Ferguson v. State
| Citation | 645 N.W.2d 437 |
| Decision Date | 13 June 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. C9-01-1498.,C9-01-1498. |
| Parties | Alonzo FERGUSON, Petitioner, Appellant, v. STATE of Minnesota, Respondent. |
| Court | Supreme Court of Minnesota (US) |
Joseph Margulies, Margulies & Richman, plc, Minneapolis, MN, Attorneys for Appellant.
Michael A. Hatch, Attorney General, St. Paul, MN, Amy Klobuchar, Hennepin County Attorney, Michael Richardson, Assistant County Attorney, Minneapolis, MN, Attorneys for Respondent.
Considered and decided by the court en banc, without oral argument.
In 1996, petitioner Alonzo Ferguson was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison. We affirmed his conviction on direct appeal. Ferguson later petitioned for postconviction relief, but the postconviction court denied the petition without an evidentiary hearing. Ferguson appealed the postconviction decision and then moved this court to stay that appeal because of the discovery of new information about the possible false testimony of a witness. We granted Ferguson's motion and Ferguson then filed an amended petition for postconviction relief. The postconviction court also denied the amended petition without an evidentiary hearing. Ferguson now appeals both denials of his petitions for postconviction relief. We affirm in part and reverse in part. The relevant facts giving rise to Ferguson's conviction are as follows.1 In the early morning hours of September 24, 1994, several gunshots were fired through the dining room window of a south Minneapolis home. One of those shots hit Allen Wheatley, Jr., who died later that day. Allen Jr. was from Chicago, but was visiting relatives in Minneapolis that morning together with his father, Allen Wheatley, Sr., and his cousin, Jabar Wheatley. Several members of the Wheatley family lived in Minneapolis, including: Allen Jr.'s uncle, Vincent Wheatley; Allen Jr.'s uncle and aunt, Kenneth and Angela Wheatley; and Allen Jr.'s cousin, Prentice Wheatley.
The relatives gathered at Kenneth and Angela's house and soon after they arrived, several of the men went for a walk. This group included the older brothers, Allen Sr., Kenneth, and Vincent, as well as the younger cousins, Allen Jr., Jabar, and Prentice. On their way back to Kenneth's house, the group encountered Alonzo Ferguson, a friend of Prentice. Ferguson met up with Allen Jr., Jabar, and Prentice, and the three older men returned to Kenneth's house where they went into the basement to continue visiting.
Meanwhile, on the street in front of Kenneth's house, Ferguson and the cousins had a conversation regarding the color of the shirt worn by Allen Jr. Allen Jr.'s shirt was blue and Ferguson pointed out that some people in the area, like the Rolling 30s Bloods, reacted badly to people wearing blue. Allen Jr. became angry with Ferguson, apparently because he did not appreciate being told what he could or could not wear. Prentice then left. At this point, Allen Jr., Jabar, and Ferguson were outside in front of Kenneth's house and Allen Jr. and Ferguson were arguing. Prentice came back and prevented a fist fight between Allen Jr. and Ferguson. Ferguson then left. Allen Jr., Jabar, and Prentice began to argue among themselves. Allen Jr. apparently was upset that Prentice had not intervened on his behalf during the conversation with Ferguson.
Hearing the cousins' argument, Kenneth, Angela, Vincent, and Allen Sr. came to the door of the house and brought the cousins inside, where the argument continued. A few minutes later, Prentice left. Shortly after that, Kenneth and Vincent also left, having decided to drive to a convenience store. They went out to Jabar's car and when they reached the car, Vincent saw a person whom he identified as Ferguson running beside the house. Vincent and Kenneth followed that person around the house, but by then the person had disappeared. Vincent and Kenneth then drove off to the convenience store.
Just after Kenneth and Vincent drove off, they heard several gunshots. Because the shots sounded like they did not come from the direction of Kenneth's house, the brothers continued on to the store. Meanwhile, back at Kenneth's house, Angela, Allen Sr., Allen Jr., and Jabar were sitting around in the living room and talking. At some point, Allen Jr. got up to answer a phone call in the dining room, hung up, and was walking back toward the living room when several shots were fired through the dining room window. One of the shots hit Allen Jr. in the upper abdomen. No one saw the person or persons who fired the shots because the vertical blinds were closed, and everyone immediately fell to the floor when they heard the gunfire. Ferguson was arrested two days after the shooting, but he denied any knowledge of the shooting and was released. Almost two years later, Johnny Edwards, a former Bloods gang member and also a distant relation of Ferguson, contacted the police. Edwards informed the police that, on the morning of the murder, Ferguson told Edwards that he was going to shoot Allen Jr. Edwards also told the police that Ferguson later confessed to Edwards that he had shot Allen Jr. With this additional information, Ferguson was re-arrested and charged with Allen Jr.'s murder. Ferguson was subsequently indicted for first-degree premeditated murder in violation of Minn.Stat. § 609.05 (2000), Minn.Stat. § 609.11 (2000), and Minn. Stat § 609.185, subd. 1 (1996). After a jury trial, Ferguson was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Ferguson raised several issues on his direct appeal to this court, but his conviction was affirmed. Ferguson, 581 N.W.2d at 837. Ferguson then raised several issues in his petitions for postconviction relief, which the postconviction court denied without an evidentiary hearing. Because the issues Ferguson raises in his petitions for postconviction relief involve facts related to Edwards, it is important to review additional facts that are specifically related to Edwards.
The majority of the issues Ferguson raised in his petitions involve Edwards' background, Edwards' trial testimony, and subsequent factual developments. These developments begin approximately one year after Allen Jr.'s murder when police arrested Edwards for aggravated robbery. While in custody, Edwards contacted the police and told them he had information regarding several crimes, including Allen Jr.'s murder. Edwards then made a deal with prosecutors regarding his aggravated robbery charge in exchange for this information. He subsequently was released from custody.
In the months before he was to testify in Ferguson's trial, the state gave Edwards various forms of financial assistance, including $1,600 for set-up costs; $40 for expenses when his wife kicked him out of the house; $2,000 for hotel bills; $4,700 for food and other room charges; and miscellaneous cab fare. The state also assisted Edwards in recovering $1,400 that was seized during a prior arrest. The state disclosed to Ferguson the total amount of this financial assistance and this total was known at the time of Ferguson's trial. Ferguson's counsel eventually obtained a detailed breakdown of the financial assistance, but it is unclear from the record at what point after the trial Ferguson's counsel received this detailed breakdown.
Just before Ferguson's trial was to begin in late 1996, Edwards was once again arrested, this time with several others, on probable cause for possession of a firearm. At the time of this arrest, Edwards allegedly told the police that they would be sorry for arresting him because he was helping them clean up the neighborhood. Because of the potential conflict of interest in the Hennepin County Attorney's office, Edwards' case was transferred to Ramsey County. Ultimately, Ramsey County declined to charge Edwards in connection with this arrest. Ferguson claims that Edwards was not charged because of the state's ongoing efforts to protect Edwards' credibility as a witness at Ferguson's trial. After testifying at Ferguson's trial, Edwards was convicted of felony first-degree assault and was incarcerated out of state.
Edwards' father, John Turnipseed, visited Edwards in prison on April 29, 2000 and allegedly had a conversation with Edwards in which Edwards admitted that his testimony in Ferguson's trial was a lie. Turnipseed then contacted Ferguson's postconviction counsel with this information. However, Ferguson had already petitioned for postconviction relief and was appealing the denial of his petition. Because of this new information, Ferguson asked this court to stay his postconviction appeal so that he could conduct further investigation into Turnipseed's claims. We granted the stay.
After further investigation, Ferguson's postconviction counsel was unable to obtain an affidavit from Edwards, who refused to discuss the matter on advice of counsel. Eventually, Ferguson submitted an amended petition for postconviction relief, together with a notarized statement from Turnipseed confirming Edwards' alleged recantation. In his affidavit, Turnipseed states that he spoke face to face with Edwards on April 29, 2000, during his monthly visit to Edwards in Kansas where Edwards is currently incarcerated. He states that Edwards told him that Edwards "had lied when he testified that Alonzo had confessed to him." The amended petition was denied without an evidentiary hearing.
Ferguson now appeals from the denial of both petitions for postconviction relief. He claims that Edwards has recanted his trial testimony and offers as proof Turnipseed's notarized statement. The record contains no evidence that Edwards was subpoenaed to testify on this issue or that he has exercised his Fifth Amendment rights. He claims that Edwards' alleged recantation entitles him to either a new trial or at a minimum an evidentiary hearing.
We review a postconviction proceeding to determine only whether sufficient evidence exists to support the postconviction court...
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