The Kansas Supreme Court today upheld the convictions of Cecil Meggerson and Charles Bowser in the shooting of Wyandotte County Deputy Scott Wood.
Deputy Wood was at a 7-Eleven convenience store at 43rd and Shawnee Drive on March 4, 2015, when it was robbed by three men. The robbers brandished guns and demanded money. The deputy suffered gunshot wounds to his jaw, left and right shoulders, left chest and the right side of his neck, according to court documents. Deputy Wood recovered, and since then has taken medical retirement because of the injuries.
There had been a string of violent robberies throughout the Kansas City area prior to the 7-Eleven robbery, according to court documents.
On direct appeal, the Supreme Court affirmed Meggerson’s several criminal convictions in Wyandotte County District Court, including the attempted capital murder of Deputy Wood.
In an opinion written by Justice Caleb Stegall, the court held the state presented sufficient evidence to convict Meggerson of attempted capital murder and Meggerson waived his other sufficiency claims because he failed to argue them. Also, the Supreme Court waived Meggerson’s claim a search warrant was defective because Meggerson failed to provide necessary documents.
In addition, the Supreme Court held the district court properly admitted Meggerson’s jail phone calls because the state laid sufficient foundation for the calls.
The Supreme Court also held the district court properly admitted prior crimes evidence about other robberies because the evidence went to identity, raising a reasonable inference Meggerson committed those robberies and the prior crimes evidence was not unduly prejudicial and admissible.
Further, the Supreme Court held the district court did not abuse its discretion when it admitted two timelines as evidence because the timelines focused on different evidence and were not cumulative. Finding no trial errors, the cumulative error doctrine did not apply, according to the Supreme Court.
In the Bowser case, the court found only one harmless error, and affirmed the conviction.
The court’s decision on Meggerson is online at https://www.kscourts.org/KSCourts/media/KsCourts/Opinions/117131.pdf?ext=.pdf.
The court’s decision on Bowser is online at https://www.kscourts.org/KSCourts/media/KsCourts/Opinions/120350.pdf?ext=.pdf.