State v. Daniels

• Decision Date: 08 February 1985
• Docket Number: No. CX-84-161,CX-84-161
• Citation: 361 N.W.2d 819
• Parties: STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Calvin G. DANIELS, Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

Page 819

361 N.W.2d 819

STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Calvin G. DANIELS, Appellant.

No. CX-84-161.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

Feb. 8, 1985.

Syllabus by the Court

1. The evidence was sufficient to support appellant's conviction for first-degree murder.

2. The trial court did not err by admitting into evidence a gun found in the car of appellant's companion the night of the shooting.

3. Testimony that a syringe was found on appellant's person when he was arrested was admissible.

4. The trial court properly excluded photographs of the scene of the shooting for lack of proper foundation.

5. The trial court properly admitted identification evidence.

6. The trial court properly excluded hearsay statements of a witness, sought to be admitted under Rule 804(b)(5), for lack of sufficient guarantees of trustworthiness.

7. The trial court properly admitted statements of coconspirators made during the course of and in furtherance of the conspiracy.

8. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by excluding the testimony of a witness discovered after the defense had rested but before closing argument had commenced.

9. The trial court's refusal to give some of appellant's requested jury instructions was not improper.

10. The trial court properly prevented appellant from commenting in closing argument on the state's failure to call a witness when that witness was equally available to both prosecution and defense.

Michael F. Cromett, St. Paul, for appellant.

Hubert H. Humphrey, III, Atty. Gen., St. Paul, Thomas L. Johnson, County Atty., Vernon E. Bergstrom, Rick Osborne, Asst. County Attys., Minneapolis, for respondent.

Heard, considered, and decided by the court en banc.

AMDAHL, Chief Justice.

Appellant Calvin Daniels appeals from the judgment of the Hennepin County District Court and from the denial of a motion for a new trial or judgment of acquittal. After a 3-day trial, the jury returned a verdict finding appellant guilty of murder in the first degree for the shooting of Albert James on February 15, 1982. Appellant alleges in this appeal that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction; that prejudicial and irrelevant evidence was improperly admitted at trial; that evidence favoring appellant was wrongfully excluded; that statements of coconspirators were improperly admitted; that identification testimony admitted at trial should have been suppressed; that requested jury instructions were improperly denied; and that appellant's closing argument was improperly limited. We affirm.

Albert James was shot to death on February 15, 1982, at approximately 2 a.m. Shortly before the shooting, he was sitting in his car in an alley in the neighborhood of Plymouth and Irving in Minneapolis, talking with Vinisha Gaines. Gaines, her mother, and a friend had met James at the Riverview Supper Club that night at about midnight, and he drove them home. The four stopped at a Perkins Restaurant for breakfast en route. Gaines lived with her mother in a townhouse at 1425 Plymouth. James pulled into the alley behind the townhouse. Gaines' mother and friend got out of the back seat of the car and went into the townhouse. Gaines then observed a brown midsize car come up the alley behind their car. James pulled his car over toward the townhouse to allow the other car through.

Shortly after James had pulled over, Gaines saw two black men near the James car. She could see fairly well because three street lights were in the vicinity, but did not recognize either man. James asked her if she knew the men; she told him she did not. The men approached the driver's side of the car. Gaines told James not to open his door; he rolled down the window instead. The man Gaines described as darker complected and taller than the other told James he wanted some "sets," a reference to "T's and Blues," two types of pills drug addicts crush and inject into themselves with a syringe. James said, "How many?" The taller man replied, "two sets."

James started to get the sets. The two men had two handguns pointed at James. James was told to get out of the car, but the taller man fired a shot into the car before James was able to do so. The bullet did not hit Gaines or James. The men then took James out of the car, stood him up, and searched his clothing, apparently robbing him. Gaines did not know how much money James had and did not see any drugs taken from his possession. James' wife testified that he had left the house that night with over $1,000 in his possession. Gaines gave her wallet to the shorter man; it had $16-$17 in it. The men then told James to get down, threw Gaines' wallet back into the car after taking her money, and ran. James got back into the car, where Gaines reminded him that she had said not to open the door, and James replied, "I didn't have any choice." James then got out of the car and ran in the same direction as the two men had run, down the alley.

James was two houses behind the men when he started after them. Gaines started blowing the car horn, then got out of the car, taking the keys with her. People were yelling to her, calling her by her nickname. When Gaines heard the second shot, she got down in the front seat of the car, then ran into the house. The last time she saw James, he was running down Irving Avenue; she did not see the second shot hit him.

Gaines described the taller man as darker complected and not quite 6 feet tall. The second man was "noticeably" shorter, perhaps 5 feet 4 inches tall. The men had stood side by side toward the front of James' car. The taller man wore a dark leather jacket, dark clothing, and a cap. The shorter man wore dark clothes and a dark jacket. She saw the shorter man more clearly than the taller man. She did see the taller man's face, but did not get a good look at him.

Gaines talked with the police on February 16, 1982, and gave them a statement the next day. The police showed her a display of eight photographs and she identified three photographs as possibly being the two men she saw that night. She selected the photo of Calvin Daniels as being possibly the taller man, and photos of Stanford Parker and Ben Wilson as resembling the shorter man. She thought the photo of Parker was more likely the second man than the photo of Wilson. She testified only that the photos she had picked out resembled the men, that she was not positive about her identification. During the photograph identification process, the police did not say they had any suspects in mind or suggest who she was to select.

A second eyewitness to the incident was Edward McConaughead. McConaughead, who was arrested on March 17, 1982, for armed robbery, testified as part of a negotiated plea agreement. In August of 1982, 6 months after the shooting, he had informed his lawyer that he had information on the shooting of Albert James and made a statement to the police. In exchange for his testimony, the charge was reduced from armed robbery to theft from person. McConaughead got probation and credit for the 6 months he had already served in jail.

McConaughead said that he was by himself the night of the shooting, and rode a bus to a downtown disco, where he met a friend. He then rode back to where he lived, 1314 Irving, and walked over to a neighborhood house party. McConaughead smoked one joint of marijuana earlier that evening. He also had two glasses of wine before he arrived at the party. He said his perception and memory were not affected by these intoxicants. He then headed home through the alley toward Irving.

McConaughead knew who Stanford Parker was, but did not know him personally. He had seen Calvin Daniels before, but did not know his name. As he proceeded down the alley, he saw James' car. He did not see a brown car drive down the alley. The street lights made the lighting very good; McConaughead saw and identified Calvin Daniels and saw a shorter man with glasses, who he identified as Stanford Parker. He saw the two men approach the driver's side of the car, each one with a pistol in his hand, and one of the men said something like "give us the money and dope." James was starting to roll the window down and McConaughead heard a shot go off. Gaines then got out of the car and dove into the snow in back of the townhouse. Some people yelled to her to get in the house. McConaughead "got out of there" and backtracked to his home. He did not see James get out of the car. McConaughead testified that there was no question Calvin Daniels and Stanford Parker were the men who approached the car. He had previously picked the photographs of Daniels and Parker out of the display of eight photographs.

McConaughead testified that he had seen Parker and Daniels riding in a car with George Moore once, and had seen them occasionally at different establishments 2 or 3 months prior to the shooting. He said the two were noticeably different in height, and had estimated at a previous trial that Daniels was 6 feet tall and Parker 5 feet 8 inches tall. McConaughead paid no attention to what the men were wearing that night, but thought that Parker had a leather jacket and stocking hat on. He saw the men's faces under the street light as they approached the James car, but the men had their backs to him as they reached the car. He could not tell which one did the talking, but thought that Parker had fired the first shot.

McConaughead said that he never discussed what he had seen with anyone. His wife asked him about the incident and he told her he knew nothing. He also did not hear any discussion of the shooting in jail, even though Parker and Daniels were in jail at the same time he was. Gaines was a good friend, but McConaughead testified that he never talked with her about the shooting.

The final eyewitnesses to the shooting were Maurice Whitfield, then 14, and his cousin, Ramon Lester, then 13. Maurice lived at 1124 Irving in a fourplex; Ramon lived above Maurice in the fourplex at 1126 Irving. At...