State v. Williams

• Citation: 608 N.W.2d 837
• Decision Date: 02 March 2000
• Docket Number: No. CX-98-820.,CX-98-820.
• Parties: STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Hakim Jamal WILLIAMS, a/k/a Merrall Lee Norton, Appellant.
• Court: Supreme Court of Minnesota (US)

608 N.W.2d 837

STATE of Minnesota, Respondent,
v.
Hakim Jamal WILLIAMS, a/k/a Merrall Lee Norton, Appellant

No. CX-98-820.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

March 2, 2000.

608 N.W.2d 838

John Garrett Westrick, St. Paul, for appellant

Stephen L. Redding, Minneapolis, for respondent.

Robert D. Miller & Associates, Robert D. Miller, Minneapolis, amicus curiae for appellant.

Michael Hatch, Office of the Attorney General, St. Paul, amicus curiae for respondent.

Heard, considered and decided by the court en banc.

OPINION

STRINGER, Justice.

On February 10, 1998 Hakim Jamal Williams, appellant, was convicted by a jury in Hennepin County of attempted first-degree murder, first-degree criminal sexual conduct, and first-degree burglary, among other offenses, in connection with an incident on August 8, 1996 in which appellant broke into C.R.'s apartment and sexually assaulted and attempted to kill her. See Minn.Stat. §§ 609.185(1) (1998); 609.17 (1998); 609.342, subd. 1(d), (e)(i) (1998); 609.582, subd. 1(b), (c) (1996). Relying on 15 aggravating factors the trial court departed upwardly from the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines on each sentence but did not identify the particular aggravating factors applicable to each sentence. The court also concluded the sexual assault and attempted murder did not constitute a single behavioral incident and sentenced appellant separately for each offense. The court of appeals affirmed. We granted review on the sentencing issue only. We reverse and remand for resentencing.

C.R., the victim, lived alone in her apartment in Minneapolis, Minnesota when, in the early morning of August 8, 1996, appellant broke in and assaulted her. She testified that when she went to bed at about 10:30 p.m. the previous evening, she left the door onto her second-floor balcony open but probably locked the screen. She was awakened by appellant placing his hand on her shoulder and asking her for money. She said she had none because she was a student. Appellant pulled her onto the floor and when she screamed, he placed a sleeping bag over her head. He pinned her to the floor and as he removed her clothing, he showed her a knife from her kitchen and said to her "don't make me use this." He penetrated her anally. He then attempted to drag her into the bathroom but she resisted. She testified that in the hallway the situation escalated into a "full intense state of struggling for [her] life." Appellant asked the victim repeatedly to defecate on the floor in the hallway near the living room — eventually she was able to comply and he "wiped her bottom" with her shirt.

At this point the victim attempted to escape as she screamed and ran for the door, but appellant prevented her from reaching it. She knew she was choking and believed she was dying but did not remember receiving the stab wounds she suffered in the incident. Eventually she lost consciousness and her next memory was seeing a police officer.

A neighbor of the victim testified that she was awakened at 2:40 a.m. by the voice of a woman in a nearby apartment repeatedly saying "no" and a man with a "sickening laugh." She called 911 and Officers Ted Fisher and Rick Lindner arrived at approximately 2:50 a.m. They heard nothing when they arrived at the victim's door, but after knocking, they heard a "metal railing being * * * struck heavily," and then scratching and a "gurgling" sound. At this point the officers

608 N.W.2d 839

concluded that "someone was dying." They were unable to kick the door in, so Officer Lindner remained at the door while Officer Fisher ran outside and climbed onto the victim's balcony. Officer Fisher noticed the victim's screen door had an L-shaped cut and someone had placed a pair of scissors on top of an air conditioner to the left of the door. The victim had left the scissors on the balcony earlier that day

The apartment was dark when Officers Lindner and Fisher entered but with a flashlight they saw the victim lying naked on the floor near the front door. She had a scarf tied tightly around her neck, her head was purple and the remainder of her body was white. With some difficulty Officer Lindner cut the scarf from her neck, the victim gasped for breath a couple of times and then told the officers "he tried to kill me." She suffered hemorrhages in and around her eyes caused by choking and had multiple lacerations and open rug burns.

On the night of the assault appellant was staying with his friend Audrene Houston who lived on the third floor of the victim's apartment building. At 2:50 on the morning of the assault Houston was awakened by flashing lights outside the building and a tapping at her bedroom door. Appellant was at her door. She let him in and they looked out her window and saw flashing lights and yellow police tape. At about 7:00 or 7:30 a.m. Houston drove appellant to his mother's home.¹

Later in the morning of August 8 a neighbor found a set of keys outside the victim's apartment building. The victim identified them as hers and testified that she had left them in her kitchen the evening before. The keys provided access to the exterior door to the building and the interior door leading to the third floor where Houston's apartment was located.

A carpet sample removed from the victim's apartment contained semen that matched appellant's DNA profile in the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension database. Based on this evidence a warrant issued on February 19, 1997 and appellant was arrested the next day. DNA testing of appellant's blood sample confirmed that his DNA type matched both the semen found in the carpet sample and a rectal swab taken from the victim.

The state charged appellant with attempted first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, two counts of first-degree burglary, first-degree aggravated robbery, and two counts of kidnapping. See Minn.Stat. §§ 609.185(1); 609.17; 609.342, subd. 1(d), (e)(i); 609.582, subd. 1(b), (c); 609.245, subd. 1 (1996); 609.25, subd. 1(2), (3) (1998).² On February 10, 1998 a jury in Hennepin County found appellant guilty on all counts.

In sentencing, the trial court concluded that the conduct underlying appellant's sexual assault and attempted murder convictions did not constitute a single behavioral incident and therefore he could be sentenced separately for each offense. The court also concluded that appellant was a patterned sex offender pursuant to Minn.Stat. § 609.108 (1998).³ A sentence of 480 months was imposed on the criminal sexual conduct conviction, the statutory maximum pursuant to section 609.108,⁴ and of 240 months on the attempted first-degree

608 N.W.2d 840

murder conviction, also the statutory maximum.⁵ The court also sentenced appellant to 96 months for one count of first-degree burglary, twice the presumptive sentence,⁶ and ordered that the three sentences be served consecutively. The trial court identified 15 aggravating circumstances supporting its departures from the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines but did not identify which factors it relied on to depart on each sentence

Appellant argued to the court of appeals that the trial court abused its discretion in sentencing and that the jury selection violated his right to equal protection. See State v. Williams, 1999 WL 10256, at *1 (Minn.App. Jan.12, 1999). The court of appeals affirmed, concluding that the sexual assault and...