State v. Carlson
| Decision Date | 05 April 1968 |
| Docket Number | No. 40387,40387 |
| Citation | 158 N.W.2d 199,280 Minn. 77 |
| Parties | STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Marvin Russell CARLSON, Appellant. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
1. In considering defendant's claim that admissions by him of complicity in the offense charged were induced by fear and coercion, an examination of the record fairly establishes from the totality of the circumstances under which the admissions were made that they were given voluntarily and were fully admissible in criminal proceedings against him.
2. In reviewing the sufficiency of evidence to sustain a verdict of guilty, a reviewing court is not obligated to try the facts anew. Its responsibility extends no further than to make a painstaking review of the record to determine whether the evidence, direct and circumstantial, viewed most favorably to support a finding of guilt, was sufficient to permit the jury to reach that conclusion.
C. Paul Jones, Public Defender, Murray L. Galinson, Asst. Public Defender, Minneapolis, for appellant.
Douglas M. Head, Atty. Gen., St. Paul, George M. Scott, County Atty., Henry W. McCarr, David Weinberg, Asst. County Attys., Minneapolis, for respondent.
This is an appeal from a judgment of conviction in a criminal case in which it is asserted that statements of defendant made to police during the course of their investigation were involuntarily given and induced by fear and that the court erred in permitting the introduction in evidence of such statements. It is further asserted that the evidence presented did not warrant a verdict of guilty on the charge stated in the information.
The information charged defendant with having, on September 11, 1965, aided and conspired with others in committing the offense of armed robbery. The information apparently is predicated on Minn.St. 609.245, which punishes the offense of armed robbery; § 609.175, which punishes conspiracy; and § 609.05, subd. 1, which punishes one who 'intentionally aids, advises, hires, counsels, or conspires with or otherwise procures the other to commit the crime.'
From the record it appears that about 1 a.m., on September 11, 1965, Richard J. LaMere, a construction foreman, had been visiting with his brother in a Minneapolis tavern. After they parted, LaMere stopped at a nearby sidewalk telephone booth to make a call. As he left the booth, he was accosted by two youths, one of whom held a revolver. They demanded his money, and after he had emptied his pockets, they shot him in the chest and ran. LaMere was found by a passerby who called the police. Although the bullet struck very close to his heart, LaMere survived and later identified his assailants as Charles Powless and Philip Kleindl, two of defendant's companions.
The defendant, who was 19 years of age and who lived in Minneapolis, met Powless, Kleindl, and two other youths at the home of a mutual girl friend the previous evening. They left her house at about 10:30 p.m. in an automobile owned by the father of one of the youths, Gerald Messinger. They rode about the city of Minneapolis for several hours looking for likely places to burglarize. An opportunity favorable to their objective did not present itself until about 1 a.m. when they passed the intersection of Washington and Spring Streets and noticed the victim in the telephone booth. They stopped the car about half a block from where the booth was located. A gun and holster were removed from the glove compartment of the automobile. There was evidence that defendant, who sat in the front seat behind the glove compartment, took out the gun, removed it from its holster, and handed it to one of the boys in the back seat. Powless and Kleindl left the car, and while the others were waiting for them to return, they heard a shot. Immediately thereafter, Powless and Kleindl came running back to the car, jumped in, and they drove to the home of Messinger's grandmother. The other boys left on foot for their respective homes.
After Powless had been apprehended and had given a statement, officers of the Minneapolis Police Department, on September 18, 1965, arrested defendant at his parents' home. Upon entering the house, one or both of the officers advised defendant and his parents as to why they were there and at the same time defendant was advised of his constitutional rights. Messinger was with the officers at that time. Both he and defendant were taken to police headquarters, where they were booked on suspicion of robbery, and later that day to the General Hospital to appear in a lineup before the victim. En route from his home to police headquarters, defendant and Messinger conversed generally with the officers and told them what happened on the night the offense was committed. Upon returning from the hospital, defendant was advised of his rights, after which he gave a full written statement to the police. The statement was subsequently transcribed by a stenographer...
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State v. Smith
...the inference required to justify a conviction.' State v. Crosby, 277 Minn. 22, 24, 151 N.W.2d 297, 299 (1967); State v. Carlson, 280 Minn. 77, 80, 158 N.W.2d 199, 201 (1968); State v. Ellingson, 283 Minn. 208, 211, 167 N.W.2d 55, 57 (1969). Dr. Fedor testified that he dissected the blood v......
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State v. Daml, 39392
...to the car, defendant drove away at an excessive rate of speed. The circumstances here are similar to those recited in State v. Carlson, 280 Minn. 77, 158 N.W.2d 199, where before the trial both the defendant and his accomplice admitted participation in the crime but at trial denied their a......