State Of Minn. v. Thompson

• Decision Date: 16 September 2010
• Docket Number: No. A09-1077.,A09-1077.
• Citation: 788 N.W.2d 485
• Parties: STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Stafon Edward THOMPSON, Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

788 N.W.2d 485

STATE of Minnesota, Respondent,

v.Stafon Edward THOMPSON, Appellant.

No. A09-1077.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

Sept. 16, 2010.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED.

Syllabus by the Court

1. The district court did not err in admitting a recorded statement made by the defendant because a person in the defendant's circumstance would not have reasonably believed he was in custody to the degree associated with a formal arrest.

2. The district court did not err in admitting a recorded statement made by a juvenile offender after the juvenile was permitted to call his mother, a Miranda warning was given, and the juvenile chose to speak with the investigators.

3. The district court did not abuse its discretion in finding that computer-generated images of a crime scene were helpful and there was no unfair prejudice to the defendant.

Lori Swanson, Attorney General, St. Paul, MN; and Michael O. Freeman, Hennepin County Attorney, Michael Richardson, Assistant County Attorney, Minneapolis, MN, for respondent.

David W. Merchant, Chief Appellate Public Defender, Bridget Kearns Sabo, Assistant State Public Defender, St. Paul, MN, for appellant.

OPINION

MEYER, Justice.

Stafon Edward Thompson was charged with two counts of first-degree premeditated murder and two counts of first-degree murder while committing aggravated robbery for the deaths of Katricia Daniels and her 10-year-old son, Robert Shepard. Thompson was found guilty by a jury of all four counts and sentenced to two consecutive life terms without the possibility of release. Thompson directly appealed his convictions, claiming the district court erred in admitting certain statements he made to the police and in admitting computer-generated images of the crime scene. He also claims his trial counsel was ineffective, and that consecutive life sentences for a 17-year-old constitute cruel and unusual punishment. We affirm the convictions.

J.W. lived in an apartment in south Minneapolis, Minnesota, with his fiancée Katricia Daniels and her three young children. At approximately 7:10 a.m. on June 12, 2008, J.W. returned home from working the night shift at his job. He discovered Daniels' body lying in a pool of blood in the bathroom and the body of Shepard in the entrance to the north bedroom of the apartment.

Evidence at the crime scene was extensive and took nearly a week to process. Police observed significant blood and footprints throughout the house, including in the kitchen, bathroom, and southeast bedroom. The door to the bathroom in which Daniels' body was found had been forced open, and the toilet was knocked from its base, likely caused by Daniels bracing herself against it as she tried to keep the bathroom door closed. The walls and ceiling of the bathroom were covered with scrapes and gouges. The bedroom where Shepard was found was strewn with papers, a cabinet was broken into pieces, and a television set was on the floor next to Shepard's body.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner performed autopsies on both bodies. Shepard suffered both sharp force and blunt force injuries to his head and neck. There was evidence of asphyxia. The cause of death was complex homicidal violence. Based on the lack of defensive wounds, the State argued at trial that Shepard was held by one person and killed by another.

Daniels suffered many sharp force injuries to her head, neck, torso, arms, and hands. She suffered approximately 193 stab wounds. She had injuries to her hand and arm areas that were consistent with defensive wounds. The likely cause of death was blood loss that resulted from the stab wounds.

Daniels' neighbor discovered a right-handed bloody black work glove and a pair of rubber gloves in the garbage can behind her house. A bloody knife was also found in a garbage can of a neighboring home. Daniels' cell phone was found inside a garbage can two blocks from the crime scene.

According to phone records, the last call made from Daniels' cell phone was to the cell phone of Tiffany Simmons. The police interviewed Simmons on June 13, 2008, and learned that she was Thompson's girlfriend. She told police that on the night of the murders she was with Thompson and Brian Flowers. Flowers needed a place to stay and Thompson suggested he stay at Daniels' apartment. Thompson was 17 years old at the time. Simmons dropped Thompson and Flowers off at Daniels' apartment at approximately 10 p.m. Thompson and Flowers were both wearing hooded sweatshirts and dark clothing.

Thompson was well acquainted with the victims. He frequently visited J.W. and Daniels in their apartment and spent time with the children. According to J.W., Thompson treated Shepard as a younger brother. Thompson called Daniels “mom” and was protective of her. Daniels treated Thompson like she treated her own children; Thompson considered Daniels' apartment to be a second home.

After dropping Thompson and Flowers off, Simmons received a call from Thompson from Daniels' cell phone, informing Simmons that he would not be able to call her again until the morning. Simmons was surprised when at 3 a.m. she received two phone calls from Thompson from his uncle's cell phone asking Simmons to pick Thompson and Flowers up. His uncle lived just two blocks from Daniels' apartment.

Simmons picked up Thompson and Flowers in the alley behind the uncle's house. Flowers rode in the back seat and remained quiet. They drove to Simmons' apartment where Simmons observed that Thompson had blood on his boxer shorts and cuts on his hands. Thompson showered, leaving his bloody clothes on Simmons' floor. Simmons later placed the bloody clothes in a bag and Thompson disposed of the bag in a trash can in the alley behind Simmons' apartment.

Thompson and Flowers told Simmons that they were on the porch of Daniels' apartment when several men walked past and started an argument. Daniels came outside and broke it up, but later there was a loud banging at the back door, and the same group of men rushed in the front door with knives. Thompson and Flowers escaped out of the apartment and ran to the home of Thompson's uncle and then called Simmons.

Simmons cooperated with the police in having Thompson and Flowers contact the police investigators. On June 13, 2008, in response to a call from Thompson, the investigators met with Flowers, Simmons, and Thompson at the home of Flowers' mother. After arriving at the home, the investigators asked the three to be interviewed at the Homicide Division at City Hall. Simmons then drove all three to City Hall where they were separately interviewed. Based on evidence obtained through the statements, Thompson and Flowers were placed under arrest.

At trial, the State presented considerable forensic evidence. The knife found in the garbage can of a neighboring home and a knife blade, knife handle, and golf club found in the hallway were all covered with Daniels' blood. In the bathroom, three latent prints in blood were found-two left palm prints and one left middle fingerprint-all of which were attributable to Thompson. DNA found under Daniels' fingernails matched Thompson's DNA. DNA evidence established that Thompson's clothes (found bagged in a garbage can in the alley behind Simmons' apartment) were covered with Daniels' blood. Thompson's socks, which were found in a tree near an Interstate 35W ramp a block from Daniels' apartment, contained Daniels' blood. Thompson's shoes taken from his mother's house had Daniels' blood on the inside. A knife found hidden in a box in a garbage can near Daniels' apartment had the blood of both victims on the blade, and Thompson's DNA could not be excluded from DNA found on the handle of the knife.

The right-handed black work glove found in a neighbor's garbage can was saturated with Daniels' blood. The glove had a defect or a cut in the area between the thumb and index finger. Photos of cuts on Thompson's hands showed various small cuts on both hands and a significant cut to the webbing between the thumb and the index finger of Thompson's right hand.

The State also presented evidence of bloody footprints and shoeprints found in various locations in the house. Multiple shoeprints from the house matched the tread on Nike tennis shoes that belonged to Flowers. None of the prints matched Thompson's red-and-black shoes. There were multiple footprints made by a person wearing socks.

Thompson's attorney admitted at trial that Thompson was present during the murders, but claimed that Flowers committed the murders and acted alone. Thompson said in statements to the police that he was shocked by Flowers' behavior and that he was threatened by Flowers to remain quiet. He explained Daniels' blood on his clothes by asserting that he tried to comfort her as she was dying.

The jury found Thompson guilty on all counts, and the district court sentenced him to two consecutive life terms without the possibility of release. Thompson appealed to this court, claiming that (1) the district court erred in admitting his statements made to police; (2) the district court erred in admitting the State's computer-generated images of shoeprints and footprints found at the crime scene; (3) his trial counsel was ineffective; and (4) consecutive life sentences without the possibility of release for a 17-year-old constitute cruel and unusual punishment.

I.

Thompson first challenges the district court's admission of his four recorded statements. We accept a district court's findings of fact regarding the giving of a statement unless those findings are clearly erroneous. State v. Wiernasz, 584 N.W.2d 1, 3 (Minn.1998); State v. Williams, 535 N.W.2d 277, 286 (Minn.1995). However, we will make an independent determination of whether a suspect was in custody, State v. Staats, 658 N.W.2d 207, 211 (Minn.2003), whether the State has shown by a fair preponderance of the evidence that a defendant knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waived his rights, State v....