Gulbertson v. State

• Decision Date: 05 March 2014
• Docket Number: No. A13–0901.,A13–0901.
• Parties: Chad Jamie GULBERTSON, petitioner, Appellant, v. STATE of Minnesota, Respondent.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

843 N.W.2d 240

Chad Jamie GULBERTSON, petitioner, Appellant,

v.STATE of Minnesota, Respondent.

No. A13–0901.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

March 5, 2014.

Syllabus by the Court

1. The State presented sufficient evidence to support the jury's finding that appellant engaged in a past pattern of domestic abuse.

2. The district court did not err in its jury instructions on a past pattern of domestic abuse.

3. The district court did not commit plain error by admitting evidence connected to orders for protection obtained by the victim because the admission of this evidence did not affect appellant's substantial rights.

Cathryn Middlebrook, Chief Appellate Public Defender, Stephanie A. Karri, Special Assistant State Public Defender, Saint Paul, Minnesota, for appellant.

Lori Swanson, Attorney General, Matthew Frank, Assistant Attorney General, Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Craig S. Nelson, Freeborn County Attorney, Albert Lea, Minnesota, for respondent.

OPINION

ANDERSON, Justice.

Chad Jamie Gulbertson appeals the denial of his petition for postconviction relief, an action he brought following his convictions for murder in connection with the 2009 death of his former girlfriend, Jody Morrow. In his petition for postconviction relief, Gulbertson challenged his conviction for first-degree murder while committing domestic abuse and with a past pattern of abuse, asserting that there was insufficient evidence to support the jury's finding that he had engaged in a past pattern of domestic abuse, that the district court erred in its jury instructions on a past pattern of domestic abuse, and that the district court committed plain error by admitting evidence related to orders for protection (OFPs) sought by Morrow against Gulbertson. After an evidentiary hearing, the postconviction court issued an order denying relief. Gulbertson appealed, and we now affirm.

I.

Prior to Morrow's death on June 21, 2009, Gulbertson and Morrow were involved in a romantic relationship for several years and lived together in Morrow's trailer until Gulbertson moved out in May 2009. Morrow and Gulbertson had a volatile relationship, and several witnesses testified that they frequently fought. H.B. reported seeing Gulbertson shove Morrow, hearing him tell Morrow that he was going to get her, and hearing Gulbertson threaten to beat Morrow on multiple occasions while H.B. was talking to Morrow on the phone. H.B. also reported that she heard Gulbertson threaten to “cut [Morrow's] head off with a sword and then take care of any witnesses.” L.S. testified that she heard Gulbertson tell Morrow that he would kill her if she dated anyone else, and that she had seen bruises on Morrow's wrist and neck. J.L. heard Gulbertson threaten to kill Morrow and heard Morrow shout, “[t]hat's the last time you're going to kick me” at Gulbertson during a fight.

Both parties had called the police during arguments and made allegations of domestic abuse against one another. Morrow's social worker stated, “one would hit the other or the other one would hit, you know, it was just an ongoing kind of thing.” R.M. testified that “[Morrow] straight up hit [Gulbertson], you know, they kinda hit each other, push each other around, but, I mean, it was an equal match.” Morrow twice sought an OFP against Gulbertson. The first time she applied for an OFP was in September 2008, but, after an initial exparte order, the matter was dismissed when Morrow failed to appear for the hearing. Morrow applied for a second OFP in May 2009, and on June 1, 2009, both Morrow and Gulbertson attended an evidentiary hearing in connection with the second OFP. Morrow testified and explained the contents of her application, and Gulbertson, who was not represented by counsel, declined to cross-examine her. Gulbertson also testified. The district court considered the evidence and issued an OFP in favor of Morrow, finding that “[a]cts of domestic abuse have occurred.”

On June 20, 2009, Gulbertson told an acquaintance that he intended to go to Morrow's home to retrieve some of his belongings. The next morning Gulbertson called his parents and asked them to pick him up. While Gulbertson was at his parents' house, Gulbertson's father noticed Gulbertson crying on the couch. Gulbertson told his father that he thought he had killed Morrow, at which point Gulbertson's father brought him to the Albert Lea Law Enforcement Center. The arresting officer at the Law Enforcement Center interviewed Gulbertson, during which Gulbertsonstated that he had killed his best friend. Officers went to Morrow's home and, after forcing entry into her trailer, found Morrow's body lying on the floor next to her wheelchair. Morrow had sustained several blunt force injuries to her head from a hammer and stab wounds to her neck.

Gulbertson was convicted of murder in the first degree while committing domestic abuse and with a past pattern of domestic abuse.¹ Gulbertson filed a petition for postconviction relief in the Freeborn County District Court on March 28, 2012, and an amended petition on August 13, 2012. Gulbertson's petitions argued that there was insufficient evidence to establish a past pattern of domestic abuse beyond a reasonable doubt, that the court erred when it failed to define domestic abuse as it relates to the third element of a domestic abuse murder in the jury instructions, that the court erred when it failed to instruct the jury that it must find beyond a reasonable doubt that Gulbertson had committed a “minimum amount of acts” that constituted domestic abuse, and that the court erred in admitting evidence in connection with the OFPs sought by Morrow. The postconviction court held a hearing on Gulbertson's petition for postconviction relief on January 23, 2013, and subsequently denied the petition, concluding that the State had proven a past pattern of domestic abuse beyond a reasonable doubt, that the jury instructions were not erroneous, and that the admitted evidence from the OFP proceedings did not violate Gulbertson's Confrontation Clause rights.² Gulbertson now appeals.

II.

We review a denial of a petition for postconviction relief for an abuse of discretion. Davis v. State, 784 N.W.2d 387, 390 (Minn.2010). There is an abuse of discretion when the postconviction court's “decision is based on an erroneous view of the law or is against logic and the facts in the record.” Riley v. State, 819 N.W.2d 162, 167 (Minn.2012) (citation omitted) (internal quotation marks omitted). We review a postconviction court's factual determinations under a clearly erroneous standard, but review the postconviction court's legal conclusions de novo. Id.

Gulbertson first argues that there is insufficient evidence to support the jury's finding that he had engaged in a past pattern of domestic abuse against Morrow.³ When reviewing a claim of insufficientevidence, our inquiry is limited to whether the fact-finder could have reasonably concluded that the defendant was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Welch, 675 N.W.2d 615, 619 (Minn.2004). We view “the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and assume[ ] that the fact finder believed the state's witnesses and disbelieved any contrary evidence.” Id.

Minnesota Statutes § 609.185(a)(6) (2012) provides that anyone who “causes the death of a human being while committing domestic abuse, when the perpetrator has engaged in a past pattern of domestic abuse upon the victim or upon another family or household member and the death occurs under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to human life,” is guilty of murder in the first degree. Domestic abuse occurs when someone commits assault in the first degree, assault in the second degree, assault in the third degree, assault in the fifth degree,⁴ domestic assault, criminal sexual conduct in the first degree, criminal sexual conduct in the second degree, criminal sexual conduct in the third degree, or criminal sexual conduct in the fourth degree, or makes terroristic threats,⁵ if the victim is a family or household member.⁶Minn.Stat. § 609.185(c) (2012).

A conviction under Minn.Stat. § 609.185(a)(6) requires not only that the defendant caused the death of the victim while committing domestic abuse, but also that domestic abuse had occurred previously to the extent that it was a “past pattern.” A past pattern of domestic abuse “suggests a regular way of acting by committing acts of domestic abuse.” State v. Robinson, 539 N.W.2d 231, 237 (Minn.1995). Section 609.185(a)(6) does not specify the minimum number of incidents required to find a pattern, but a lone act of domestic abuse cannot constitute a pattern. State v. Sanchez–Diaz, 683 N.W.2d 824, 832 (Minn.2004).

Gulbertson argues that the State has proven only one act of domestic violence through the 2009 OFP testimony, and that this is insufficient to show a past pattern of abuse. But this is not an accurate characterization of the State's evidence, as the State submitted direct evidence of multiple acts of domestic abuse occurring over the course of several years. The State's evidence includes at least three witnesses (H.B., L.S., and J.L.) who heard Gulbertson threaten Morrow with bodily harm or death on different occasions, multiple incidents in which Morrow reported receiving physical injuries from Gulbertson, and witnesses (H.B. and R.M.) who saw Gulbertson push or hit Morrow.

Gulbertson argues that the witnesses are not credible due to demonstrated memory lapses or the inability to properly hear the exchanges between him and Morrow because the witnesses were hearing the arguments over the phone. But Gulbertson's arguments would require us to reevaluate the credibility determinations made by the jury, and we have held that determinations of weight and credibility are within the province of the jury. State v. Flores, 595 N.W.2d 860, 867 (Minn.1999). Furthermore, Gulbertson's arguments ignore our previous holding that we do “not always require[ ] that witnesses se...