Opinion
No. ED 107480
12-10-2019
STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Demall J. TURNER, Appellant.
FOR APPELLANT, Nancy A. McKerrow, Missouri Public Defender, 1400 Forum Boulevard, Suite 1C, #203, Columbia, Missouri 65203. FOR RESPONDENT, Richard A. Starnes, Assistant Attorney General, PO Box 899, Jefferson City, Missouri 65102.
FOR APPELLANT, Nancy A. McKerrow, Missouri Public Defender, 1400 Forum Boulevard, Suite 1C, #203, Columbia, Missouri 65203.
FOR RESPONDENT, Richard A. Starnes, Assistant Attorney General, PO Box 899, Jefferson City, Missouri 65102.
Before Philip M. Hess, P.J., Kurt S. Odenwald, J. and Lisa P. Page, J.
ORDER
PER CURIAM
Demall Jermaine Turner ("Appellant") appeals from the trial court’s judgment following a jury verdict of guilty on one count of second-degree domestic assault and one count of third-degree domestic assault. On appeal, Appellant raises two points. In his first point, Appellant contends the trial court plainly erred in classifying him as a prior offender because the State failed to plead all essential facts warranting that finding in the Indictment and he was deprived the chance of receiving a lesser sentence from the jury. In his second point, Appellant maintains the trial court plainly erred in not sua sponte prohibiting the State from characterizing its evidence as "uncontroverted" and "uncontradicted" during its closing argument, as doing so constituted a direct reference to his failure to testify in violation of his right against self-incrimination.
We have reviewed the briefs of the parties and the record on appeal and find the trial court did not plainly err in classifying Appellant as a prior offender or in not sua sponte prohibiting the State from characterizing its evidence as "uncontroverted" and "uncontradicted" during its closing argument. A written opinion would have no precedential value and would serve no jurisprudential purpose. The parties have been furnished with a memorandum, for their information only, setting forth the reasons for our decision.
We affirm the judgment under Missouri Supreme Court Rule 84.16(b)(5) (2018).