Schneider v. State, A06-625.

• Decision Date: 04 January 2007
• Docket Number: No. A06-625.,A06-625.
• Citation: 725 N.W.2d 516
• Parties: Cletus Eugene SCHNEIDER, petitioner, Appellant, v. STATE of Minnesota, Respondent.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

725 N.W.2d 516

Cletus Eugene SCHNEIDER, petitioner, Appellant, v. STATE of Minnesota, Respondent.

No. A06-625.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

January 4, 2007.

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Kyle D. White, St. Paul, MN, for Appellant.

Mike Hatch, Attorney General, St. Paul, MN, James Backstrom, Dakota County Attorney, Nicole E. Nee, Assistant County Attorney, Dakota County Judicial Cener, Hastings, MN, for Respondent.

Considered and decided by the court en banc without oral argument.

OPINION

ANDERSON, RUSSELL A., Chief Justice.

Following trial by jury in Dakota County, the district court entered judgment of conviction for first-degree premeditated murder and sentenced appellant Cletus Eugene Schneider to life in prison for the killing of his wife, Dorothy Sandburg. On direct appeal, Schneider's sole claim was that the evidence was not sufficient to support the verdict and we affirmed. State v. Schneider, 597 N.W.2d 889, 890 (Minn.1999).

Schneider petitioned for postconviction relief claiming that (1) he was denied effective assistance of counsel because neither his trial counsel nor his appellate counsel raised a Frye-Mack challenge or otherwise contested the admissibility of DNA evidence;¹ (2) he was denied effective assistance of counsel when his trial counsel failed to request that the trial judge be removed because the judge had also presided over Schneider's marital dissolution proceedings; and (3) newly discovered evidence entitles him to a new trial. The postconviction court denied relief without an evidentiary hearing. We affirm.

The facts of this case are recited in our earlier opinion affirming Schneider's conviction. Schneider, 597 N.W.2d at 890-92. We repeat here only those facts necessary to give context to the claims now before us.

On June 13, 1997, Sandburg was found dead in her home in Burnsville, Minnesota. Investigators from the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) collected and examined four drops of blood from the scene. One drop of blood was collected from Sandburg's abdomen and three were collected from the floor near the body. A fifth drop of blood was collected from Sandburg's shoe after the autopsy. These drops of blood were selected because there were indications that they may have fallen from the perpetrator.

After receiving the results of the DNA testing, police arrested Schneider. He was indicted on multiple charges of murder. In pretrial hearings, Schneider's attorney expressly waived a Frye-Mack hearing with respect to polymerase chain reaction (PCR), one of two types of DNA testing performed in the case. At trial, Schneider did not object to the introduction of the DNA evidence.

BCA analyst Dolores Schoenbauer testified that she performed two types of tests on the five drops of blood. A PCR test revealed that each of the five drops of blood was a mixture of two or more persons' DNA. Schoenbauer testified that Schneider's DNA was consistent with the predominant DNA types from each of the samples. Schoenbauer concluded that there was not enough DNA present in the drops of blood on the floor and on Sandburg's abdomen, so she combined the four samples and performed a restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) test on the combined sample. She also performed an RFLP test on the shoe sample. Schoenbauer concluded that the DNA in both the combined sample and the shoe sample matched Schneider's DNA.

At trial the defense questioned the BCA's procedures for collecting and analyzing the blood samples. The state's experts were extensively cross-examined and the defense called two of its own expert witnesses. The defense alleged numerous errors with respect to the DNA collection and analysis, and the defense's expert concluded that both the PCR and RFLP test results were unreliable and inconclusive. The defense's expert further testified that the results of the RFLP tests were consistent with contamination.

Schoenbauer admitted making some errors, but testified that they were merely transcription errors that were quickly corrected and did not in any way impact the results of the tests. The state's rebuttal witness testified that the DNA testing results were "excellent," "valid," and reliable.

On direct appeal, we concluded that Schneider's counsel made strategic decisions as to whether to request a Frye-Mack hearing or object to the admission of DNA evidence. Schneider, 597 N.W.2d at 894. We characterized the decisions as "tactical" matters of "trial strategy." Id.

I.

A person convicted of a crime may petition for a new trial or other postconviction relief. Minn.Stat. § 590.01, subd. 1 (2004). An evidentiary hearing must be held unless the petition and the record conclusively show that the petitioner is not entitled to relief. Minn.Stat. § 590.04, subd. 1 (2004).

We review the postconviction court's decision to determine whether there is evidence sufficient to support the court's findings, and we will not overturn the decision unless the court has abused its discretion. White v. State, 711 N.W.2d 106, 109 (Minn.2006). A postconviction court's legal determinations, including legal determinations of ineffective assistance of counsel, however, are reviewed de novo. Schleicher v. State, 718 N.W.2d 440, 445 (Minn.2006); Carney v. State, 692 N.W.2d 888, 890-91 (Minn.2005).

Additionally, if a petitioner has already directly appealed his case, all matters raised on direct appeal and all claims known but not raised will not be considered. State v. Knaffla, 309 Minn. 246, 252, 243 N.W.2d 737, 741 (Minn.1976). There are two exceptions to the Knaffla rule: (1) if a novel legal issue is presented, or (2) if the interests of justice require review. White, 711 N.W.2d at 109. The second exception applies if fairness requires review and the petitioner did not deliberately and inexcusably fail to raise the issue on direct appeal. Id.

II.

Schneider first claims that he was denied effective assistance of counsel because neither his trial counsel nor his appellate counsel raised a Frye-Mack challenge or otherwise contested the admissibility of the DNA evidence. Ineffective assistance of trial counsel claims are generally Knaffla-barred in a postconviction petition if the claims can be decided on the basis of the trial record and the briefs. White, 711 N.W.2d at 110. Under the interests-of-justice exception, however, a petitioner may bring an ineffective-assistance claim, even if known but not raised on direct appeal, if the claim could not have been decided on direct appeal based on the briefs and trial court transcript without additional fact finding. Carney, 692 N.W.2d at 891.

Neither Schneider's appellate counsel nor Schneider in his pro se brief raised his ineffective assistance of trial counsel claim on direct appeal. See Schneider, 597 N.W.2d at 894. Schneider knew at the time of the appeal that his trial counsel had failed to object to the introduction of the DNA evidence, and the legal basis for his ineffective-assistance claim was available. See Carney, 692 N.W.2d at 891. Furthermore, the interests of justice do not compel us to hear the claim. Schneider did not attach to his postconviction petition an expert affidavit indicating that a Frye-Mack hearing would likely have resulted in suppression of the DNA evidence or any other additional information to indicate that his claim could not have been decided on direct appeal based on the briefs and trial court transcript.² We therefore conclude that Schneider's claim is barred by Knaffla.

We next address Schneider's ineffective assistance of appellate counsel claim. This claim is not barred by Knaffla because Schneider could not have known of ineffective assistance of his appellate counsel at the time of his direct appeal. We agree with the postconviction court that Schneider's claim is essentially premised upon his appellate counsel's failure to raise an ineffective assistance of trial counsel claim. Thus, to prevail on his ineffective assistance of appellate counsel claim, Schneider must first show that his trial counsel was ineffective. Zenanko v. State, 688 N.W.2d 861, 865 (Minn.2004). To do so, Schneider must show that his trial counsel's representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness and that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's error, the result of the trial would have been different. Carney, 692 N.W.2d at 892.

We presume that trial counsel's performance was reasonable and we give particular deference to trial strategy. Id. Schneider has failed to convince us that his trial counsel's decision to forgo a Frye-Mack hearing was anything but a strategic and tactical decision. If Schneider's trial counsel determined that the PCR evidence would not be suppressed at a Frye-Mack hearing, he may well have decided not to permit the state to preview his vigorous cross-examination of the state's experts or to preview the testimony of the defense experts. Even if Schneider's trial counsel determined that the PCR evidence would be suppressed at a Frye-Mack hearing, he may have determined that in light of State v. Schwartz, 447 N.W.2d 422 (Minn.1989), that the RFLP evidence would not be suppressed. See Schwartz, 447 N.W.2d at 428 (concluding that RFLP DNA testing has gained general acceptance in the scientific community). If that were the case, Schneider's trial counsel strategically could have determined not to request a pretrial Frye-Mack hearing, but instead to attack at trial the collection and examination techniques used by the state in an effort to discredit both the PCR and the RFLP evidence. We give particular deference to trial counsel's strategic decisions and we conclude that Schneider's trial counsel's performance was objectively reasonable.³

Even if we had concluded that trial counsel's decision to forgo a Frye-Mack hearing rendered his performance unreasonable, Schneider's ineffective-assistance argument would still fail. If we assume, as Schneider argues,...