State v. Ecker

• Citation: 524 N.W.2d 712
• Decision Date: 09 December 1994
• Docket Number: No. C1-94-17,C1-94-17
• Parties: STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Joseph Arne ECKER, Appellant.
• Court: Supreme Court of Minnesota (US)

Page 712

524 N.W.2d 712

STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Joseph Arne ECKER, Appellant.

No. C1-94-17.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

Dec. 9, 1994.

Syllabus by the Court

An adequate factual basis was established to support defendant's plea of guilty to intentional felony murder, and defendant entered his guilty plea voluntarily.

Peter A. Cahill, Cahill Law Office, Wayzata, for appellant.

Hubert H. Humphrey, III, Atty. Gen., St. Paul, and Michael O. Freeman, Hennepin County Atty., Donna J. Wolfson, Asst. County Atty., Minneapolis, for respondent.

Heard, considered and decided by the court en banc.

OPINION

KEITH, Chief Justice.

On February 22, 1988, Joseph Ecker pleaded guilty to first-degree felony murder. Five years later, Ecker filed a petition for postconviction relief to withdraw his guilty plea. The district court denied this petition. Ecker argued his plea was inaccurate and lacked a sufficient factual basis because when he entered his plea he did not acknowledge an intent to kill. He also argued his plea was involuntary due to ineffective assistance of counsel, pressure and coercion. We affirm.

I.

At 6:00 a.m. on July 18, 1987, Joseph Ecker entered the Southwest Amoco service station on University Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota and purchased cigarettes. Ecker immediately exited the station. Ten or fifteen minutes later, he re-entered the station armed with a semiautomatic .9 mm handgun. At the time, four employees were in the station. Two of the employees, Richard Kurowski and Michael Reinhart, were counting receipts in the cashier's area. The other two employees, Julie Rugg and Roger Reinhart (Michael Reinhart's brother), were standing and talking in the customer area.

Roger Reinhart was standing in a doorway with his back to Ecker as Ecker approached the station. Ecker raised his gun and without warning or provocation shot Roger Reinhart once in the back of the head, from a distance of 1-2 inches. Roger Reinhart fell to the floor. Neither of the two employees in the cashier's area saw Ecker fire the gun, but both heard the shot. The other employee, Julie Rugg, did see Ecker raise the gun to Roger Reinhart's head and pull the trigger. Ecker went into the customer service area and pointed the gun at the two employees in the cashier's area and demanded money. The employees complied and a surveillance camera photographed Ecker. The removal of money from the cash register triggered the camera. Ecker then exited the station and fled on foot to a getaway car driven by Michael Olson. Ecker and Olson drove toward Ecker's residence in northeast Minneapolis. The police within minutes issued a description of the shooting suspect and the getaway car over the police radio.

Minneapolis police officers proceeded directly to Ecker's residence. The description of the shooting suspect matched Ecker, whom the police suspected of several similar robberies. The police came upon Ecker and Olson in the car in an alley. The police drew their weapons, and Olson reversed the car and drove away. After a short chase, the car went out of control, stopped, and Ecker and Olson fled on foot. The police recovered from the car a handgun matching the murder weapon and marked cash taken from the store. Officers went immediately to Ecker's home, where they found him in his underwear, sweating heavily and acting very nervous. He was placed under arrest. Police found clothes matching those of the shooting suspect between two houses near Ecker's home. Roger Reinhart was pronounced dead at the hospital that same day. Cause of death was head trauma from a single gunshot wound. The police arrested the driver, Olson, the next day.

Having been in jail for two days, Ecker signed a written confession. Ecker claimed that for several days prior to the murder he had been on a binge of drugs and alcohol, including intravenous cocaine and speed. His blood alcohol level several hours after the murder was .11. There was, however, only a trace of marijuana in his system, and no cocaine or speed was detected. Ecker admitted he robbed the service station and shot Roger Reinhart. He also admitted he knew the gun's clip was loaded. Ecker claimed, however, his accomplice, Olson, forced him to commit the robbery and tricked Ecker into believing the gun's chamber was empty. Ecker told the police he only wanted Roger Reinhart and the other station employees to hear the "click" of the hammer hitting the empty chamber. Finally, Ecker also admitted in this confession to at least seven other robberies in Hennepin and Anoka counties.

On August 12, 1987, a grand jury indictment was filed in Hennepin County District Court charging Ecker with: two counts of murder in the first degree for premeditated murder and felony murder; three counts of aggravated robbery; and three counts of assault in the second degree. Ecker appeared in court that same day, and the court appointed Richard Trachy of the Hennepin County Public Defender's Office to represent him. Scott Holdahl, another attorney with the public defender's office, volunteered to assist Mr. Trachy with Ecker's defense. Trial was set for February 22, 1988.

Ecker met with his attorneys several times over the next six months. According to his attorneys, Ecker consistently maintained throughout these meetings that he believed the gun's chamber was empty and that he did not intend to kill Roger Reinhart. Both of Ecker's attorneys advised him he would have a very difficult time convincing a jury he was innocent of first-degree murder given the overwhelming evidence against him. During this time, Ecker's co-defendant, Olson, was convicted of first-degree murder for his role in driving Ecker to and from the crime scene.

Hennepin County offered Ecker a plea bargain which required him to plead guilty to intentional felony murder and to plead guilty to the three assault and three robbery charges. Hennepin County would dismiss the first-degree premeditated murder charge and the five unrelated robbery charges. As part of the plea bargain, Anoka County would agree not to charge Ecker with the two remaining robberies in that county. Ecker would serve life in prison plus two three-year consecutive terms for the aggravated robberies of Kurowski and Michael Reinhart. The aggravated robbery of Julie Rugg would carry a three-year concurrent sentence. The three remaining assault charges would merge into the three aggravated robbery pleas.

On February 22, 1988, the first scheduled day of trial, Ecker accepted the plea bargain. Ecker's attorneys and the prosecutor questioned him extensively during his guilty plea. Judge Greenberg only briefly questioned Ecker. During questioning, Ecker claimed he could not remember pulling the trigger, although he remembered going into the gas station and robbing it. He acknowledged he was responsible for Roger Reinhart's death. He also stated several times that he believed a jury could convict him of first-degree murder based on the evidence against him. Ecker made no claim of innocence and did not indicate his plea was involuntary. He stated he was satisfied with the representation provided by his appointed counsel and waived a presentence investigation. Judge Greenberg immediately sentenced Ecker to life in prison plus six years to run consecutively with the life term. At the time of sentencing, Ecker was twenty-two years old and had completed the ninth grade.

Ecker directly appealed his sentence with the assistance of the State Public Defender's Office. The court of appeals affirmed the sentence on January 31, 1989 (CX-88-1111). This court denied review on March 31, 1989. On May 12, 1993, Ecker filed a petition for postconviction relief requesting a withdrawal of his guilty plea. The district court, Judge Greenberg again presiding, denied this motion on November 2, 1993, holding that the record contained an adequate factual basis, and that Ecker entered his plea voluntarily.

II.

A defendant may withdraw a guilty plea after sentencing "upon a timely motion and proof to the satisfaction of the court that withdrawal of the plea is necessary to correct a manifest injustice." Minn.R.Crim.P. 15.05, subd. 1. The petitioner seeking postconviction relief has the burden of establishing the facts alleged in the petition by a fair preponderance of the evidence. Minn.Stat. § 590.04, subd. 3 (1992). We will review the decision of the postconviction court under an abuse of discretion standard. State v. Rainer, 502 N.W.2d 784, 787 (Minn.1993) (citing Gustafson v. State, 477 N.W.2d 709, 712 (Minn.1991)). On appeal, the scope of our review is limited to the question of whether there is sufficient evidence to sustain the findings of the postconviction court. Rainer, 502 N.W.2d at 787; Barness v. State, 290 Minn. 509, 510, 187 N.W.2d 111, 112 (1971).

Ecker's first argument is that his guilty plea to first-degree murder was inaccurate and lacked a sufficient factual basis because during his plea he failed to acknowledge an intent to kill. We have recognized three prerequisites to a valid guilty plea: it must be accurate, voluntary and intelligent (i.e., knowingly and understandingly made). State v. Trott, 338 N.W.2d 248, 251 (Minn.1983); See also North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25, 31, 91 S.Ct. 160, 164, 27 L.Ed.2d 162 (1970) (a guilty plea is valid if "the plea represents a voluntary and intelligent choice among the alternative courses of action open to the defendant."). An accurate plea protects the defendant from pleading guilty to a charge more serious than he or she could be convicted of were the defendant to go to trial. Trott, 338 N.W.2d at 251.

A proper factual basis must be established for a guilty plea to be accurate. Beaman v. State, 301 Minn. 180, 221 N.W.2d 698 (1974). We have held that the trial judge need not personally interrogate the defendant prior to acceptance of a guilty plea if defense counsel and the prosecutor have established an adequate factual basis. State v. Nelson, ...