Moen v. Commonwealth

1

MELISSA JOYCE MOEN v. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

No. 1937-23-1

Court of Appeals of Virginia

November 26, 2024

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF HAMPTON Tonya Henderson-Stith, Judge

(Samantha Offutt Thames, Senior Appellate Counsel; Virginia Indigent Defense Commission, on briefs), for appellant.

(Jason S. Miyares, Attorney General; Tanner M. Russo, Assistant Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.

Present: Chief Judge Decker, Judges Malveaux and Raphael

MEMORANDUM OPINION ^[*]

PER CURIAM.

Melissa Joyce Moen ("appellant") was convicted in a bench trial of two counts of abduction, in violation of Code § 18.2-47(A), and one count of breaking and entering while armed with a deadly weapon, in violation of Code § 18.2-89. Appellant contends the trial court erred in rejecting her affirmative defense of duress and in denying her motion to strike both charges because the evidence failed to prove she shared the principals' criminal intent. After examining the briefs and record in this case, the panel unanimously holds that oral argument is unnecessary because "the appeal is wholly without merit," "the dispositive issue or issues have been authoritatively decided," and "the appellant has not argued that the case law should be overturned, extended, modified, or reversed." Code § 17.1-403(ii)(a)-(b); Rule 5A:27(a)-(b). Accordingly, finding no error in the trial court's judgment, we affirm appellant's convictions.

I. BACKGROUND

"In accordance with familiar principles of appellate review," the facts relevant here "will be considered in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth the prevailing party below." Spinner v. Commonwealth, 297 Va. 384, 387 (2019).

The Home Invasion

In 2018, Lionel Maynard, Sr., his wife, and his great-grandson, Landon Sims, lived together in Hampton. Sims' girlfriend, Julia Wilson, occasionally stayed at the Maynard home. Wilson previously had dated Bobbie Crane. Maynard testified that one day in June 2018, he found Crane in his yard "yelling and screaming at [Sims]." When Maynard asked Crane what his "problem" was, Crane replied that Sims had "stolen his girlfriend." Crane also told Sims that summer that he was going to have "some of his boys" come to Sims's house and that Sims would "have to worry about [Crane's] boys."

After midnight on October 5, 2018, Sims stepped out onto the back patio of the Maynard home and saw two men with masks and guns. The men attacked Sims, hit him in the head with their guns, and "forced their way" into the house.^[1] Once inside, the men beat Sims, attempted to tie his hands behind his back, and stabbed him in his stomach, back, arms, and head. They also dragged Sims throughout the house. Eventually, Sims heard a gunshot and "was . . . able to scramble and call 911."

Maynard testified that he was asleep during the early morning hours of October 5 when a masked and armed man entered his bedroom, turned on the light, and "yanked [him] out of bed."^[2] Maynard could hear Sims "yelling and screaming up the hallway." The intruder dragged Maynard into the hallway, and then Maynard heard a gunshot and saw another person stabbing Sims. When Maynard began struggling, one of the intruders "cracked [his] skull open" with his gun; the man again struck Maynard's head as he continued to struggle. At that point, Maynard decided to "act like [he was] dead." He saw the two men drag Sims back toward Sims' bedroom while asking him, "where is Julia[?]"^[3]

After the two men took Sims into his bedroom, Maynard crawled to the living room and retrieved a pistol. He fired a single shot at one of the intruders and heard the man scream. The remaining intruder took the pistol away from Maynard and struck him on the side of the head, at which point Maynard passed out. When he regained consciousness, the intruders were gone.

Events at Kristen Windham's Apartment

Kristen Windham lived in Newport News in 2018. Windham had met appellant through a mutual friend and known her for about a year at the time of the home invasion. Windham thought she and appellant "were friends."

On the evening of October 3, 2018, appellant arrived at Windham's apartment in the company of two men, Demoreia Farrell, or "Moe," and Christopher Cox. Windham was familiar with Moe and knew Cox as appellant's boyfriend. The three guests stayed with Windham on the night of October 3 and were also in her home on the evening of October 4. At some point during the early evening of October 4, appellant and Cox left the apartment. When the two returned at around 11:30 p.m., Windham and appellant went to a restaurant together while Cox and Moe remained at Windham's home. After the two women came back, Windham fell asleep on her couch but was later awakened by Moe, who told Windham her guests were "leav[ing] to go and handle some business."

Windham fell asleep again until appellant telephoned to say, "[w]e're on our way back, unlock the door." After unlocking the door, Windham started to go back to sleep until Cox slammed the door open and yelled for her to come outside. There, she saw Cox "dragging" Moe's body out of the backseat of appellant's car. Appellant ran past Windham to retrieve some belongings from the apartment. Windham asked what had happened, but no one answered her. Cox "dropped" Moe, ran to appellant's car, and left with her.

Windham called 911. Emergency medical personnel soon arrived, but were unable to save Moe's life. Windham told police she had no knowledge about what appellant, Cox, and Moe had been doing or how Moe came to be injured.

Appellant's Apprehension and Statements to Police

Windham helped police identify appellant's car. Following a pursuit, police in Maryland, where appellant lived, stopped appellant and Cox. Appellant subsequently was indicted for two counts of abduction and one count of breaking and entering while armed with a deadly weapon.

On the morning of October 6, 2018, Detective Michael Beres and Investigator Quincina Neal of the Hampton Police Division interviewed appellant in custody in Maryland. Appellant was given Miranda warnings and signed a Miranda waiver.^[4] She then told police she had driven Moe and another person to a neighborhood and dropped them off and waited. Appellant heard a few shots before Moe returned to the car alone. Appellant told police, "I don't know what was going on, I thought they were going to fight somebody. . . . [T]o beat somebody up." She then requested an attorney and the interview ended.

After the October 6 interview, police developed additional evidence and information about the home invasion. In addition to Cox Moe, and appellant, police also began to suspect the involvement of Bobbie Crane, appellant's former high school classmate.

Beres and Neal returned to Maryland on October 22, 2018 to extradite appellant to Virginia. Appellant was given Miranda warnings and consented to speak with the officers during their five-and-a-half-hour drive to Hampton. The interview was recorded, with appellant's knowledge, and entered into evidence at trial.

Appellant initially maintained she knew nothing about the events of October 5, apart from what she had read in an affidavit. She acknowledged driving to the Maynard home and parking across the street. Appellant told police there were three people with her at that time: Cox, Moe, and "some dude with Moe" she knew as "B." Moe and Cox had been riding with her when she left Windham's apartment, and they had stopped to pick up "B" at a gas station. Appellant could give only a general description of "B." She said Cox remained in the car with her when she parked at the Maynard home and that Moe and "B" got out of the car; when the two men returned, one of them told her to "go." Moe said he had been shot and asked appellant to drive him back to Windham's apartment. "B" did not get back in appellant's car and appellant did not know where he had gone.

Police accused appellant of being untruthful in stating that she picked up "B" and that Cox had never entered the home. When Neal told appellant, "[a]ll that's a lie," appellant, in tears, replied, "[i]t is. It is." When police asked her why she would lie, appellant responded, "[b]ecause I don't want my life to be in jeopardy."

Appellant then said that Moe had given her an address to drive to and told her they were going to get some "weed and stuff." When they arrived at the address, Cox and Moe got out of the car. Appellant acknowledged hearing gunshots while she waited in her car, but said she did not think anything of them because they were "muffled" and did not sound "close."

Police also asked appellant whether, prior to driving to the Maynard home, she had left Windham's apartment with Windham, Cox, or Moe. Appellant initially replied, "no," before immediately stating she had "left by myself to go visit a friend of mine . . . Nobody went with me anywhere." When appellant returned, everyone said, "let's go get this weed." Police confronted appellant with the fact that in her previous interview, she had told them the men with her had gone to the house to beat someone up; now, appellant's account was that they were going there to buy marijuana. Appellant explained the discrepancy by stating that in the car, Moe said that "if this dude don't have something," he was going to "beat him up."

Appellant accused Moe of threatening her and pulling a gun on her in Maryland to force her to drive Moe and Cox to Windham's home in Virginia. She also accused Moe of burning her with a cigarette.

Several hours into the interview, police asked appellant about Bobbie Crane. Appellant said she had attended school with Crane, and immediately declared that she had not seen him "in years." But she then stated she had spoken with him "recently" about...