State v. Bjergum, No. A08-912.
| Citation | 771 N.W.2d 53 |
| Decision Date | 25 August 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. A08-912. |
| Parties | STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Robert David BJERGUM, Appellant. |
| Court | Court of Appeals of Minnesota |
Lori Swanson, Attorney General, Kimberly R. Parker, Assistant Attorney General, St. Paul, MN; and Suzanne M. Bublitz, Houston County Attorney, Caledonia, MN, for respondent.
Marie L. Wolf, Interim Chief Appellate Public Defender, Roy G. Spurbeck, Assistant Public Defender, St. Paul, MN, for appellant.
Considered and decided by SCHELLHAS, Presiding Judge; ROSS, Judge; and LARKIN, Judge.
This appeal requires us to decide whether a defendant who threatened to bring guns to his former workplace and open fire was entitled to a jury instruction relating to voluntary intoxication when his criminal charge for making a terroristic threat was premised on his recklessness. Robert Bjergum was charged with two counts of terroristic threats; the first count was for making terroristic threats with the intent to terrorize and the second count was for making terroristic threats "in a reckless disregard of the risk of causing such terror." The district court gave a voluntary-intoxication instruction for the first count but refused to give the instruction for the second. Bjergum appeals, arguing that the voluntary-intoxication statute justified the instruction because "reckless disregard" is a state of mind contemplated by the statute. We conclude that the voluntary-intoxication statute regards only specific-intent crimes and that the crime of recklessly making terroristic threats is not a specific-intent crime. We therefore affirm.
Robert Bjergum arrived at work intoxicated on July 30, 2007, and he was sent home. His employer, Northern Engraving, terminated his employment for violating work rules. His former coworker, E.H., saw Bjergum approximately one month later drinking at a bar, and E.H. spoke with him. Bjergum was disappointed that he had not received unemployment benefits, and he told E.H., "[T]hings better start happening pretty soon or [I am] going to go down to the plant and [I] might go postal on the plant if [I] didn't get [my] unemployment." E.H. explained that "going postal" was an improper way to approach the problem, but Bjergum replied, "Well, that is my way," and, "I have the guns to do it." E.H. knew that Bjergum had numerous guns, but she did not report this conversation to Northern Engraving.
Two weeks later, E.H.'s husband, S.H., saw Bjergum drinking at the same bar and learned that Bjergum was still trying to obtain unemployment benefits. S.H. advised Bjergum to look for other work. Bjergum replied, "No, I am going to get it," and he elaborated by saying, "I have got 44 guns and I know which one I am going to take to the plant and if I [don't] get my unemployment, somebody isn't going to be going home." S.H. was concerned because his wife and sons worked at the plant. He had heard of a prior murder-suicide that occurred at a Northern Engraving establishment in Wisconsin, and he knew that Bjergum had numerous guns. S.H. told Bjergum that his statements sounded like terroristic threats. Bjergum then repeated his statements. S.H. told E.H. about the conversation, and E.H. told staff at Northern Engraving the next day. A Northern Engraving manager called the company's corporate office and the police. E.H. and S.H. gave written statements about Bjergum's comments.
The police secured the Northern Engraving branch where Bjergum had worked and obtained a search warrant for Bjergum's home. The search uncovered 29 guns and some ammunition. Bjergum told police that he had threatened no one but that "his mouth gets stupid." The state charged Bjergum with one count of terroristic threats under Minnesota Statutes section 609.713, subdivision 1 (2006). After Bjergum sought to present an intoxication defense, the state amended the complaint to include two counts of terroristic threats and one count of disorderly conduct under Minnesota Statutes section 609.72, subdivision 1(3) (2006).
At trial, the jury heard testimony from E.H., S.H., police officers, and Northern Engraving corporate employees. Bjergum did not testify. The district court issued a voluntary-intoxication instruction for the terroristic-threats count involving "intent to terrorize" but refused to issue the instruction for the second terroristic-threats count involving "reckless disregard of the risk of causing such terror." The jury acquitted Bjergum of intentionally making terroristic-threats, but it convicted him of recklessly making terroristic threats and of disorderly conduct. Bjergum appeals.
Did the district court abuse its discretion by refusing to issue a voluntary-intoxication jury instruction for a terroristic-threats charge premised on Bjergum's recklessness?
Bjergum challenges the district court's refusal to instruct the jury to consider his voluntary intoxication when evaluating whether he was guilty of recklessly making a terroristic threat. He contends the district court should have given the instruction because he maintains that "reckless disregard" constitutes a state of mind contemplated by Minnesota Statutes section 609.075 (2006).
A person commits a terroristic-threats crime when he "threatens, directly or indirectly, to commit any crime of violence with purpose to terrorize another ... or in a reckless disregard of the risk of causing such terror or inconvenience." Minn.Stat. § 609.713, subd. 1. A person's voluntary intoxication can be considered in determining his intent or state of mind if the offense includes "a particular intent or other state of mind [as] a necessary element to constitute a particular crime." Minn.Stat. § 609.075. Because the district court interpreted "reckless disregard" in the terroristic-threats statute as indicating a general rather than a specific-intent crime, it refused to give the instruction. Bjergum asks us to fault that interpretation. We do not.
We review issues of statutory construction de novo. State v. Koenig, 666 N.W.2d 366, 372 (Minn.2003). The goal of statutory interpretation is to give effect to legislative intent. Nestell v. State, 758 N.W.2d 610, 613 (Minn.App.2008); see Minn.Stat. § 645.16 (2008). Statutory construction requires the statute's words and phrases to be read according to their ordinary and plain meaning. Koenig, 666 N.W.2d at 372. If the legislative intent is unclear from the statute's text, we may look for the intent elsewhere, such as other analogous laws, various interpretations of the law, the purpose of the law, the harm to be avoided, and the ramifications of an interpretation. Nestell, 758 N.W.2d at 613; see Minn.Stat. § 645.16.
Our decision rests on our view that the statute is unambiguous, but some background is necessary. We first consider previous applications of Minnesota Statutes section 609.075. At common law, voluntary intoxication could not be a defense to a criminal charge. City of Minneapolis v. Altimus, 306 Minn. 462, 467, 238 N.W.2d 851, 855 (1976). In Altimus, the supreme court noted that "voluntary intoxication is a defense to a criminal charge ... if a specific intent or purpose is an essential element of the crime charged and the trier of fact concluded that the defendant's intoxication deprived him of the specific intent or purpose requisite to the alleged offense," and it cited section 609.075 in a footnote. Id. at 466, 466 n. 4, 238 N.W.2d at 854-55, 855 n. 4; see Minn.Stat. § 609.075 (). On this precedent, we conclude that section 609.075 applies only to crimes that contain specific intent as an element. See State v. Fortman, 474 N.W.2d 401, 403-04 (Minn.App.1991) (); see also State v. Kjeldahl, 278 N.W.2d 58, 62 n. 10 (Minn.1979) ().
We must therefore determine whether making terroristic threats with reckless disregard for the consequences requires specific intent. A crime is a specific-intent crime when it requires the state to prove that the defendant's act was motivated by a "specific intent or purpose." State v. Lindahl, 309 N.W.2d 763, 766 (Minn.1981); see also State v. Charlton, 338 N.W.2d 26, 30 (Minn.1983) (). Bjergum presents two theories contending that recklessly making terroristic threats contains a specific-intent element. Neither theory is convincing.
Bjergum first contends that the legislature's use of the word "threatens" in the terroristic-threats statute indicates a specific intent because unintentional threats do not exist. Although neither the terroristic-threats statute nor the applicable definitional statute defines "threat," caselaw defines a threat as a "declaration of an intention to injure another or his property by some unlawful act." State v. Schweppe, 306 Minn. 395, 399 237 N.W.2d 609, 613 (1975); see Minn.Stat. §§ 609.02 (2006 & Supp.2007) ...
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