Court Opinion

ID: 9764810
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 03:41:07.613151+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:01.782506
License: Public Domain

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING OR, IN THE ALTERNATIVE, TO TRANSFER TO SUPREME COURT
PER CURIAM.
Appellant, evidently stimulated by footnote 2 of our opinion, has filed a motion for rehearing or, in the alternative, to transfer this cause to the Supreme Court of Missouri, in which he asserts, for the first time, that the testimony that Grassham seized the steering wheel just before the crash negates the element of appellant’s being the “operator or driver” of the Mazda within the meaning of § 577.060.1, RSMo Cum. Supp.1984. Appellant maintains that “the absence of evidence of such an essential element constitutes plain error under Rule 29.12.”
Subject to certain exceptions not pertinent here, allegations of error which are not briefed on appeal will not be considered by the appellate court, except that plain errors affecting substantial rights may be considered in the discretion of the court when the court finds that manifest injustice or miscarriage of justice has resulted therefrom. Rule 30.20, Missouri Rules of Criminal Procedure (17th ed. 1986). We find no manifest injustice or miscarriage of justice in the circumstances here. Appellant did not try the case below, *45or brief it here, on the theory that the evidence failed to establish that he was the operator or driver of the Mazda. Instead, his hypothesis was — in the words of his brief — that “because there was no evidence that appellant knew his passengers were injured, or that the car that he had been driving or the signs at the shopping center had been damaged, the state failed to establish the element of knowledge required for this cause of action, and hence the evidence was insufficient to convict him.” (Emphasis added.)
The so called “plain error” now urged by appellant was evidently not as plain as he would have us believe, as it apparently occurred to him only after reading our opinion. The motion for rehearing or, in the alternative, to transfer the cause to the Supreme Court is denied.