State v. Greenleaf, C7-97-2322

• Decision Date: 15 April 1999
• Docket Number: No. C7-97-2322,C7-97-2322
• Citation: 591 N.W.2d 488
• Parties: STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Lester GREENLEAF, Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

Page 488

591 N.W.2d 488

STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Lester GREENLEAF, Appellant.

No. C7-97-2322.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

April 15, 1999.

Syllabus by the Court

1. A defendant's right to counsel is not violated when, after asking to speak with an attorney but before having the opportunity to do so, the defendant himself initiates further communication, exchanges, or conversations with police.

2. Minn. R.Crim. P. 18.05 does not require that a transcript be made of audio tapes submitted to a grand jury.

3. That grand jurors may have heard inadmissible evidence is not sufficient to dismiss an indictment where there is sufficient admissible evidence to establish probable cause.

4. A suspect has no right to confront a witness testifying at a grand jury proceeding.

5. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by ordering a joint trial when the nature of the charged offenses and the evidence against each defendant is nearly identical, when the trial court instructs the jury at the beginning and end of the trial that the cases are to be considered separately, and when joining the trials is in the interests of justice.

6. A Batson challenge fails when the state provides ample, nonrace-based justifications for each of its peremptory strikes.

7. In order to bring a successful Batson challenge, the defendant must make a prima facie showing that the challenges were exercised on the basis of gender.

8. The trial court did not err by allowing a codefendant to testify when his plea negotiations did not condition his sentence upon the successful prosecution of accomplices, the plea agreement was not an inducement to commit perjury, and the jury was properly instructed that it could not find appellant guilty based upon the codefendant's testimony, unless that testimony was corroborated by other evidence which tended to convict the defendant of the crime.

9. The trial court did not err when it denied a defendant the right to cross-examine a codefendant regarding the specific number of months his sentence could be reduced pursuant to the codefendant's plea agreement.

10. Absent sufficient indicia of reliability, it is error to allow a witness to testify regarding the out-of-court statement of an unavailable third party; such error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt when the verdict actually rendered was surely unattributable to the error.

11. It is error to allow witnesses to testify from transcripts of taped statements that were not admitted into evidence; however, such an error is harmless when no constitutional right was violated, another more damaging confession was properly admitted, and the officer could have orally provided the same evidence by using the transcript of the tape as a refreshing memorandum.

12. The trial court did not err by refusing to admit expert testimony which invades the exclusive province of the jury, and the trial court concludes that the jury would not be aided by this expert testimony.

13. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by excluding "reverse Spriegl " evidence when the only similarity between the two crimes is that the third party has a propensity to commit crimes.

Michael F. Cromett, Roseville, for appellant.

Hubert H. Humphrey III, Minnesota Attorney General, Catherine M. Keane, Assistant Attorney General, John B. Galus, Assistant Attorney General, St. Paul; Marvin E. Ketola, Carlton County Attorney, Carlton, for respondent.

Heard, considered and decided by the court en banc.

OPINION

RUSSELL A. ANDERSON, Justice.

A grand jury in Carlton County indicted Lester Greenleaf on the charge that he aided and abetted the first-degree murder of 17-year-old Paul Antonich in violation of Minn.Stat. §§ 609.185, subd. 3, and 609.05, subd. 1 (1998). Venue of the trial was changed to Dakota County, and Greenleaf, who was tried jointly with Andy Leo DeVerney, was convicted of the offense and sentenced to life imprisonment. On appeal, Greenleaf argues that his conviction should be reversed. We affirm.

At approximately 8:30 p.m. on August 28, 1996, Antonich was driving his parents' car through Duluth to his family's home in Two Harbors. At the intersection of Sixth Avenue East and Ninth Street in Duluth, Antonich's vehicle bumped into a vehicle driven by John Steven Martin. John Steven Martin and his four friends, DeVerney, Jamie Aubid, John Alexander "Mike" Martin ("Mike Martin"), and appellant, Greenleaf, exited the vehicle driven by John Steven Martin and began verbally and physically assaulting Antonich. Mike Martin, DeVerney, and a bystander testified that they saw Greenleaf reach in through the window and strike Antonich. Greenleaf testified that he was not sure whether he hit Antonich, but said he might have because it was likely that hitting someone resulted in reopening a cut on his hand. Greenleaf claimed that, at the time, he was on a 2-week drinking binge, and that he had consumed 18 to 20 beers that day.

Following this initial assault, Greenleaf got into the driver's seat of Antonich's parents' car and pushed Antonich over into the front passenger seat. The four other men returned to the vehicle John Steven Martin had been driving and both vehicles left the scene of the accident. The two cars then proceeded to the intersection of 15th or 16th Street West and 3rd Street where the men again exited the vehicle driven by John Steven Martin, pulled Antonich from his car and assaulted him. Greenleaf testified that he was struggling to get the key out of the car's ignition when this second beating began, but that when he exited the vehicle he got between Antonich and his friends in an attempt to stop the assault. According to Greenleaf, John Steven Martin then pulled out a gun and stated that he wanted to "take [Antonich] and shoot him." Greenleaf testified that Martin "looked crazy."

Following the second assault, Antonich was shoved into the back seat of his parents' car, with Greenleaf behind the wheel and DeVerney joining him in the front passenger seat, as they followed the vehicle driven by John Steven Martin onto Interstate 35. Greenleaf claimed that he attempted to lose John Steven Martin several times by slowing his vehicle but that each time he slowed down, John Steven Martin also slowed the vehicle he was driving. Greenleaf also testified that after driving several miles on Interstate 35, he stopped Antonich's car on the side of the highway but John Steven Martin also stopped the car he was driving and ran back to Antonich's car. Greenleaf testified that he implored Martin to "stop right here, man. I don't want--I don't want to take this any further [be]cause, you know, I know what we did was wrong * * * ." According to Greenleaf, Martin demanded that Greenleaf "just keep * * * driving the car. Quit being a chicken * * * ." Greenleaf explained that he did not argue and continued to drive because he had seen what Martin was capable of doing.

Both cars then proceeded for several miles to Ditchbank Road, located in a remote area on the Fond du Lac reservation outside Cloquet, approximately 35 miles from Duluth. Antonich was then pulled from his parents' car and John Steven Martin shot him four times, killing him. Greenleaf testified that he took no part in removing Antonich from the car and was still in the vehicle when Martin pulled the trigger. While the other three men placed Antonich's body in the trunk of his parents' car, Greenleaf and DeVerney wiped Antonich's parents' car inside and out to remove fingerprints. John Steven Martin then drove Antonich's parents' car into a drainage ditch, got back in the car he had been driving and drove all five men back to Duluth. The following morning, all five men got together, drove to the Blatnik Bridge and threw the gun into Lake Superior.

Later that afternoon, a logger discovered Antonich's parents' car in the ditch and alerted authorities. Police officers had the vehicle towed from the ditch and discovered Antonich's body in the trunk. St. Louis County medical examiner, Dr. Donald Kundel, performed an autopsy and concluded that Antonich's death was caused by two gunshot wounds, one to the heart and one to the right forehead. Antonich suffered two other gunshot wounds, one to the neck and one to the chin. Dr. Kundel also testified that Antonich had suffered a severe beating evidenced by blunt trauma to his ear, eyes, head, face, jaw, nose, forehead, neck, shoulders, and chest. Dr. Kundel estimated that Antonich had suffered between 50 and 100 blows with either fists or feet, and that some of the blows, most notably to the head and ears, broke the skin. Investigators also found large amounts of blood in Antonich's parents' vehicle. Some of the blood found on the driver's door and seat was determined to be Greenleaf's blood. Greenleaf's blood was also found on a cloth in the trunk of the car John Steven Martin had driven.

Earlier on the morning after the murder, Mike Martin had talked to a friend, Lawrence Murray, about someone having been killed the night before with a gun. When Murray saw news reports about Antonich's death, he called authorities. The following day, August 30, 1996, police officers arrested Mike Martin and he admitted his involvement in Antonich's murder. Nearly nine months later, on May 8, 1997, Mike Martin reached a plea agreement with the state whereby he would plead guilty to aiding and abetting intentional second-degree murder in exchange for his truthful testimony at the trials of the other four accomplices. The plea agreement provided that, in exchange for his truthful testimony, Martin would receive a sentence ranging from 163 to 244.5 months. ¹ The plea agreement had the effect of reducing Martin's presumptive sentence by 25 to 50 percent.

The day after the killing, Greenleaf left Duluth to attend a weekend pow wow on the Red Lake Reservation. Just two days later, on August 31, 1996, reservation authorities arrested Greenleaf for an alcohol violation. Carlton County a...