Summary
The Missouri Supreme Court affirmed Angelo Johnson’s convictions and sentences for multiple sexual offenses. The Court held that Missouri Revised Statutes section 558.018.5(3) applies to acts committed against more than one victim that form the basis of current charges and is not facially unconstitutional under Alleyne v. United States. Although the circuit court violated the statutory requirement to make predatory-sexual-offender findings before submitting the case to the jury, the Court held that Johnson failed to demonstrate manifest injustice warranting plain-error relief.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether section 558.018.5(3) applies to acts underlying the current charges or only to prior acts.
- Whether applying section 558.018.5(3) to charged acts makes the statute facially unconstitutional under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments and the Missouri Constitution in light of Alleyne v. United States.
- Whether the circuit court's failure to make the predatory-sexual-offender findings before submission of the case to the jury, as required by section 558.021.2, constituted plain error resulting in manifest injustice.
Holdings
- Section 558.018.5(3) applies to acts committed against more than one victim that form the basis of the current charges; it is not limited to prior acts.
- Applying section 558.018.5(3) to charged acts is not facially unconstitutional under Alleyne because the fact increasing the mandatory minimum—acts against more than one victim—must and can be found by the jury beyond a reasonable doubt.
- Although the circuit court plainly violated section 558.021.2 by making the predatory-sexual-offender findings after submission to the jury, Johnson failed to establish manifest injustice or a miscarriage of justice; therefore, plain-error relief and resentencing were unwarranted.
Key quotations
“Section 558.018.5(3) is unambiguous. It refers simply to “an act or acts against more than one victim.”” (511)
“Any fact that, by law, increases the penalty for a crime is an ‘element’ that must be submitted to the jury and found beyond a reasonable doubt.” (512)
“Manifest injustice does not automatically result simply because the circuit court violated § 558.021.2” (515)
Factual background
Johnson was convicted of five counts of first-degree statutory sodomy, three counts of first-degree statutory rape, three counts of incest, and one count of second-degree statutory rape involving his two step-daughters and biological daughter. The predicate sodomy and rape offenses involving the two step-daughters involved acts against more than one victim. The circuit court found Johnson to be a predatory sexual offender under section 558.018.5(3) and imposed the corresponding mandatory minimum of life imprisonment with eligibility for parole after 25 years on eight convictions.
Procedural history
The State charged Johnson with 13 felony counts arising from sexual abuse of three victims. Johnson waived jury sentencing. The circuit court initially declined to find him a predatory sexual offender, but after the jury returned guilty verdicts on 12 counts, the court reconsidered its statutory interpretation and made the finding at sentencing. Johnson received eight concurrent life sentences with eligibility for parole after 25 years and appealed. The Supreme Court of Missouri affirmed.