State v. Harris

• Decision Date: 07 January 1999
• Docket Number: No. C8-97-496,C8-97-496
• Citation: 589 N.W.2d 782
• Parties: STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Bruce (NMN) HARRIS, Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

Page 782

589 N.W.2d 782

STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Bruce (NMN) HARRIS, Appellant.

No. C8-97-496.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

Jan. 7, 1999.

Syllabus by the Court

A magistrate's finding of probable cause to issue a search warrant shall be affirmed if the factual allegations contained in the affidavit in support of the warrant application and the reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom provide a substantial basis for concluding that there is a fair probability that the items sought will be found in the place to be searched.

The evidence was sufficient to sustain the jury's verdict of guilty for one count of first-degree murder while committing or attempting to commit criminal sexual conduct and one count of first-degree murder while committing or attempting to commit aggravated robbery.

John M. Stuart, State Public Defender, Leslie J. Rosenberg, Special Assistant State Public Defender, Minneapolis, for appellant.

M. Hatch, Attorney General, St. Paul, Michael O. Freeman, Hennepin County Attorney, Linda K. Jenny, Assistant County Attorney, Minneapolis, for Respondent.

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

OPINION

PAUL H. ANDERSON, Justice.

Appellant Bruce Harris was found guilty by a jury of one count of first-degree murder while committing or attempting to commit criminal sexual conduct and one count of first-degree murder while committing or attempting to commit aggravated robbery for the 1995 killing of Carolyn McGrath. On appeal, Harris alleges that his conviction should be reversed for the following reasons: (1) the district court erred in admitting evidence seized during a search of Harris' apartment because the warrant authorizing that search was not supported by probable cause; and (2) there was insufficient evidence for the jury to find Harris guilty of either count of felony-murder. We affirm.

On the morning of December 12, 1995, Minneapolis police officers were called to the Minneapolis apartment of Carolyn McGrath by McGrath's grandson. The grandson had gone to the apartment to drop off his younger sister whom McGrath routinely babysat during the hours before school started. When McGrath failed to answer her door, her grandson became worried and called the police. At approximately 6:30 a.m., the police arrived and, after entering McGrath's apartment, discovered 63-year-old McGrath dead in her bedroom. The police found McGrath lying on her bed in her nightclothes with a pillow covering her face. McGrath's underpants were torn and both of her legs were through the same leg hole of the underpants. She had sustained multiple "sharp-force" injuries to the front of her torso. In McGrath's bedroom, the police found a 3- to 4-inch kitchen knife and a large, two-pronged meat fork with the handle bent nearly in half. Both items had blood on them. The police also found a pair of blue, blood-stained gloves and a dark knit stocking cap in the bedroom.

Dr. Mitchell Morey, an Assistant Hennepin County Medical Examiner, conducted an autopsy of McGrath's body. The autopsy revealed that the sharp-force injuries to McGrath's torso were consistent with having been caused by the knife and the meat fork found in McGrath's bedroom. The examiner also discovered indicia of asphyxiation and strangulation. The examiner concluded that McGrath's death was caused by a combination of the sharp-force wounds, asphyxiation, and strangulation. He estimated that McGrath was killed between 8:30 p.m. on December 11 and 2:30 a.m. on December 12, 1995.

In conducting his autopsy, the medical examiner also discovered a pair of "superficial tears" in the lining of McGrath's vagina. While no sperm or seminal fluid was discovered on McGrath's body or clothes, the examiner did discover three black hairs on McGrath's vaginal area. Macroscopic examination tests revealed that the hairs were pubic hairs from a person who was African-American. McGrath was Caucasian. Based on this evidence and the nature of McGrath's other injuries, the examiner concluded that McGrath had been sexually assaulted at or about the time of her death.

The police interviewed Joyce and Kellie Rooker, two friends of McGrath, who reported that they spent part of the evening of December 11, 1995 at McGrath's apartment watching a video. At trial, the Rookers testified that they arrived at McGrath's apartment between 5:00 and 5:30 p.m. At about 6:20 p.m., there was a knock at McGrath's door and McGrath answered it. After a few seconds, McGrath returned to the room and said that the visitor had been Bruce Harris, who lived in the apartment next door. At trial, it was undisputed that McGrath knew Harris, that the two were friends, and that McGrath would typically let Harris into her apartment. The Rookers further testified that, between 15 and 30 minutes after the first visit, Harris visited McGrath a second time and, once again, left after having a short conversation with her. Joyce Rooker testified that, upon returning to the apartment, McGrath said that Harris had been trying to collect some money McGrath owed him. Kellie Rooker testified that McGrath then said that Harris might stop "bugging" her because McGrath had told him she had no money. The Rookers left McGrath's apartment at approximately 7:30 p.m.

The police also interviewed McGrath's daughter, who reported that some items were missing from McGrath's apartment, including a VCR, jewelry, the keys to the apartment, and the magnetic key card for the apartment building's front security door. McGrath's daughter testified that, although McGrath had numerous physical ailments, including arthritis, for which she took prescription medication, after McGrath's death, the only pill bottles found in her apartment were empty.

During the course of their investigation, the police examined surveillance videos from security cameras positioned at the entryway of McGrath's apartment building. The videos from December 11 and 12, 1995 showed that Harris made multiple trips into and out of the building around the time of McGrath's killing, often carrying boxes or bags filled with unidentifiable objects.

On the same day the police found McGrath's body, they attempted to contact Harris. Residents of McGrath's apartment informed the police that they had not seen Harris. The police continued to look for Harris and returned to the apartment building approximately six times between December 12 and 22, 1995. During those trips, the police saw no signs of activity in Harris' apartment and observed that numerous flyers were piling up in front of Harris' door.

On December 22, 1995, the police contacted Harris' fiance, Marlene Cornelius. Cornelius did not tell the police where Harris was, but said that Harris had visited her on December 12, 1995 at approximately 6:30 a.m.--about the same time the police were first entering McGrath's apartment--and, at that time, Harris told her that McGrath was dead. At trial, however, Cornelius testified that, while Harris did visit her on the morning of December 12, he did not tell her that McGrath was dead until later, after he learned it from another friend.

According to Cornelius, when Harris visited her on the morning of December 12, he appeared to be intoxicated, was vomiting, and said that he had taken four Actifed. Forty to forty-five minutes after Harris' arrival, Cornelius left her home and walked four blocks to the Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) where she participated in chemical dependency treatment classes. Harris followed Cornelius to HCMC. Once there, Cornelius informed nurses that Harris had ingested some pills. Harris vomited and, in the vomit, HCMC's staff discovered that Harris had taken over 40 pills of various types. Among the substances ingested by Harris were cocaine, acetaminophen, and Voltaren, a prescription arthritis medication. Harris was admitted to the psychiatric ward of HCMC and stayed there until December 21, 1995 when he was transferred to an inpatient chemical rehabilitation treatment center. Although Cornelius knew that Harris was at the inpatient treatment center at the time of her initial interview with the police, at that time she did not tell the police where Harris was. Cornelius did, however, agree to come to the police station the following day to provide a statement.

On the same day they first interviewed Cornelius, December 22, 1995, the police applied for a warrant to search Harris' apartment. The police prepared an affidavit in support of their application and presented it to a Hennepin County district court judge. In pertinent part, the affidavit stated:

You affiant interviewed two of the victim;s friends who had last seen her on 12-11-95 at approx. 7p.m. to 8p.m. they had been watching a video movie with her and during the course of the movie they heard a knock at the door. the victim got up to answer the door and then stepped into the hallway to talk with an unkown party who had interrupted the movie session. According to one of the parties, the victim came back into the apt. and seemed to be fine showing no signs of agitation at being interrupted. Aprox.10 to 15 minutes later ther was another knock at the door and again the victim got up and went to the door. this time the party who knocked came into the apt. once the door had been opened. The victim's friend recognized the party as Bruce the occupant of apt. # 903 jist down the hall from the victim. The victim then took Bruce out into the hallway and spoke to him, when the victim returned one of the quest recall the vicitm stating that he might not bug me for a while after this visit.

Your affiant also learned that the resident of apt.# 903 did not use he keycard for access to the security door to the apt. bldg. but used the keypad and punched in a code for another apt. to enter into the bldg.

Your affiant learned that a video tape for the bldg. front door as well as the interior area's and the exits had been turned over too other investigators. Upon learning...