Court Opinion

ID: 9667321
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 01:42:29.830078+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:37.061150
License: Public Domain

KELLY, Judge
(concurring).
I concur in the result reached in the majority opinion of this court. But I feel constrained to comment upon two other points raised by the appellant. First, the majority held the trial court did not err in overruling the objection to the opening statement nor in overruling the objections to Officer Stoll’s testimony concerning the charge for which he was arresting the appellant. The second dealt with certain portions of the prosecutor’s argument which might occur on retrial unless it is pointed out that this line of argument will not be tolerated.
*839In his opening statement to the jury the prosecutor advised them that his evidence would show by Officer Stoll that after the officer stopped the car and approached the car, he requested appellant’s driver’s license and when given an outdated application for a duplicate driver’s license he returned to the police car and called his dispatcher to have him check on the appellant’s driver’s license. The dispatcher advised him that no license was issued to the appellant, so he placed appellant under arrest for “improper driver’s license,” and walked with him to the police car. Once there Officer Stoll had the dispatcher check on the auto license plate and was advised “. . . that the car came back reported stolen on November 3rd, 1972, from the City.” The Sergeant then arrested appellant “suspect stealing motor vehicle and various other charges . . . ” The prosecutor then proceeded to tell the jury that the appellant was not charged with anything other than operating a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent. It was at this point that the counsel for the appellant interjected his objection that the statement of the prosecutor was highly prejudicial and that the appellant was not charged with any crime other than operating without the owner’s consent.
During the State’s case Sergeant Stoll, over objection that the testimony was hearsay, was permitted to testify relative to the messages relayed to him by the dispatcher concerning the failure of the records to show the issuance of a driver’s license to the appellant and the report of the stolen car. It was during the course of this line of inquiry that counsel for the appellant approached the Bench and advised the trial court that the thrust of his objection was directed to the hearsay nature of the testimony and that he was not attacking the probable cause for the arrest.
Despite the constant protests of the prosecuting attorney that the contents of the dispatcher’s reports to Sergeant Stoll were not being offered to prove the truth of the statements and were not thereby excluded as hearsay, I am not impressed. The appellant stood before the court charged with operating a motor vehicle without the consent of the owner, § 560.175(1) RSMo 1969, V.A.M.S. The gist of the State’s case was that appellant on the 8th day of November, 1972, was operating a 1964 Plymouth automobile in the County of St. Louis without the consent of the owner. The general rule is that evidence which is material and relevant to the issues is admissible; evidence that is irrelevant and immaterial is inadmissible. Reverend Grey, the employee of the owner of the car and the person who had the car in his possession by and with the consent of the owner testified that he had parked the car in front of his house at approximately 9:30 p. m. on the night of November 3rd, 1972, and when his curiosity was aroused by the barking of his dog, he looked out at about 10:00 p. m. and found the car was gone. He further testified that he gave no one permission to move the car and he did not know the appellant.
There was no issue in the case of probable cause for the appellant’s arrest; therefore, there was no materiality nor relevancy to the charge for which the police officer arrested the appellant. State v. Tillman, 454 S.W.2d 923, 926[6] (Mo.1970). The fact that the police officer arrested him on a charge is no evidence, not even circumstantial, that the arrestee committed the crime for which he was charged nor any other. To admit this evidence over objection is, in my opinion, violative of the principles of State v. Chernick, 278 S.W.2d 741 (Mo.1955) and State v. Chernick, Mo., 280 S.W.2d 56 (1955). What is particularly deplorable in this case is that the prosecutor could have prosecuted the appellant for the offense of stealing the motor vehicle in the first instance even though the car was originally stolen in the City of St. Louis, under the transportation statute, § 541.070 RSMo 1969, V.A.M.S. However, he chose the easier road and seized upon the opportunity to inject into the case evidence of other offenses, e. g., operating the *840motor vehicle without a valid operator’s license, stealing a motor vehicle, and “various other charges.”
It is the general rule that evidence of other crimes is competent to prove the specific crime charged when it tends to establish motive, intent, the absence of mistake or accident, a common scheme or plan embracing the commission of two or more crimes so related to each other that proof of one tends to establish the other, and the identity of the person charged with the commission of the crime on trial. State v. Reese, 364 Mo. 1221, 274 S.W.2d 304, 307[2] (Mo. banc 1954). The prosecutor attempted to justify the admission into evidence of the dispatcher’s report that the car was stolen and the testimony of the police officer that he, based upon this hearsay information, placed appellant under arrest for stealing the same motor vehicle, on the basis that he was offering the evidence “merely to determine whether or not the motor vehicle was stolen; we are here concerned with the charge of operating; therefore, it is not being used to prove the truth of the statement.” After this statement was made in open court, counsel for the appellant requested leave to approach the bench, and after being granted leave, out of hearing of the jury, advised the court it was not the question of the truth of the matter nor was he attacking the lack of probable cause for the arrest. He pointed out to the court that for the prosecutor to come in and say he is not trying to prove the matter asserted is not so, for that is how it would be taken by the jury if admitted; that there was already evidence from Rev. Grey that the car was stolen and he was objecting again on the basis the results of the radio check were hearsay. The prosecutor then retorted: [Tjhis was part of the res ges-tae leading up to the arrest itself and that with respect to the hearsay objection appellant was not charged with stealing a motor vehicle, and the evidence was being offered as “simply information along those lines.” Since appellant was not charged with theft of the motor vehicle, it was not offered for proof of the statement. The objection was overruled and the police officer testified concerning the contents of the dispatcher’s message relative to the car being stolen.
There is some conflict in the cases of this jurisdiction with respect to a police officer testifying to the contents of a radio message between the dispatcher and the police officer. In State v. Young, Mo., 490 S.W.2d 28, the police dispatcher was permitted, over objection, to testify as to information he received relative to a robbery and thereafter broadcast over the police radio. One item included in his broadcast was a license number. Another officer observed an automobile matching the description broadcast, stopped the car and arrested the five occupants thereof, including the defendant. On appeal the defendant contended that the trial court committed prejudicial error in allowing the police dispatcher to relate before the jury the license number which he included in the broadcast on the grounds that it was hearsay because it connected the defendant with the car despite the fact the dispatcher had no personal knowledge on the subject. The state maintained that the information was offered to “explain the basis for the conclusion of the police that they had probable cause to stop the automobile in which defendant was riding.” The court, 1. c. 30, held that the state’s position was not applicable since there had been a pretrial motion to suppress which raised the issue of probable cause and which had been overruled by the court, and the issue was not material nor relevant for the jury, having been finally determined except for appellate review. The court then stated that the appellant was correct that the broadcast of the license number was hearsay with respect to the trial on the merits and the trial court erred in allowing the radio dispatcher to testify before the jury as to the license • number; however, such testimony was held not prejudicial in light of other evidence in the case supporting the conviction.
*841In State v. Barnes, 345 S.W.2d 130, 131 [1] (Mo.1961) objection was made to the testimony of two police officers that they had received a radio communication containing the description of a man wanted for a robbery and that shortly thereafter one of them saw the defendant, whom he thereupon arrested. The court in ruling on this point stated that there was no testimony in the record to support the contention that either witness testified that the defendant fit the description of the man wanted, as broadcast by the radio dispatcher, or what the description was. In overruling the point, the court, 1. c. p. 132, said: “The testimony as to having heard such a broadcast tended to explain the subsequent conduct of the witnesses and was properly admissible.”
In State v. McRoberts, 485 S.W.2d 70 (Mo. 1972) the testimony of a police officer that there came over the police radio a description of a blue Chevrolet with a license plate which was very close to the license plate on the automobile detained was held admissible over objection that what was broadcast over the radio was hearsay. The court, 1. c. 73 said: “This evidence was not introduced for the purpose of proving the truth of the matter asserted (namely, that a blue Chevrolet with that license number was the automobile actually involved in the robbery) but rather for the purpose of further explaining the basis for the officers’ conclusion that they had probable cause to search the automobile and its occupants.”
Where probable cause of an arrest is not in issue it is difficult for me to find evidence of this nature admissible on the grounds of probable cause. Probable cause for the arrest is directed to the trial court not to the jury. Probable cause for an arrest is only an issue in the preliminary hearing and pre-trial motion stage of criminal proceedings. It has no place in the trial proceedings of a criminal case where the test is reasonable doubt. The fact, if it is a fact, that an arrest was illegal is no defense to a criminal charge and may not be interjected into the trial for that purpose. It may be raised by pre-trial motion to determine whether evidence seized may be validly used in the prosecution of the accused or whether it must be suppressed because seized in violation of constitutionally protected rights or to determine whether it is one of the circumstances which might suppress any confession or admission against interest obtained while the accused was illegally held. In the former instance the issue is directed to the court and not to the jury; whereas in the latter the court must first make a determination of threshold evidentiary admissibility prior to permitting the evidence to be presented to the jury for its consideration.
In State v. Kirkland, 471 S.W.2d 191, 192[2] (Mo.1971) the defendant was charged with robbery in the first degree by means of a dangerous and deadly weapon committed upon a cab driver. As in the case before us, the prosecutor announced to the court that he was not asking a question for the truth of the matter stated therein but merely to determine that it was said and that the police officer relied on it. The objection was overruled with the cautionary instruction to the jury that it was not being admitted “to prove what she [witness] said was true but in order to present some evidence for the jury’s evaluation as to what was told to this witness and upon which I am given to understand by the prosecuting attorney that this witness did rely.” Relying on the Chernick cases, supra, the court held the evidence inadmissible. The court said: “In short [the police officer’s] state of mind was not material nor relevant to any issue in the case before the jury.” 471 S.W.2d at 194.
The state relies on State v. McLarty, 467 S.W.2d 58 (Mo.1971) in support of its position that this evidence was admissible because it “tends” to prove that appellant had the intent to operate the motor vehicle *842without the owner’s consent. In McLarty the police stopped the defendant because the auto had no brake lights. The police asked the defendant for his driver’s license and car registration. The defendant produced his driver’s license and told the officers the car belonged to a friend of his, but could not furnish the friend’s name, address or place of employment. The officers then ran a check on the serial and license numbers on the car and learned the car had been stolen on November 6, 1969. During testimony of one of the officers when he was asked what he did after obtaining the information that the car was stolen, he replied that he advised the defendant that he was under arrest “for stealing over fifty, an automobile” and advised him of his constitutional rights. In ruling on the defendant’s contention that the testimony of the officer was evidence of a separate and distinct offense erroneously admitted, the court said, 1. c. 61: “It is perfectly clear to us from the context in which this testimony was given that the reference was to the questionable possession and driving of the subject automobile by the defendant, and not as indicating that defendant had committed another crime.”
State v. Taylor, 408 S.W.2d 8 (Mo. 1966), was cited in McClarty as authority for its position. However, a reading of the Taylor case demonstrates that the officer there testified that he placed the defendant under arrest for being a “Fugitive from justice,” “a fugitive from St. Louis County.” In disposing of this point the court, 408 S.W.2d at 11 [6], said: “We have concluded that the testimony in question did not constitute reversible error. The contention that the ruling was erroneous because the answer implied that defendant was attempting to flee is not preserved for appellate review because that reason was not presented to the trial court at the time the objection was made. . . . Moreover, we do not think the jury would construe the answer as indicating that defendant had committed another crime.' We think it is more likely that the jury would consider that the city policeman arrested defendant at the request of the St. Louis County police department as a part of its investigation of the offense in question.” In further ruling the court said: “There is another reason why those answers do not require a reversal. The first answer was made before objection. While an objection was thereafter made there was no motion to strike. An objection made after the answer is untimely and, in the absence of a motion to strike the answer, the ruling of the trial court is not preserved for review. . The two answers had substantially the same meaning. Since defendant cannot complain of the first answer, the admission of the second answer would be harmless error even if we assume that it was inadmissible.”
In my opinion an officer should not on trial be permitted to testify as to the reasons for an arrest other than the offense for which the defendant is charged.
Secondly, I conclude that since this case is remanded for further proceedings, some comment concerning appellant’s contention that certain portions of the prosecutor’s argument were prejudicial is in order.
In his argument the prosecutor told the jury that appellant was a man who spent twenty-five years living in the north side of the City of St. Louis, a rough neighborhood, a “ghetto, degrading, dehumanizing place to live. One thing-it teaches people how to survive, teaches them to be tough and how to survive. . . Ladies and gentlemen, these are street people; Willie is a street person, he is not employed, does not have a job. . . Ladies and gentlemen this is something that is the school of hard knocks except it is even harder down there than most of us have experienced. This is a person who has come up with a good story; he’s lived down there, knows how to get by, how to get along and how to make ends meet.” At numerous times throughout this argument counsel for the *843appellant interposed objections that this argument was outside the record and each time was overruled. His request for a mistrial was denied.
The State cites State v. Baldwin, 358 S.W.2d 18, 27[13] (Mo.1962) where the court said that a state’s attorney may make a vigorous argument so long as his remarks are confined to the record and the legitimate inferences to be drawn therefrom. This is the general rule. The state further contends that the remarks complained of were within the evidence and the reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom. The evidence which the state contends supports this line of argument is the testimony of appellant’s sister that he came from the north side of the City of St. Louis, was 25 years of age, did not maintain a permanent residence with her and their older sister, but only lived at home off and on. From this evidence the state would infer that appellant was somewhat transient, “a street person.”
The difficulty with this kind of argument is that it is an obvious attempt to infuse racial overtones into the case. This appellant was a Black, and there was no evidence in the case that persons coming from the north side of the City of St. Louis are any more crime prone than those from any other part of the city or the county. But the common knowledge that the northern part of the City of St. Louis is now the residential area of a large number of Black citizens was injected into the case, the reference to the area from whence this appellant came was denominated a ghetto area without any evidence that it was; an area where persons learn to survive at all costs, a school of hard knocks, where “it is even harder than most of us have experienced.” Appellant was on trial for operating a motor vehicle without the consent of the owner. He was not on trial because he lived in north St. Louis. Argument of this ilk cannot be allowed.
Therefore, in my opinion, neither of these matters discussed herein should again occur on retrial.