State v. Graham

• Decision Date: 23 April 2009
• Docket Number: No. A07-1759.,A07-1759.
• Citation: 764 N.W.2d 340
• Parties: STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Alonzo Jerome GRAHAM, Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

764 N.W.2d 340

STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Alonzo Jerome GRAHAM, Appellant.

No. A07-1759.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

April 23, 2009.

Leonardo Castro, Hennepin County Chief Public Defender, Paul J. Maravigli, Assistant Public Defender, Minneapolis, MN, for appellant.

Lori Swanson, Minnesota Attorney General, Saint Paul, MN and Michael O. Freeman, Hennepin County Attorney, Michael K. Walz, Assistant County Attorney, Jean E. Burdorf, Assistant County Attorney, Minneapolis, MN, for respondent.

OPINION

ANDERSON, Paul H., Justice.

On May 14, 2007, a Hennepin County jury found appellant Alonzo Graham guilty of one count of first-degree murder while committing or attempting to commit first-degree aggravated robbery, Minn.Stat. § 609.185(a)(3)(2008), and six counts of attempted first-degree aggravated robbery, Minn.Stat. § 609.245, subd. 1 (2008). The district court convicted him of one count of first-degree murder while committing or attempting to commit first-degree aggravated robbery and five counts of attempted first-degree aggravated robbery. Graham filed a direct appeal to this court. He raises two primary issues on appeal: (1) whether the State committed prosecutorial misconduct or error, and (2) whether reversal is required because the lead prosecutor for the State was unauthorized to practice law at the time of Graham's trial. We affirm.

This case arose from events that occurred in South Minneapolis on June 24, 2006. At approximately 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 24, Paris Furcron stopped by E.M.'s home. All of the residents of the home were there that afternoon, including the owner, E.M., her companion J.M., her brother C.H., her son Roderick M., and her grandson Readon M. Furcron was a longtime friend of the family and a frequent visitor to the home.

When Furcron stopped by that afternoon, he informed Roderick M. that there were two men outside in a car who wanted to buy marijuana. According to Roderick, it was the first time Furcron had asked to purchase marijuana from him. Roderick agreed to sell one-half ounce of marijuana to the men. Because he did not want the unknown men to come into the home, Roderick sent Furcron outside to get the money and told Furcron to return to the home in order to complete the sale.

Furcron left through the front door. Shortly thereafter, the residents of the house heard knocking at the back door. C.H. went to the back door and saw Furcron outside. When C.H. opened the door, two men pushed Furcron into the house and then followed him into the house. The two men were African-American and had braids in their hair. One man was taller than the other. The taller man was pointing a gun at Furcron as he entered the house. After entering the house, the two men pushed Furcron and C.H. into the dining room. From the dining room, each member of the family was visible except Readon M., who was in the closed-in porch.

After the men entered the dining room, several things happened, the timeline for which was unclear at trial. At some point, the two men ordered the family to empty their pockets and get down on the floor; Roderick M. escaped out the front door; and Readon M., who heard the commotion from the porch, stuck his head out and was ordered to get down on the floor. The witnesses testified that the two men kept repeating the phrase "where's it at," as the tall man patted down Furcron and C.H. and the short man rummaged around the dining room. The witnesses testified that when the two men did not find money, or whatever else they were looking for, they became frustrated. The short man said, "shoot `em all," and the tall man cocked his gun.

Reports vary as to what exactly happened next, but somehow Furcron and the tall man "tussled" for the gun. The tall man was able to wrestle the gun free and fired a shot at Furcron, causing Furcron to fall to the floor in the kitchen. After this first shot, E.M. fled out the front door, and J.M. and Readon M. broke through a porch window. C.H. remained in the house as the tall man fired two more shots at Furcron. The short man then said "we gotta go" and both men left through the back door.

Roderick M. was standing outside the back door when the two men left the house. After escaping from the house during the robbery, Roderick had approached neighbors from across the alley and asked to borrow their cell phone. Roderick had called 911 and was on the telephone with the 911 operator when he heard gunshots. Roderick testified that after hearing the shots, he saw the two men run out the back door. According to Roderick, the tall man stopped and pointed the gun at him, but when the short man said "come on, come on," the tall man turned and both men ran down the alley. As the two men ran away, Roderick told the 911 operator he could identify the men.

After the two men left, Roderick M. went back into the house, where he found Furcron slumped on the floor in the hallway between the bedrooms. C.H. was with Furcron. According to C.H., after being shot, Furcron had gotten up from the kitchen floor and stumbled toward the hallway before collapsing. Roderick and C.H. tried to help Furcron, but Furcron died before police and paramedics arrived. The paramedics discovered that Furcron had been shot twice in the leg and once through his arm and into his chest.

During their investigation that night, the police found a black Nissan parked in the alley that ran behind the house. The Nissan was backed up into an alley driveway two houses down and was found with one car door open and the keys in the ignition. The police investigation revealed that the car belonged to appellant Alonzo Jerome Graham. The police seized two cell phones found in the car and discovered that one of the phones had a number traceable to Durrell Bobo. When an expert later searched the car for forensic evidence, he found two more cell phones and two fingerprints.

The police took E.M., Roderick M., Readon M., and C.H. to the police station. J.M. was transported to the hospital for treatment of injuries sustained during his escape from the house. The police compiled two six-person sequential photo lineups. One lineup contained a picture of Graham wearing an afro instead of braids the other line-up included a picture of Bobo. Both Readon M. and Roderick M. identified Graham as the shooter and Bobo as the shorter man. Both C.H. and E.M. identified Bobo but did not identify Graham. C.H., who identified Graham at trial, said he had been confused because of the differing hairstyles. J.M. subsequently identified both Graham and Bobo.

Officer Valerie Goligowski conducted interviews at the crime scene and Sergeants Charles Adams and Arthur Knight performed the interviews at the police station. The sergeants made a tape of the interviews with C.H. and Readon M., but no tape was made of the interview with Roderick M. The witnesses consistently described one taller and one shorter man, both wearing braids. The witness explained that one man had been wearing a black t-shirt and one had been wearing a red checked button-down shirt. The witnesses disagreed on which man was wearing which style shirt, and the witnesses' descriptions differed on various other details.

The police arrested Graham on June 27, 2006, at an apartment in Fridley. At the apartment, the police recovered a black shirt, two black doo-rags, and two pair of pants. Following his arrest, Graham was indicted by a grand jury for six counts of attempted first-degree aggravated robbery under Minn.Stat. § 609.245, subd. 1, and one count of first-degree murder while committing or attempting to commit first-degree aggravated robbery under Minn. Stat. § 609.185(a)(3).

Shortly before Graham's trial was to begin, two alibi witnesses for Graham came forward. When the State expressed concern that the alibi witnesses may offer false testimony, the district court appointed independent counsel for the witnesses, and they subsequently decided to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights. At trial, the State called each resident of the South Minneapolis home to provide eyewitness testimony. The State also presented evidence that the fingerprints obtained from the black Nissan belonged to Graham, the DNA evidence obtained from the phones in the Nissan did not exclude Graham, and the clothing found when Graham was arrested matched the witnesses' descriptions of the clothing worn by the assailant who had shot Furcron.

Graham's defense focused on impeachment of the eyewitness testimony. Defense counsel attempted to impeach the State's witnesses with the information contained in the police summaries, a transcript of the taped interviews, and the tape of the interview, but their attempts were limited by the district court's evidentiary rulings. The jury found Graham guilty on all seven counts, and he was convicted on one count of first-degree murder while committing or attempting to commit first-degree aggravated robbery and five counts of attempted first-degree aggravated robbery.

I.

Graham argues that a new trial is required because the State committed prosecutorial misconduct. Graham's argument for a new trial rests on several claims: that the State's actions with regard to the alibi witnesses were improper; that the State improperly obstructed defense counsel's impeachment of witnesses; and that the State's closing argument constituted prosecutorial misconduct. If we conclude that the State committed prosecutorial misconduct, we will grant a new trial when the misconduct "impaired the defendant's right to a fair trial." State v. Clifton, 701 N.W.2d 793, 798-99 (Minn. 2005) (citation omitted) (internal quotation marks omitted).

This case involves only objected-to allegations of misconduct. We have yet to decide whether the two-tiered approach for objected-to prosecutorial misconduct as set forth in State v. Caron remains viable. State v. McCray, 753 N.W.2d 746, 754 n. 2 (Minn.2008) (citing State v. Caron, 300 Minn. 123, 127-28, 218 N.W.2d...