State v. Auchampach
| Citation | 540 N.W.2d 808 |
| Decision Date | 01 December 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. C2-94-950,C2-94-950 |
| Parties | STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. William James AUCHAMPACH, Jr., Appellant. |
| Court | Supreme Court of Minnesota (US) |
Syllabus by the Court
When defendant is charged with premeditated murder and sufficient evidence is adduced at trial for a jury reasonably to infer that defendant caused the death of another person in the heat of passion, the state has the burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the absence of heat of passion.
Trial court's instructions were sufficient to instruct jury on state's burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt defendant's guilt of premeditated murder.
As applied to defendant's conduct, Minn.Stat. § 609.185(6) (1992) is not unconstitutionally vague and sufficient evidence was presented at trial for jury to conclude that defendant engaged in a "past pattern of domestic abuse" under Minn.Stat. § 609.185(6).
John M. Stuart, Minnesota State Public Defender and Scott B. Swanson, Assistant State Public Defender, for appellant.
Hubert H. Humphrey III, State Attorney General, Mary J. Theisen, Assistant Attorney General, St. Paul; and Gary Fridell, Goodhue County Attorney, Red Wing, for respondent.
Heard, considered and decided by the court en banc.
A Goodhue County Grand Jury indicted William J. Auchampach, Jr. on ten counts, including three counts of first-degree murder for the stabbing death of his former girlfriend, Daillene Counts. A jury convicted Auchampach on all counts except for first-degree murder while committing criminal sexual conduct. The jury did not convict Auchampach of the lesser-included offense of first-degree manslaughter. The trial court sentenced Auchampach to life imprisonment for first-degree murder and to three lesser terms on other counts. Auchampach appeals from his conviction on the two counts of first-degree murder. He argues that the trial court committed reversible error by refusing to give an instruction to the jury pursuant to CRIMJIG 11.05, which enumerates the absence of heat of passion as an element of premeditated first-degree murder. Auchampach also argues that Minnesota's domestic abuse homicide statute is unconstitutionally vague because it does not define the term "pattern" in the phrase "past pattern of domestic abuse." We affirm.
Auchampach and Counts met in April 1991, and began a romantic relationship. They periodically lived together and had one child, a daughter, who was born April 11, 1992. By March 1993, their relationship had deteriorated, and the two of them lived apart. At that time, Auchampach had custody of their daughter, and most of the contact between Auchampach and Counts occurred during Counts' visitations with their daughter.
On Friday, March 19, 1993, Auchampach left his parents' home in Red Wing, Minnesota, where he and his daughter were then living, to go out for dinner. He was accompanied by his daughter, his parents, and a friend, Jay Lampman. On their way to dinner, the group drove to Counts' apartment to leave the daughter with her mother for a weekend visit. Both Auchampach and his daughter went into the apartment. Counts was present, as was her friend Kathryn Wedell and Counts' two children from her previous marriage. Counts' other two children were ages five and three. Counts asked Auchampach to step into a bedroom where they talked for fifteen to twenty minutes. During the conversation, Counts apparently told Auchampach that she had contracted chlamydia, a sexually transmitted disease, and suggested that he get himself tested for the disease. According to Auchampach, Counts then said, "Good luck finding a girlfriend now." Auchampach became angry with Counts and stormed out of the house. He returned a moment later, "screaming" at Counts and asking her for a small amount of money that she owed him. Counts refused to pay. Auchampach then yelled, "I'm surprised you didn't give me AIDS," and left in anger, leaving their daughter with Counts.
Auchampach decided not to go out for dinner and asked his parents to take him to a liquor store to buy beer. After stopping at the liquor store, Auchampach's parents left Auchampach and Lampman at Lampman's house, where the two drank beer and played cards. While at Lampman's house, Auchampach told Lampman that he was going to kill Counts; that he was going to "fuck her up" and "finish" her. Eventually, Lampman and Auchampach decided to leave Lampman's house to go to a party at the apartment of Jerry Lewis, who lived at a local Red Wing motel. Before leaving, Auchampach asked Lampman for a knife. Lampman told Auchampach he did not know whether there were any knives in the house. Auchampach went into the kitchen and Lampman heard a drawer open, but he never saw Auchampach with a knife. 1
Auchampach and Lampman then left Lampman's house and walked to the party, staying only fifteen or twenty minutes. A juvenile female who was at the party heard Auchampach say, Auchampach, Lampman, and Lewis left the party and walked toward Lampman's house. Somewhere along the way, Auchampach left the other two and went off on his own. Lampman and Lewis returned to Lampman's house and watched the movie "Goodfellas." While watching the movie, Lampman told Lewis that Auchampach had told him that he was going to kill Counts.
Several hours later, Auchampach returned to Lampman's house. Lewis left shortly after Auchampach's return. Auchampach then told Lampman that he had killed Counts. Auchampach said, "I fucked the bitch up." Auchampach told Lampman that he stabbed Counts in the heart, but Lampman later indicated that he did not believe Auchampach. Auchampach spent the night at Lampman's house.
The following morning, March 20, Auchampach went to the hospital to be tested for chlamydia. Later that morning, Auchampach returned to his parents' home and Lampman arrived a short time later. At approximately 2:30 p.m., Auchampach's brother called from the Minnesota Correctional Facility at Saint Cloud. Lampman answered the phone and told the brother that he should speak to Auchampach. Auchampach then spoke to his brother and told him he had killed Counts and had left the three children with her body.
Later that evening, between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m., Kathryn Wedell went to Counts' apartment and found Counts stabbed to death. The three children were present and were screaming and crying. Counts' daughter from her previous marriage told Wedell that "Bill" killed her mother. Wedell ran to a neighbor's home and the neighbor called 911.
The police arrived a short time later. After determining that Auchampach was a suspect, the officers went to the home of Auchampach's parents, where they found and arrested him. In the basement of Auchampach's parents' home, police found a hand-drawn picture of a bleeding heart with a knife sticking out of it and with the words "help me" written underneath it. Auchampach was taken to the Red Wing police station. Later that evening, during an audio-taped interview with police officers, Auchampach denied killing Counts.
On April 19, 1993, the Goodhue County Grand Jury indicted Auchampach on ten counts, including three counts of first-degree murder: with premeditation; while committing criminal sexual conduct with force or violence; and while committing domestic abuse. 2
Prior to trial, Auchampach moved to dismiss the indictment or, in the alternative, to dismiss two of the counts contained in the indictment. Auchampach argued that Minn.Stat. § 609.185(6), the domestic abuse homicide statute, is unconstitutionally vague because it does not define the term "pattern" in the phrase "past pattern of domestic abuse." In its omnibus order, the trial court did not address whether the statute was unconstitutionally vague because the precise facts that the state intended to present at trial were unknown and because Auchampach had not presented or conceded any facts necessary for determining whether a pattern existed.
A trial was held from November 8 through December 1, 1993. At his trial, Auchampach admitted killing Counts, but denied that he premeditated the murder. He claimed that the killing occurred in the heat of passion. Auchampach testified that the following events transpired after he left Lampman and Lewis. He went to Counts' apartment intending only to vandalize either Kathryn Wedell's car or the car of the man whom he suspected that Counts was seeing. But, when he arrived at Counts' apartment at about 10:00 p.m., no cars were present. So instead, Auchampach decided to break the front door window. He banged on the window in the door with the butt of the knife he took from Lampman's house, but the window did not break. A light came on in Counts' apartment and she came to the door. Counts let Auchampach into the apartment. When he entered the apartment, Auchampach concealed the knife under his jacket.
Auchampach testified that once Counts let him into her apartment, they sat and talked. He testified that his daughter and Counts' young son were both awake, that he rocked his daughter to sleep, and that he then put his daughter and Counts' son to bed. He stated that even though he was "drunk" at the time, he was feeling "comfortable" and "at home again" sitting in his chair in the usual spot with the children present. He testified that during this time, he had taken off his jacket and placed it and the knife under his chair.
After the children were put to bed, which occurred within 10 to 15 minutes after Auchampach entered the apartment, Counts told Auchampach that she did not want to spend Easter, which was also their daughter's birthday, with him, but instead wanted to spend it with another man and that she wanted their daughter to be with her and the other man. Auchampach testified that when Counts' plans for Easter were discussed, the mood shifted and that he felt shocked and hurt and that he was crying. Counts proceeded to tell Auchampach...
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