State of Missouri v. Edward v. Lawrence

In the Missouri Court of Appeals
Eastern District
DIVISION ONE
STATE OF MISSOURI, ) No. ED102991
)
Respondent, ) Appeal from the Circuit Court
) of St. Louis County
vs. )
) Hon. Thea A. Sherry
EDWARD V. LAWRENCE, )
) Filed:
Appellant. ) November 24, 2015
Edward Lawrence was convicted of a double homicide in 1984 and sentenced to life
imprisonment without parole for capital murder and to a consecutive term of life imprisonment
for first-degree murder. Our court affirmed his conviction and sentence in State v. Lawrence,
700 S.W.2d 111 (Mo. App. E.D. 1985), denied him post-conviction relief in Lawrence v. State,
750 S.W.2d 505 (Mo. App. E.D. 1988), affirmed the denial of his first motion for a nunc pro
tunc order in State v. Lawrence, 33 S.W.3d 587 (Mo. App. E.D. 2000) and dismissed his
untimely appeal from the denial of his second motion for a nunc pro tunc order in State v.
Lawrence, 139 S.W.3d 573 (Mo. App. E.D. 2004). He now appeals from the denial of a motion
he filed to set aside the judgment under Rule 29.12(b) for manifest injustice relating to alleged
discovery violations at his 1984 trial.
Rule 29.12(b) does not provide an independent basis under which a person convicted of a
crime can subsequently challenge his conviction or sentence. See Vernor v. State, 30 S.W.3d
196, 197 (Mo. App. E.D. 2000) and progeny. Without an independent basis for Lawrence’s
motion, there is not an appealable judgment. See State v. McGee, 417 S.W.3d 260, 261 (Mo.
App. E.D. 2013). Therefore, we must dismiss the appeal. See id.
The appeal is dismissed.
ROBERT G. DOWD, JR., Presiding Judge
Mary K. Hoff, J. and
Roy L. Richter, J., concur.
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