Miles v. State

• Decision Date: 11 December 2013
• Docket Number: No. A13–0262.,A13–0262.
• Citation: 840 N.W.2d 195
• Parties: John MILES, petitioner, Appellant, v. STATE of Minnesota, Respondent.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

840 N.W.2d 195

John MILES, petitioner, Appellant,

v.STATE of Minnesota, Respondent.

No. A13–0262.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

Dec. 11, 2013.

Syllabus by the Court

1. The postconviction court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that Miles was not entitled to a new trial based on newly discovered evidence.

2. The postconviction court did not abuse its discretion by not considering evidence submitted after the evidentiary hearing.

3. The postconviction court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that Miles was not entitled to a new trial in the interests of justice.

Zachary A. Longsdorf, Longsdorf Law Firm, PLC, Lake Elmo, Minnesota, for appellant.

Lori Swanson, Attorney General, Saint Paul, Minnesota; and Michael O. Freeman, Hennepin County Attorney, Thomas A. Weist, Assistant County Attorney, Minneapolis, Minnesota, for respondent.

Considered and decided by the court without oral argument.

OPINION

GILDEA, Chief Justice.

John Miles was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the first-degree murder of Tyrone Harrell. We affirmed Miles's conviction on direct appeal. State v. Miles (Miles I), 585 N.W.2d 368 (Minn.1998). This case comes to us on appeal from the postconviction court's denial of Miles's fourth petition for postconviction relief. Because we conclude that the postconviction court did not abuse its discretion in denying Miles relief, we affirm.

Our opinion in Miles I, 585 N.W.2d 368, contains a detailed factual description of the murder and the evidence presented at trial. We discuss in this opinion only those facts relevant to Miles's fourth petition for postconviction relief.

On July 31, 1996, the police found Tyrone Harrell shot to death in a Minneapolis driveway. Id. at 369. Three eyewitnesses came forward claiming to have witnessed various parts of the murder. Id. at 369–70. All three witnesses identified Miles in a photo line-up as the person they had seen in the alley. Id. In addition to the three witnesses, the State also offered evidence from Marcell Dupree Scott. Scott, who was incarcerated on a separate drug conviction, came forward in November 1996 and told authorities what he knew about the murder. Id. at 370. Scott testified that he saw Miles head toward the alley and then heard shots. Id. He also said that Miles later told him that Harrell tried to run so Miles “popped him a couple more times.” Id.

Following his direct appeal, Miles pursued postconviction relief. The postconviction court denied his first two petitions. Miles v. State (Miles II), 800 N.W.2d 778, 781 (Minn.2011). In his third petition, Miles contended that new evidence, an unsworn statement by O.B., an alleged eyewitness to the murder, entitled him to a new trial. Id. The postconviction court denied Miles's third petition. Id. On appeal, we affirmed, concluding that Miles was not entitled to relief because he did not meet his obligation “to offer evidence with sufficient indicia of reliability.” Id. at 784.

Miles filed his fourth petition for postconviction relief in September 2011. Miles alleged the existence of the same new evidence as in his third postconviction petition, but with his fourth petition, Miles included a notarized affidavit and a signed and notarized statement from O.B. The notarized statement from O.B. is the same statement that Miles submitted with his third petition for postconviction relief, except that O.B.'s signature is notarized.

In his affidavit, O.B. states that on July31, 1996, he was at a party on Penn Avenue North near the location where Harrell was shot and killed. After leaving the party, O.B. said he saw Scott shoot and kill Harrell. O.B. said he continued walking home and told only his mother and wife about what he had seen. He explained that he did not tell anyone else because he was afraid of Scott.

Because Miles's fourth petition for postconviction relief was submitted beyond the two-year limitations period in the postconviction statute, see Minn.Stat. § .01, subd.(a) (2012), the postconviction court properly first considered whether the petition should be dismissed on that basis. The postconviction court determined that the fourth petition was not time barred because the evidence Miles offered in support of his petition, assuming it were true, would satisfy the exception to the time bar for newly discovered evidence in Minn.Stat. § .01, subd. 4(b)(2) (2012). See Gassler v. State, 787 N.W.2d 575, 583 (Minn.2010) (explaining that when addressing the newly discovered evidence exception, “we are only concerned with whether section 590.01, subdivision 4(b), permits consideration of the petition, and not with the petition's merits”); see alsoMinn.Stat. § 590.01, subd. 4(b) (stating that a “court may hear” an untimely postconviction petition if one of five exceptions is met). The postconviction court then determined that Miles was entitled to an evidentiary hearing. SeeMinn.Stat. § 590.04, subd. 1 (2012). During the hearing, Miles presented O.B.'s testimony and testimony from two others whom Miles claimed also had newly discovered evidence.

O.B. testified that he and Miles attended a barbeque at 29th and Penn Avenue North on the day of the murder. As O.B was returning to the party from the store, he saw Scott shoot Harrell. O.B. was unable to give any details about how the shooting started or where on his body Harrell was shot. O.B. said he did not tell the police that he witnessed the murder because he was very concerned that Scott would do something to him due to Scott's violent reputation. Even though O.B. has known Miles his whole life and considered Miles to be like family, O.B. did not tell Miles what he had seen. O.B. said that he came forward 14 years later because he had to “do the right thing.”

Miles also offered the testimony of D.H., who testified that he was near the scene of the shooting and saw Scott acting suspiciously. D.H. was inside a house on the 2900 block of Penn Avenue North when he heard two to six gunshots. He then ran outside and jumped off the side of the porch. D.H. testified that he saw Scott running from the back of the house D.H. had just exited and that Scott stuffed something in his pocket. Scott appeared nervous and jittery. But D.H. did not see who fired the gun or who was shot.

Finally, Miles offered the testimony of C.B., who testified that after he was released from prison in August of 1996, he ran into Scott at a friend's house. C.B. asked Scott if it was true that he (Scott) had killed Harrell. Scott said “yeah,” and it was because of a bad drug deal.

Following the evidentiary hearing, the postconviction court denied Miles's fourth petition for postconviction relief. The court found O.B.'s story to be “poppycock” and so incredible that Miles did not meet any of the four prongs of the test set out in Rainer v. State, 566 N.W.2d 692, 695 (Minn.1997), for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence. The court found that D.H.'s story, even if true, would not likely lead to an acquittal or a more favorable outcome at trial. The court found C.B.'s statement did not satisfy the Rainer test because the statement was not admissible as substantive evidence that Scott was the killer and at most could be offered to impeach Scott. The court also dismissed Miles's claim that he was entitled to a new trial in the interests of justice, concluding that Miles was rearguing his meritless newly discovered evidence claim. This appeal follows.

In reviewing a postconviction proceeding, we determine “whether there is sufficient evidence to sustain the postconviction court's findings.” Schleicher v. State, 718 N.W.2d 440, 444–45 (Minn.2006) (citations omitted) (internal quotation marks omitted). We review the 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). We afford “great deference to a [postconviction] court's findings of fact and will not reverse the findings unless they are clearly erroneous.” Dukes v. State, 621 N.W.2d 246, 251 (Minn.2001). But we review a postconviction court's legal conclusions de novo. Leake v. State, 737 N.W.2d 531, 535 (Minn.2007).

On appeal, Miles argues that the postconviction court erred in denying him a new trial based on new evidence. Miles also argues that the court abused its discretion in how it handled evidence that he submitted after the evidentiary hearing. Finally, Miles contends that the court erred in refusing to grant relief in the interests of justice. We consider each argument in turn.

I.

We turn first to Miles's argument that the postconviction court abused its discretion in concluding that Miles was not entitled to a new trial based on new evidence. The court reached this conclusion after applying the test for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence from Rainer v. State, 566 N.W.2d 692, 695 (Minn.1997). The State contends that the court, rather than applying the Rainer standard, should have evaluated the merits of Miles's petition under the standard in Minn.Stat. § 590.01, subd. 4(b)(2), which, as noted above, provides an exception to the postconviction statute's time bar for claims based on newly discovered evidence. Minnesota Statutes § 590.01, subd. 4(b)(2), requires the petitioner to prove innocence by a “clear and convincing standard,” id., whereas the Rainer standard requires only that the petitioner prove he is entitled to relief by a fair preponderance of the evidence. See Williams v. State, 692 N.W.2d 893, 896 (Minn.2005). Once the postconviction court determined that Miles's petition was not time barred, the question that remained for decision was whether Miles was entitled to a new trial on the basis of new evidence. The test set forth in Rainer controls that question. Accordingly, we hold...