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813 S.W.2d 323

State v. Simpson

Missouri Court of Appeals

Decided July 3, 1991

Missouri Court of Appeals · decided 1991-07-03

Cited by 7 later decisions — most recently September 2000

7 state decisions

Relies on MacArthur Co. v. Johns-Manville Corp. · Refre v. United States · Thompson v. Louisiana

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1991-07-03

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CROW, Judge.

¶1A jury found appellant Bennie Simpson guilty of the class B felonies of arson in the first degree, § 569.040, RSMo Supp. 1987, and burglary in the first degree, § 569.160, RSMo 1986. The jury assessed punishment for each crime at ten years’ imprisonment. The trial court entered judgment per the verdicts, ordering the sentences to run concurrently.

¶2Inasmuch as appellant does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdicts, we need not synopsize the State’s proof.

¶3Appellant’s sole point relied on avers the trial court erred in giving instruction 4, faithfully copied from MAI-CR 3d 302.04, defining “reasonable doubt.” Appellant maintains the instruction violated his right to due process of law guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and Article I, § 10 of the Constitution of Missouri (1945), in that the instruction defined proof beyond a reasonable doubt as “proof that leaves you firmly convinced of the defendant’s guilt.” Such definition, says appellant, allowed the jury to find him guilty “based on a degree of proof below that required by due process.”

¶4The Supreme Court of Missouri has held otherwise. State v. Murray, 744 S.W.2d 762, 771[13] (Mo. banc 1988), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 871, 109 S.Ct. 181, 102 L.Ed.2d 150 (1988); State v. Antwine, 743 S.W.2d 51, 62 — 63[12] (Mo. banc 1987), cert. denied, 486 U.S. 1017, 108 S.Ct. 1755, 100 L.Ed.2d 217 (1988).

¶5This Court is constitutionally controlled by decisions of the Supreme Court of Missouri. Mo. Const., Art. V, § 2 (1945); State v. Jones, 703 S.W.2d 41, 42[1] (Mo. App.1985). Appellant’s point is governed by Murrayand Antwine. It is, accordingly, denied.

¶6Judgment affirmed.

PREWITT, P.J., and PARRISH, J., concur.
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