable doubt in the mind of a reasonable juror. The surrounding circumstances further reduce the believability and the validity of the innocent inferences. If we voted as jurors rather than judges, we might well vote not guilty on this charge, but our role is fixed by the rule from Dulany . We decline to force ourselves into the posture of a thirteenth juror. We hold that the evidence in this case was sufficient to support the conclusion that Mr. Grim stabbed Ms. Bradford and, thus, was sufficient to support the conviction under the first theory of second degree murder. The second theory was based upon Mr. Grim's liability for aiding and encouraging or participating in the murder. Essentially, the jury had to find 1) someone else stabbed Ms. Bradford, 2) the person acted with the intent to cause serious physical injury, and 3) with the purpose of furthering the commission of the murder, Mr. Grim acted together with or aided and encouraged the other person. The first two elements are adequately supported by the evidence; Ms. Bradford was stabbed by someone, and whoever did it intended serious physical injury. The third element was supported by the evidence that the thumbprint was in Ms. Bradford's blood. One reasonable inference from this piece of evidence was that Mr. Grim actually stabbed Ms. Bradford. Another reasonable inference is that he helped the person that had the knife. The same innocent inferences described with respect to the first theory are relevant here but are, again, merely possible inferences and not necessary ones. A reasonable juror could have concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Grim committed the crime of second degree murder, either through his own actions or by assisting another in the crime. The bottom line of the dissent's reasoning is that the inference to be drawn from the evidence that Mr. Grim was present before and at the time the murder was committed is of equal validity with the inference that sometime after the murder but before the blood dried, the defendant wandered into Ms. Bradford's backyard, saw the open door, entered and was confronted by the murder scene, in some manner acquired blood on his thumb, opened the billfold and made the thumbprint, then closed the billfold and left. We believe there are two fallacies in the dissent's rationale. First, these two inferences are not equally valid, the latter being so unique and unusual as to be implausible; and, second, we think that the dissent has ignored the requirement that the Court accept[] as true all the evidence favorable to the state, including all favorable inferences drawn from the evidence.... Dulany, 781 S.W.2d at 55. If an appellate court sets itself up to select between two or more acceptable inferences, it ceases to function as a court and functions rather as a juror, actually a super juror with veto powers. It is not the function of the court to decide the disputed facts; it is rather the court's function to assure that the jury, in finding the facts, does not do so based on sheer speculation. The bloody thumbprint of the defendant is adequate and sufficient evidence of the defendant's presence in Ms. Bradford's house at the time of her murder. Given that single fact and the physical evidence in this case, it is reasonable for a juror to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was guilty of second degree murder. While we have based our decision upon the law as stated in Dulany and the unique facts of this case, our decision is not entirely unprecedented; two cases decided under the circumstantial evidence rule are substantially similar. In State v. Maxie, 513 S.W.2d 338 (Mo.1974), a division of this Court faced a case with similar facts and upheld the sufficiency of the evidence to support second degree murder. In Maxie , the defendant's thumbprint was found on a cardboard box top in the victim's apartment amid various papers and debris scattered around the scene. While the defendant in Maxie did not leave his print in blood, he testified that he had never seen the outside of the apartment building, the inside of the apartment, the victim, the crime scene, or the box top. As explanation for the print on the box top, the defendant argued that he might have picked up the piece of cardboard and put it in the trash, from which the victim or her husband could have picked it up and brought it into their home. The jury was essentially left with two possible conclusions as to what happened, and the trial became a believability contest. In such a situation, this Court held that the evidence supported the jury's verdict. Even closer to the case at bar is State v. Gales, 507 S.W.2d 35 (Mo.App.1974). In Gales , an elderly woman who lived alone in the city of St. Louis was found murdered in her home. The defendant's fingerprint was found on a jewelry box in the house, and the evidence established that the defendant had some of the victim's property in his possession shortly before her body was discovered. The defendant's print was not in blood, so the print was less probative on the issue of involvement in the murder. [8] Although the police found the house locked up and had to break open a back door to enter the house and discover the body, the jury in Gales still had to find that the defendant had been present during the murder. In Gales , the defendant's possession of some of the victim's property was probative on the issue of whether the defendant had been inside the house but did not bear on the issue of when he was in the house. On evidence essentially equivalent to that in the present case, i.e., the fingerprint, the jury found, and the evidence supported the finding that, the death occurred in connection with the robbery. The evidence in this case was sufficient to support Mr. Grim's conviction for second degree murder.