State v. Hathaway
| Decision Date | 20 December 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. C7-85-1,C7-85-1 |
| Citation | 379 N.W.2d 498 |
| Parties | STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Guy James HATHAWAY, Appellant. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
1. The reasoning relied upon by the trial court in denying the defendant a separate trial meets the requirements of Minn.R.Crim.P. 17.03, subd. 2(1).
2. Minn.R.Crim.P. 9.01, subd. 3(2), allowing the state to withhold information until certain potential witnesses have testified, does not violate the defendant's rights under State v. Thompson, 273 Minn. 1, 139 N.W.2d 490 (1966), or Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963).
3. Upon reviewing the totality of circumstances of pretrial identification in this case, a substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification did not occur.
4. The introduction of the victim's photo in police uniform did not play a substantial part in influencing the jury's verdict, in light of all the evidence submitted.
5. From all the evidence admitted, it was reasonable for the jury to determine that the defendant was guilty of first degree murder.
Michael F. Cromett, St. Paul, for appellant.
Thomas Foley, Ramsey Co. Atty., Steven C. DeCoster, Asst. Co. Atty., St. Paul, for respondent.
Heard, considered and decided by the court en banc.
This is an appeal of a first-degree murder conviction rendered by a Hennepin County District Court jury against defendant Guy Hathaway. Hathaway contends that the district court, apart from making several erroneous evidentiary rulings, improperly joined him and a codefendant, Harold Gustafson, for trial. He also contends that Minn.R.Crim.P. 9.01, subd. 3(2), which protects certain information regarding prosecution witnesses, is unconstitutional. We affirm.
At approximately 8:50 p.m. on Sunday, October 24, 1982, three armed men wearing ski masks entered the Mounds Park Hospital in St. Paul. They proceeded to the ground floor where the hospital pharmacy was located. Charles Glaser, an operating engineer for the hospital, was walking from his office toward the pharmacy that evening. Glaser was approached by one of the masked men who pointed a silver-barreled gun at Glaser's midsection and ordered him to have the pharmacist unlock the door to the pharmacy. Elaine Roby, the pharmacist on duty, saw two of the masked men peering in the window of the pharmacy. She immediately called the hospital switchboard for help. Kay McAllister, a pharmacy technician, saw Glaser and a man wearing a ski mask through the window of the pharmacy. She screamed and ran to a part of the pharmacy that was out of the view of the masked men. One of the intruders thereafter jumped through the bars on the pharmacy window and unlocked the door to the pharmacy. Two of the masked men immediately ordered the pharmacist to retrieve all the "Class A drugs" from the pharmacy vault, while the other ordered Glaser and McAllister to lie on the floor.
The hospital switchboard operator received the pharmacist's call for help and immediately conveyed the message to Richard Walton, an off-duty police officer and hospital security guard, who was seated next to her at the reception desk on the first floor of the hospital. Walton ran to the elevator and took it down one floor to the pharmacy. As Walton approached the door to the pharmacy he was noticed by the man guarding Glaser and McAllister. The man fired a single shot at Walton through the pharmacy window. Other shots were then fired in rapid succession. The three men ran from the pharmacy. Walton was found face down on the floor, one foot from the elevator door. Twelve hours later he died from a single gunshot wound to the head.
Police investigating the scene found a trail of blood leading from the pharmacy door down the hallway and up the stairs to the east exit of the hospital. Spots of blood were also discovered outside the hospital on the sidewalk and on the asphalt. One block from the hospital a car was found parked diagonally into the street. There were blood stains on the seat, on a plastic mat on the floor and on the bottom of the rear right door.
Two days after the shooting the police received information from a citizen that linked a man named Timothy Eling to the shooting. The informant told the police that Eling had been shot and that a man named Bill Dwyer had specific knowledge of the crime. The next day Dwyer told police that he had taken part in an attempt to rob the pharmacy on Friday, October 22, 1982, with Eling and two men named Guy Hathaway and Harold Gustafson, but that the robbery had been called off. Dwyer also disclosed to the police the descriptions of the weapons and car used in that robbery attempt.
On October 27, 1982, Eling was arrested and taken to St. Paul-Ramsey Hospital for treatment of two gunshot wounds in his lower right leg. Dr. James Sturm concluded that the wounds were at least 24 hours to less than one week old. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension determined that Eling's blood type matched the samples found at Mounds Park Hospital and in the abandoned car.
On November 19, 1982, the St. Paul police received a call from a man named George Leslie. Leslie told the police that he was to have robbed the hospital pharmacy with Eling, Gustafson and Hathaway on Sunday, October 24, 1982, and that he had "cased" the hospital with Eling on two separate occasions. He said he later decided not to participate in the robbery and did not meet the other three at the agreed-upon time.
Eling was charged with the intentional, premeditated murder of Walton and with the intentional killing while committing a felony. He was convicted by a jury, and this court affirmed his conviction in State v. Eling, 355 N.W.2d 286 (Minn.1984).
Guy Hathaway and Harold Gustafson were arrested on February 11, 1984, in Carpenteria, California. They were both charged with first-degree murder, felony murder, and conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery.
Hathaway and Gustafson moved for a change of venue pursuant to Minn.R.Crim.P. 25.02. The Ramsey County District Court ruled that the extensive publicity surrounding the case created a reasonable likelihood that there would be prejudice if it were tried in Ramsey County. The trial was therefore moved to Hennepin County.
The state moved for a joint trial of the defendants pursuant to Minn.R.Crim.P. 17.03, subd. 2(1). The trial court granted the motion, stating:
I'd like to comment that I'm persuaded by the fact this would be a complex trial involving a large number of witnesses, and I think that is a factor which weighs toward joining the two Defendants. * * * I'm also persuaded not by the defense argument, but I'm persuaded by the fact there may be one trial followed by a second one, and the prejudicial publicity which the state has characterized would fall out of the first trial, might influence the jurors on the second. * * * Defendants have not demonstrated to me their inconsistent defenses, such that requiring them to be in the trial together would be prejudicial to them. * * * The matter is within the discretion of the Court, and I think in the interest of justice, and based on the defense's failure to show prejudice, that a joint trial is appropriate in this case, and I will so order.
A joint trial commenced on July 18, 1984.
At trial, several hospital employees testified to the identification of defendant Hathaway. Donna McDuffey, a dietary coordinator at Mounds Park Hospital, testified that she saw a man fitting Hathaway's description on the Friday before the attempted robbery when he changed a five-dollar bill at her cash register in the hospital cafeteria. Helen Brisson, a dietary aide at the hospital, testified that she saw a man she later identified as Hathaway at approximately 1:00 p.m. on Friday, October 22, 1982, in the food-vending machine area on the ground floor of the hospital where he asked her for some ketchup. Ruth Tasler, a registered nurse, testified that on either the Tuesday or Thursday before the robbery attempt she saw a man on the ground level of the hospital near the central supply and pharmacy area. The man had long curly hair and a beard and was wearing a black leather jacket and jeans. From a photo display presented to her two weeks after the attempted robbery, she had identified the man as Hathaway. At trial, however, she was unable to recognize and identify the defendant.
Alleged coconspirators William Dwyer and George Leslie testified for the state at trial, as they had at Eling's trial. Dwyer testified that he had known defendant Hathaway for two years and that at the time of the robbery Hathaway had long hair and a beard, and often wore blue jeans and a black leather jacket. He told the jury that he, Gustafson, Hathaway and Eling had had Denise Loftus, a friend of the defendants, purchase a car on Thursday, October 21, 1982, for $250, to be used as a "throwaway" vehicle in the robbery. He also told the jury of the first attempt by Gustafson, Hathaway, Eling and himself to rob the hospital pharmacy on Friday, October 22, 1982. On that day, he entered the hospital first and determined that too many people were near the pharmacy. He waved the others away, and no robbery took place. He testified that he withdrew from the robbery plans at that time, and first learned of the Sunday shooting at the hospital on Monday morning when he saw the newspaper.
George Leslie testified that at approximately 1:00 p.m. on the day of the robbery he, Gustafson, Hathaway, and Eling had discussed how they should rob the hospital pharmacy. He stated that he left after the "planning session" ended at 5:00 p.m., and was to meet the others at 7:00 p.m. He testified that he never met them because he considered the robbery too risky. He said he first heard of the robbery on his police scanner Sunday night.
Eling testified in behalf of the defendants. He stated that Dwyer and Leslie--not Hathaway and Gustafson--were involved in the robbery with...
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