Court Opinion

ID: 9680231
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 07:26:50.034285+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:27.089436
License: Public Domain

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
PER CURIAM.
In his motion for rehearing or in the alternative to transfer to the Court en banc, appellant contends we did not consider his contentions, made for the first time in a supplemental brief, that Exhibit No. 5 did not show that he was “adjudged to be convicted” of the prior offense of obtaining money by false pretenses, one of the prior felonies to authorize the finding that appellant was a persistent offender, and that the Exhibit did not show appellant to have been represented by counsel. These contentions were not preserved for appellate review, but appellant asks they be reviewed as a matter of plain error resulting in manifest injustice. Rule 29.12(b).
Exhibit No. 5 does not contain a copy of the judgment entered, but it does contain a copy of the committment in which appears the statement that appellant pleaded guilty of the offense charged and was sentenced to be confined and imprisoned for a specific term. Appellant made no challenge to correctness of this statement. Without a challenge the trial court was authorized to find that appellant had been convicted of the offense of obtaining money by false pretenses.
A prior conviction may not be used to enhance punishment if that conviction was constitutionally invalid because the defendant was denied the right to counsel. United States v. Tucker, 404 U.S. 443, 92 S.Ct. 589, 30 L.Ed.2d 592 (1972); Burgett v. Texas, 389 U.S. 109, 88 S.Ct. 258,19 L.Ed.2d 319 (1967); State v. Alberts, 519 S.W.2d 562 (Mo.App.1975). But in this case there is no affirmative showing that appellant was not represented by counsel when he entered a plea of guilty to obtaining money by false pretenses, and appellant offered no evidence that he was denied counsel. In the cases relied on there was an affirmative showing that the defendant was not represented by counsel in the earlier convictions. That is not the case here.
Even if it should be shown that Exhibit No. 5 should not have been received in evidence, its admission did not result in “manifest injustice” to appellant. There were two other unchallenged prior convictions of more recent vintage that were admitted. Because of them the court could have assessed an extended term up to 15 years. It added only two years.
There is no showing of manifest injustice within the meaning of Rule 29.12(b), and the point in the supplemental brief is without merit.
Appellant’s motions for rehearing and in the alternative to transfer the cause to the Court en banc are overruled.