Court Opinion

ID: 9783581
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 19:49:46.655138+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:35:26.309409
License: Public Domain

NANCY STEFFEN RAHMEYER, Judge.
I respectfully dissent. James Scott Murphy (“Appellant”) appeals his conviction for exceeding the posted speed limit. He claims the ranger who stopped him and issued the ticket was outside his territorial jurisdiction and, thus, without authority to issue the ticket. I would agree and reverse the judgment.
Appellant was traveling northbound on Highway 143 through Sam A. Baker State Park with his wife Josephine. Eric Shearrer, a park ranger for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, testified that he was parked just off the west side of Highway 143, facing southbound and running radar on traffic traveling northbound on Highway 143.
Ranger Shearrer testified the speed limit throughout the park is 35 m.p.h. Ranger Shearrer further testified that the waterline under Big Creek Bridge is effectively the property line for Sam A. Baker State Park and that after the Big Creek Bridge the western side of Highway 143 is the Keithley private property and the eastern side remains Sam A. Baker State Park property. Ranger Shearrer also testified that he was parked north of Big Creek Bridge on Bob Keithley’s private property, pursuant to an agreement between the park and the Keithley family allowing the ranger to station himself on their property.
During the stop Ranger Shearrer asked Appellant if he was familiar with the speed limit, to which Appellant replied, “It’s 55.” Appellant stated that he believed the speed limit to be 55 m.p.h. because he could see the 55 m.p.h. speed limit sign about 700 feet ahead, but was advised by Ranger Shearrer that the speed limit does not change until crossing the speed limit sign and, therefore, Appellant had been traveling in a 35 m.p.h. speed zone. Ranger Shearrer testified that three miles of *135Highway 143 travel through the park and Appellant was on the extreme north end of the park, indicating that if Appellant came from the park then he had driven past several 35 m.p.h. speed limit signs. The trial court convicted Appellant of driving 57 m.p.h. in a 35 m.p.h. zone on March 4, 2010.
Section 253.065.1 provides in part, “Each park ranger employed by the director of the department of natural resources ... shall ... preserve the peace and make arrests for violations of law on all land under the jurisdiction and control of the director and on all state and county highways within the boundaries of state parks.” Section 253.065.1 (emphasis added).1 Officers enjoy greater powers of arrest than do private citizens, but an officer may make arrests only within his territorial jurisdiction, unless otherwise authorized by statute. State v. Devlin, 745 S.W.2d 850, 851 (Mo.App. E.D.1988). When an officer makes an arrest outside his territorial jurisdiction, his power to do so is no greater than that of a private citizen.2 Id.
Ranger Shearrer testified that he was parked outside of the Sam A. Baker State Park on Bob Keithley’s private property at the time he observed Appellant coming across the Big Creek Bridge. Ranger Shearrer further testified that his radar did not lock on to Appellant’s speed until after Appellant had exited the northern end of the bridge, which was outside the park boundary.
The majority opinion states that Ranger Shearrer testified “without objection” that “If there is private property on the opposite side of ... the highway or waterway, we have jurisdiction under certain circumstances.” The testimony about an agreement with the landowner came into evidence in response to the trial court calling Ranger Shearrer back to the witness stand to testify. Appellant objected to the testimony, but the State interrupted Appellant to inform him that that he could not object because the trial judge was asking the question. The trial judge did not rule on the objection to its own question. Because any purported agreement was clearly hearsay, we assume the trial court disregarded the testimony, just as we should. State v. Smith, 163 S.W.3d 63, 68 (Mo.App. S.D.2005) (“Because this is a court-tried case, we presume the trial judge disregarded any improperly admitted evidence in reaching the verdict. Consequently, ‘[wjhere a judge, rather than a jury, is the trier of fact, the reviewing court presumes that inadmissible evidence is not prejudicial.’ ” (internal citations omitted)). No such agreement was admitted into evidence as part of the trial record.
Here, accepting as true all the evidence favorable to the State, Ranger Shearrer was not within his jurisdiction when he stopped and ticketed Appellant. I am left then with the question of law — whether a conviction for speeding can occur as a result of a ticket issued by a person acting in the capacity of a private citizen. I find that it cannot or should not. In finding so, *136I am guided by the fact that “it has long been the law in Missouri that section 85.610 and its predecessors do not grant an officer authority to make an extra-jurisdictional arrest of a person seen violating an ordinance even if that person leaves the jurisdiction in an attempt to avoid arrest.” City of Fredericktown v. Bell, 761 S.W.2d 715, 717 (Mo.App. E.D.1988); see also Settle, 679 S.W.2d at 317; Rodgers v. Schroeder, 220 Mo.App. 575, 287 S.W. 861, 864 (Mo.App.St.L.D.1926).
No authority can be found granting private citizens the privilege to stop and detain persons believed to have committed ordinance violations or traffic offenses, and the wisdom of recognizing such a privilege is seriously doubted. Delegating to private citizens the authority to investigate and arrest for such offense would invite more breaches of the peace than the number hoped to be prevented.
Settle, 679 S.W.2d at 318.
“ ‘In Missouri, a private citizen can make an arrest on a showing of commission of a felony and reasonable grounds to suspect the arrested party.’ ” State v. England, 92 S.W.3d 335, 340 (Mo.App. W.D.2002) (quoting Settle, 679 S.W.2d at 317). Speeding is only a misdemeanor offense; therefore, the park ranger, acting as a private citizen outside of his jurisdiction, was not pex-mit-ted to stop or arrest Appellant outside of the park grounds based upon the speeding violation. Id. In England, the speeding ticket was dismissed, Id. at 339; however, the officer in question eventually stopped and arrested the defendant when he reentered the officer’s jurisdiction based upon his observations as a private citizen. Id. at 340-341. “It is not pretended, nor can it be maintained, that a citizen could rightfully make such an arrest, or disarm a person, doing no more, at the time, than carrying a concealed weapon.” State v. Holcomb, 86 Mo. 371, 381 (1885) (A watchman, designated a person having the duties of a policeman of a city, was without authority, in the absence of a warrant, to arrest a person for the lawful carrying of a concealed weapon.) The reasoning behind such rulings is that “statutes authorizing such officers to make arrests upon view and without process, being in derogation of liberty, are strictly construed.” Rodgers, 287 S.W. at 863. “The power of such officers to arrest without process for mere quasi criminal offenses arising from the violation of ordinances is liable to serious abuses, and ought not to be enlarged by judicial construction beyond what is expressly granted or necessarily implied in the statute.” Id.
Likewise, the legislature has not authorized park rangers to make arrests outside of their jurisdiction. Section 253.065.1. In Fredericktown, the trial court held that a city police officer lacked authority to make an arrest outside its city limits and found the motorist not guilty. Fredericktown, 761 S.W.2d at 716. The city appealed; however, the judgment of acquittal was affirmed on appeal because “the law simply does not confer authority to arrest in this situation.” Id. The courts have recognized the testimony of an experienced arresting officer regarding the speed of a vehicle, State v. Calvert, 682 S.W.2d 474, 480 (Mo. banc 1984); however, Appellant was not convicted of simply speeding. He was convicted of traveling at the speed of fifty-seven miles per hour in a thirty-five mile per hour zone. Even an experienced arresting officer could hardly testify to such exactness. For these reasons, I would reverse the conviction.

. All references to statutes are to RSMo 2000, unless otherwise specified.

. We note that Appellant's citation by Ranger Shearrer could not have been considered valid as a citizen’s arrest. "A private citizen may arrest on a showing of the commission of a felony and reasonable grounds to suspect the arrested party, to prevent an affray or breach of the peace, and for a misdemeanor if authorized by statute." Devlin, 745 S.W.2d at 851-52. " 'No authority can be found granting private citizens the privilege to stop and detain persons believed to have committed ordinance violations or traffic offenses Id. (quoting Settle v. State, 679 S.W.2d 310, 318 (Mo.App. W.D.1984), overruled on other grounds by State v. Renfrow, 224 S.W.3d 27, 35 n. 3 (Mo.App. W.D.2007)).