Court Opinion

ID: 9883537
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 01:46:24.326259+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:25.024214
License: Public Domain

PATRICIA L. COHEN, Judge.
I dissent. I believe that the dispositive issue in this case is whether, having made a post-trial determination that “the evidence presented at trial reflects that the items seized from the Defendant’s vehicle were illegally seized in violation of’ the U.S. and Missouri Constitutions, the trial court erred in failing to grant the Motion for New Trial that Defendant filed as an alternative to his post-trial Motion for Judgment of Acquittal. Given the obvious significance of the evidence at issue to a determination of Defendant’s guilt, I would remand this ease for a new trial.
The record reflects that one day following the jury’s verdict of guilty on the charge of tampering with physical evidence (Count I) and the trial court’s grant of a mistrial with respect to possession of cocaine (Count II), the trial court issued the following order:
Whereas this court, on September 10, 2004, heard and denied Motions of Defendant to suppress evidence and statements, and
Whereas, this cause was called for trial on November 22 and 23, 2004, and
Whereas, the evidence presented during trial was both supplemental to that presented during the Motions to Suppress and often inconsistent with the testimony presented during that hearing; and
Whereas, the evidence presented at trial reflects that the items seized from the Defendant’s vehicle were illegally seized in violation of Article I, Section 15 of the Missouri Constitution and the Fourth *47and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution; and
Whereas, the court declared a mistrial as to Count I when the jury was unable to reach a verdict as to that Count: NOW, THEREFORE, the court, having reconsidered its prior ruling on the Motions to Suppress and hereby sustains both the Motion to Suppress Evidence as to items seized by the police from the vehicle of Defendant, including the keys to the vehicle and the metal container attached to the key chain and the Motion to Suppress Statements as to statements made by the Defendant responsive to questions of the police as to Defendant’s knowledge of the contents of a metal container attached to his key chain found in the vehicle of Defendant.
On December 13, 2004, the Defendant filed his Motion for Judgment of Acquittal or in the Alternative Motion for New Trial or to set aside the verdict in Count II. On January 14, 2005, the trial court conducted a hearing on the post-trial motions and a sentencing hearing. Despite the fact that the trial court again reaffirmed its post-trial grant of the motion to suppress, noting that the evidence at trial “was properly not evidence seized from [Defendant],” the trial court nevertheless overruled the post-trial motions and sentenced Defendant to thirty days. In an apparent justification for his failure to grant the post-trial motion, the trial court stated: “[T]he defendant by way of self-help seized what I believe was properly not evidence seized from him and attempted to destroy it. I don’t believe that can be tolerated.”
Defendant argues in his third point on appeal that the trial court erred when it failed to grant his post-trial motion for judgment of acquittal in light of the trial court’s post-trial determination that the items seized from Defendant’s vehicle were improperly seized. The State responds that the trial court was not permitted to reconsider its suppression ruling post-trial and that “any subsequent reconsideration by the trial court after the verdicts must not be considered by this Court.”
It should be noted that the State has neither appealed the trial court’s grant of the motion to suppress nor specifically responded to Defendant’s contention that the trial court-erred when it denied the post-trial motions. The State argues simply that a pretrial denial of a motion to suppress is subject to reconsideration only prior to the verdict. At footnote 3 of the majority opinion, the majority concedes that the trial court’s grant of the post-trial motion to suppress has not been appealed.1
In support of the proposition that the trial court was not permitted to reconsider post-trial, but before sentencing, its determination on the propriety of the seizure of the items from Defendant’s vehicle, the *48State cites two cases: State v. Mills, 735 S.W.2d 197 (Mo.App. E.D.1987) and State v. Beaver, 697 S.W.2d 573 (Mo.App. E.D.1985). However, a review of Mills and Beaver reveals that neither is applicable to the issue presented here.
In Beaver, the Court considered whether the State had timely appealed the trial court’s pre-trial grant of a motion to suppress where the State had delayed filing its interlocutory appeal until the trial court denied the State’s motion to reconsider, nearly thirty days after the entry of the initial order suppressing the challenged evidence. Beaver, 697 S.W.2d 573. In ruling that the appeal was untimely, the Court reiterated the well-accepted proposition that the trial court’s ruling on the motion to suppress was interlocutory and subject to reconsideration prior to trial. Id. at 574. However, the Court was not asked to and did not determine whether a trial court has the authority to entertain a post-trial reconsideration of the constitutionality of a seizure of evidence. Id. Accordingly, Beaver is of no assistance here.
Mills is equally inapplicable. In Mills, the Court considered whether a defendant had failed to preserve for appellate review a ruling on a pre-trial motion to suppress where the defendant failed to object during trial to the state’s introduction of the challenged evidence. Mills, 735 S.W.2d 197. Holding in the affirmative, the Court stated that because ruling on a motion to suppress is interlocutory, to preserve the appellate issue of the trial court’s ruling on a pre-trial motion to suppress, the defendant must object to evidence at the time the state makes its offer. Id. at 200. As in Beaver, the Mills court did not consider the impact of a post-trial finding that the state’s evidence was unconstitutionally seized on the assessment of the post-trial motions for judgment of acquittal and new trial.
Although Missouri courts have apparently not squarely addressed the question of the trial court’s authority to reconsider post-trial a motion to suppress, at least one court in another state has analyzed this issue. In State v. Graham, 721 So.2d 361 (Fla.App.1998), the state appealed a trial court’s post-trial grant of a motion to suppress and its grant of a motion for new trial. The state contended “that there was no ‘new or additional’ evidence presented at trial concerning the legality of the search or substantially affecting the credibility of the evidence” and therefore no basis for reconsideration. Id. Rejecting the state’s argument, the court stated, in words equally applicable here, “[i]t is settled law that while a trial court has jurisdiction of a case, and upon appropriate motion or objection made by either counsel, it has the inherent power to reconsider a previous ruling made on a motion to suppress.” Id.2 See also State v. Hunt, 188 Ill.App.3d 359, 135 Ill.Dec. 761, 544 N.E.2d 118 (1989) (grant of post-trial motion to suppress and motion for new trial affirmed).
The State’s position here undermines the trial court’s jurisdiction generally and more specifically the trial court’s role in correcting its own errors in the context of a motion for new trial. First, it is well-settled that in a criminal case, the trial court does not lose jurisdiction until it renders sentence and judgment. Thus, it is only after the trial court enters sentence *49and judgment that it is prohibited from taking further action, unless expressly provided by statute. Simmons v. White, 866 S.W.2d 443, 445 (Mo. banc 1993). Here, there is no question that the trial court reconsidered its handling of the pre-trial motion to suppress during the period after trial but before the entry of the sentence and judgment. Thus, there is clearly no jurisdictional impediment to a post-trial reconsideration of the motion to suppress.
Further support for the propriety of a trial court’s reconsideration of its ruling on a motion to suppress is found in the trial court’s statutory authority to grant a new trial based upon grounds identified in the motion for new trial. Section 547.020 RSMo. (2004). Indeed a central purpose of the requirement to include grounds in a motion for new trial is to specifically afford the trial court the opportunity to correct its own errors. See State v. Burns, 312 Mo. 673, 280 S.W. 1026, 1027 (1926); State v. Cavener, 356 Mo. 602, 202 S.W.2d 869, 873 (1947). The State’s contention that the trial court is not permitted to reconsider its ruling on a motion to suppress post-trial clearly creates a conflict with the trial court’s obligation to reconsider its suppression ruling, if challenged, in the motion for new trial. It is no surprise that the State cites no authority for such an unjustifiably restricted view of the trial court’s authority.
We implicitly recognized the trial court’s authority to correct error in a post-trial reconsideration of a motion to suppress in State v. Edwards, 30 S.W.3d 226 (Mo.App. E.D.2000). In Edwards, the defendant challenged the admission of oral statements to the police. Id. On appeal, we determined that the trial court erred in not holding a suppression hearing outside the presence of the jury to determine the voluntariness of the defendant’s statements. Id. at 231. To rectify the trial court’s error, we remanded for a “post-trial hearing on the issue of voluntariness,” Id., citing State v. Mitchell, 611 S.W.2d 211, 214 (Mo. banc 1981). More importantly, we ruled that, “[i]f after such hearing, the trial court finds and determines that [the statements] were involuntary, the judgment shall be set aside and the trial court shall grant a new trial on all issues, without the statements being admitted into evidence.” Id. See also State v. Ramires, 152 S.W.3d 385, 406 (Mo.App.W.D.2004) (remand to trial court for hearing on defendant’s standing to challenge warrant-less seizure of methamphetamine).
Having concluded that the trial court had the authority to determine post-trial that evidence admitted at trial was improperly seized in violation of Defendant’s constitutional rights, we turn to whether the trial court erred when it failed to grant a new trial. It has long been recognized that improperly seized and admitted evidence is grounds for a new trial unless the error is harmless without question. State v. Richards, 334 Mo. 485, 67 S.W.2d 58, 61 (1933); State v. Riley, 704 S.W.2d 691, 694 (Mo.App. E.D.1986) (“Where an erroneous ruling on a motion to suppress physical evidence is found to be prejudicial, the case is ordinarily reversed and remanded for a new trial.”) See also Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 24, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967) (“[B]efore a federal constitutional error can be held harmless, the court must be able to declare a belief that it was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.”) The state bears the burden of showing the error to be harmless. State v. Anderson, 76 S.W.3d 275, 278 (Mo. banc 2002). (Wolff, concurring in part, dissenting in part). We recently held that admission of improper evidence is “harmless if (a) the other evidence of guilt is overwhelming or (b) the improper evidence is not highlighted and cumulative of other evidence.” (emphasis in original). State v. *50Duncan, 27 S.W.3d 486, 488 (Mo.App. E.D.2000) (New trial ordered where trial court improperly admitted results of portable breath test). Applying these principles to the facts of this case, it is clear that the admission of the improperly seized evidence was not harmless error.
The trial court’s apparent explanation for its refusal to grant the post-trial motion despite its conclusion that the evidence was improperly seized is also troubling. Clearly, the trial court’s decision to deny the post-trial motion conflicts with its determination that the seizure of the evidence violated the Defendant’s constitutional rights. The trial court, in assessing the appropriate impact of its post-trial suppression determination, appeared to be highly influenced by its view that the Defendant was guilty of attempting to destroy the evidence.3 However, resolution of a suppression challenge is “collateral to the question of guilt or innocence of the defendant....” State v. Donohoe, 770 S.W.2d 252, 256 (Mo.App. W.D.1989). Thus, “the issue of the guilt of the defendant ... is irrelevant to the determination of whether the evidence sought to be suppressed is admissible at the trial of the criminal charge.” Id. at 257. Moreover, although as we held in Anderson supra, the trial court may analyze whether error is prejudicial in light of evidence of defendant’s guilt, the proper focus is on “other evidence” of guilt rather than the evidence which was improperly seized. Accordingly, given the facts of this case, it was improper for the trial court to deny the motion for new trial once it had determined that the evidence at trial was improperly seized.
Accordingly, I would remand for a new trial on Count II.

. The grant or denial of a motion to suppress constitutes a separate collateral order. State v. Holt, 415 S.W.2d 761, 764 (Mo.1967) (citation omitted) ("the validity of the search and seizure and the admissibility of its fruits raises a collateral issue ‘which must be tried in a proceeding independent of the issue of guilt.’ ”) Moreover, challenges to the trial court’s suppression order must be expressly raised throughout the trial and post-trial to preserve the error. State v. Anderson, 698 S.W.2d 849, 851 (Mo. banc 1985). The notion that a party raises the validity of a trial court's suppression order simply by challenging a different order (here the denial of the motion for new trial) runs counter to well-established appellate principles of preservation of error. Nevertheless, the majority asserts that the correctness of the trial court’s post-trial grant is "squarely” before us. However, beyond simply stating that the trial court’s grant was erroneous, the majority has not analyzed the ruling, and, in particular considered all facts and reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the lower court’s ruling. State v. Milliorn, 794 S.W.2d 181, 183 (Mo. banc 1990).

. Interestingly, the Florida Court of Appeals reversed the post-trial grant of the motion to suppress because it determined the trial judge had prejudged the credibility of the officer and remanded for post-trial reconsideration of the motion to suppress by a different judge. However, the Court concluded that should the new judge grant the motion to suppress, the trial court's order granting the motion for new trial would be affirmed.

. At the hearing on the post-trial motions and sentencing, the trial court stated as follows: Okay. I heard the evidence in this case, and although the Court believes that there was some impropriety in the way in which the police handled the initial proceedings, still the Defendant by way of self help seized what I believe was properly not evidence seized from him and attempted to destroy it. I don’t believe that can be tolerated, (emphasis supplied).