Riggers v. State, 41659

• Decision Date: 27 June 1969
• Docket Number: No. 41659,41659
• Citation: Riggers v. State, 169 N.W.2d 58, 284 Minn. 543 (Minn. 1969)
• Parties: Loren RIGGERS, Respondent, v. STATE of Minnesota, Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

Page 58

169 N.W.2d 58

284 Minn. 543

Loren RIGGERS, Respondent, v. STATE of Minnesota, Appellant.

No. 41659.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

June 27, 1969.

Douglas M. Head, Atty. Gen., Richard H. Kyle, Sol. Gen., St. Paul, Alfred C. Schmidt, Dist. Pros., Bemidji, for appellant.

C. Paul Jones, Public Defender, Roberta K. Levy, Asst. Public Defender, Minneapolis, for respondent.

Heard before KNUTSON, C.J., and ROGOSHESKE, SHERAN, PETERSON, and FRANK T. GALLAGHER, JJ.

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

Appeal from orders of the district court granting a petition for postconviction relief and thereby vacating a judgment of conviction of murder in the first degree, and granting a new trial. The order is appealable. Minn.St. 590.06.

We have frequently recognized the authority of the district court to vacate a plea of guilty in order to correct a manifest injustice. The decisions are collected in Chapman v. State, 282 Minn. 13, 162 N.W.2d 698.

Even though defendant caused the death of John Keninger in Norman County on May 2, 1936, the doubt expressed by the judge presiding at the postconviction proceedings as to whether the killing was premeditated and intentional has support in the record of those proceedings. His determination that defendant's plea of guilty to murder in the first degree was ill-advised and involuntary was reasonable in light of the evidence presented concerning his treatment upon apprehension; the circumstances...