Date: 09-19-2024

Case Style:

State of Missouri v. Dustin Curtis Winter

Case Number: SD279914

Judge: David C. Jones

Court: Circuit Court, Green County, Missouri

Plaintiff's Attorney: Green County Missouri District Attorney's Office

Defendant's Attorney:

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Description:

Springfield, Missouri first-degree murder criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant.

Dustin Curtis Winter was convicted of first-degee murder and kidnapping.

In October of 2018, Victim moved back to Missouri from California; Victim was living with his mother in Springfield in the summer of 2019. Victim had one sister, who he was in continuous contact with, and the two saw each other multiple times a week once Victim moved back to Missouri. During the second week of July in 2019, Winter was having a discussion with his friends K.P. and W.A.S. Winter informed his two friends that a "guy" he knew had returned from California, and Winter had a problem with him because the man had allegedly raped his girlfriend. Winter told K.P. and W.A.S. that he was looking for their help to "fuck [Victim] up." Winter planned to "play nice" with Victim in order to "get him to agree to come help him or hang out with him or do something." During a later conversation, Winter, K.P., and W.A.S.
agreed that they would confront Victim at the home of T.S., a friend of Winter's, on Central Street. Around that time, Winter rented a U-Haul van, which he was seen with from mid-July until mid-August of the same year.

On July 23, 2019, Winter texted his girlfriend, S.S., that he was "going after [Victim] and going to make sure he suffers slowly with pain and agony." During the same text exchange, Winter again told S.S. that he was "going after [Victim]."

On July 26, 2019, Winter messaged Victim on Facebook, saying "Hey, if you ain't doin' shit, could I get your help possibly?" Victim responded, "[w]hat do you need?" around two hours later. Winter told Victim that he "[h]onestly just [needed an] extra set of hands for a couple items and company so [he] ain't so bored." Victim agreed to join Winter and Winter told Victim that he could pick him up whenever he was available.

One minute later, Winter messaged K.P., "So what are you and [W.A.S.] doing at the moment?" When K.P. did not respond, Winter texted K.P. again at 7:28 p.m., "PVC pipe and zip ties, items not to forget lol." Winter spoke to Victim on the phone, then texted K.P. at 7:59 p.m. that he had "[j]ust got off the phone with dude and being told where to pick him up. How's it look on that end?" At 8:27 p.m., Victim texted Winter, "I'm running to Hy-Vee. Guess I'll try you in a bit." Winter texted K.P. at 8:46 p.m., stating that he was "heading to dude who is 5-10 min down the road from where I'm at." At 8:56 p.m., K.P. responded that she and W.A.S. were going "where we talked about[,]" the house on Central Street.

At 9:06 p.m., Winter responded to Victim's text from 8:27 p.m., stating, "I'm coming down Fort. Sorry. Dude called me needing his money but I'm almost there." At 9:07 p.m., Winter texted K.P., "K. I'm in route to get dude." At 9:08 p.m., K.P. messaged Winter to inform him that she and W.A.S. had arrived at the house on Central Street.

At 9:13 p.m., Winter received a text message from Victim's phone number that stated, "[Victim] ran to Hy-Vee. Should be back in ten to fifteen or less." Winter texted S.S. at 9:21 p.m., "I love you and I miss you so much. I haven't been ignoring you. I've been overloading myself fulfilling my word to you." Winter asked S.S. if she could call, saying that it was "[e]xtremely" important. Before the call, Winter texted S.S., "You don't have to say anything. I just can't text the info I need you to hear." Winter and S.S. then talked on the phone for one minute and 28 seconds, followed by a second phone call at 9:32 p.m. for approximately five minutes. These phone calls were placed from Victim's apartment complex.

At 9:41 p.m., Winter texted Victim, "[s]o I'm just chilling in the parking lot," to which Victim responded, "[a]lmost done." Victim told Winter he had time to go get food, after which Winter went to a nearby McDonald's and returned to the apartment complex by 9:58 p.m. Winter texted Victim, "I'm back outside eating. I shouldn't be hard to miss." Victim then asked if Winter could call him, and they talked on the phone for one minute and five seconds.

At 10:41 p.m., GPS data placed Winter at the house on Central Street, where T.S., W.A.S., and K.P. were already present. At 10:50 p.m., W.A.S. texted Winter, "Bro, wtf." Winter replied with a question mark. At 10:52 p.m., W.A.S. responded, "Nothing id [sic] going as planned....We should have done more planning." Winter responded that he needed someone to open the gate to the property, after which W.A.S. responded, "I can just come open it, let yall [sic] through, and just do the damn thing if you want." At 11:00 p.m., W.A.S. texted Winter, "Look, bro, this fucking shit is stupid. Let's just fucking tell him what we are gonna do it [sic] and then do it, you know."

At 11:30 p.m., Winter texted S.S. that he was on the highway. At 11:44 p.m., Winter texted S.S. again, asking her to call him because "[s]omething ain't right." At 12:36 a.m., in the
early morning hour of July 27, 2019, S.S. responded, "Stop what you're doing." Winter replied at 12:38 a.m., "What do you mean? I'm out here driving circles waiting for you. Dude's already fucked up.... Call me please. I don't know what I am doing now." At 1:01 a.m., he texted S.S., "Am I picking you up still? You coming back? Or you sticking me with this?" At this time, GPS placed Winter in the Mark Twain National Forest.

At 1:39 a.m., Winter texted S.S. again, "Great. Guess I'm fucked and played on all this." During this time, Winter continued driving through the Mark Twain National Forest, stopping at several locations for a period of time. These areas were "highly wooded, very rural, with nobody around."

Google records from 6:40 p.m. to 7:01 p.m., on July 27, 2019, show Winter googled "sulfuric acid," "sulfuric acid or muriatic acid," and "sulfuric acid on animals." He also visited a website titled "Can acid dissolve a body?" Winter also googled "55 gallon drum."

In the last week of July, 2019, Winter arrived in his U-Haul van at what was then D.C. and his ex-wife's ("T.C.") house on North National Street. D.C. saw that the doors of the U-Haul were open, and noticed that there was "a bunch" of blood in the back of the U-Haul, "[l]ike a horror movie." Winter, with a handgun on his person, informed D.C. that if he didn't help clean the van Winter would kill him. Winter and T.C. told D.C. that Winter had hit a deer in the van, and if D.C. did not help clean, he would "end up like the deer." While cleaning the van, D.C. noticed bloody rope, trash bags, and two bloody tire rims[2] in the back of the van. D.C. watched Winter take the bloody rope and trash bags from the van and burn them in D.C.'s burn barrel. D.C. also saw Winter take the rims and tires inside the house.

On August 13, 2019, D.C. contacted a Springfield police officer, informing him that he had information regarding a homicide that involved a suspect and a U-Haul van. D.C. told the officer the U-Haul contained "an amount of blood [in the back] that was more than normal." The officer located the U-Haul van on August 14, 2019, at D.C.'s home, but was undercover and unable to make a traffic stop. The officer obtained a different vehicle to perform the stop of the U-Haul, and found the U-Haul later that same day at a Save a Lot grocery store parking lot roughly four blocks from D.C.'s home. When Winter pulled the van away from the parking lot, the officer started his lights in an attempt to pursue a traffic stop. The officer got out of his vehicle, but when a vehicle in front of the U-Haul van moved, the U-Haul van "jumped the curb and headed south on National." The officer initiated a pursuit at that time.

Winter drove at excessive speeds, ran stop signs, violated traffic ordinances, and drove in a hazardous manner to flee from the officer. The officer pursued Winter until they reached the Webster County line, after which the Missouri State Highway Patrol took over the pursuit. Winter then crashed down a 30-feet embankment from the intersection of two highways into an RV lot, after which the van was on its side and was smoking.

The U-Haul was processed by a Springfield police corporal on August 15, 2019. During the processing, several areas of red stains that appeared to be blood were found. The corporal took 32 swabs from the interior of the van, and sprayed the interior with Bluestar.[3] There were traces of washed blood found in the cargo section of the van. The DNA profile found on one of the swabs matched Victim's DNA profile.

Winter was arrested on August 14, 2019, after which T.C. asked D.C. to dispose of a motorcycle helmet bag. In late August of 2019, D.C. turned the bag over to a detective. Three debit cards, two EBT cards, and a State of Missouri temporary identification card, all of which were in the name of Victim, were found inside the bag.
State v. Winter, SD37914 (Mo. App. Sep 19, 2024)

Outcome:
The evidence introduced at trial, viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, is sufficient to support the conviction of murder in the first degree. However, this Court determines the State's evidence is insufficient to support a conviction of kidnapping in the first degree. Additionally, we determine the clerical error in the written judgment must be corrected. Points I and II are denied. Points III and IV are granted. We affirm the trial court's judgment as to Count I, murder in the first degree, but reverse the trial court's judgment on Count II, kidnapping. The case is remanded with directions that the trial court vacate the conviction and sentence for kidnapping in the first degree, and to enter a judgment nunc pro tunc to correctly reflect the oral pronouncement of a life sentence on Count I.

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