William M. Peters, appellant, was charged by indictment with one count of assault and one count of armed criminal action. The events leading to these charges occurred in January 1990. The victim was married to, but separated from, Peters at the time of the incident. They had been separated for about a year. Apparently, the victim had agreed to see Peters over the weekend of January 12, 1990, so that Peters could spend some time with his two young sons. On a trip to the park to shoot off firecrackers, Peters began to brutally beat the victim. In the course of the day, Peters repeatedly struck the victim with his fists, hit her in the back of the head with a bottle, beat her with a tire iron, and tied her up, stuffing clods of dirt into her mouth and abandoning her in a field before returning to collect her. The victim suffered severe injuries as a result of this ruthless and brutal beating. Peters did all of these things while the two young boys were present. Following the presentation of the evidence, instructions on assault in the first degree, assault in the second degree, armed criminal action with assault in the first degree as the underlying felony, and armed criminal action with assault in the second degree as the underlying felony were submitted to the jury. To find armed criminal action in connection with either assault charge, the instructions explicitly required a finding of guilt on one or the other assault charges as a condition precedent to a finding of guilt of armed criminal action. 1
State Missouri v. William M. Peters - Supreme Court of Missouri
William M. Peters, appellant, was charged by indictment with one count of assault and one count of armed criminal action. The events leading to these charges occurred in January 1990. The victim was married to, but separated from, Peters at the time of the incident. They had been separated for about a year. Apparently, the victim had agreed to see Peters over the weekend of January 12, 1990, so that Peters could spend some time with his two young sons. On a trip to the park to shoot off firecrackers, Peters began to brutally beat the victim. In the course of the day, Peters repeatedly struck the victim with his fists, hit her in the back of the head with a bottle, beat her with a tire iron, and tied her up, stuffing clods of dirt into her mouth and abandoning her in a field before returning to collect her. The victim suffered severe injuries as a result of this ruthless and brutal beating. Peters did all of these things while the two young boys were present. Following the presentation of the evidence, instructions on assault in the first degree, assault in the second degree, armed criminal action with assault in the first degree as the underlying felony, and armed criminal action with assault in the second degree as the underlying felony were submitted to the jury. To find armed criminal action in connection with either assault charge, the instructions explicitly required a finding of guilt on one or the other assault charges as a condition precedent to a finding of guilt of armed criminal action. 1