State v. Heden

• Decision Date: 10 August 2006
• Docket Number: No. A05-1386.,A05-1386.
• Citation: 719 N.W.2d 689
• Parties: STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. John Russell HEDEN, Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

Page 689

719 N.W.2d 689

STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. John Russell HEDEN, Appellant.

No. A05-1386.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

August 10, 2006.

Office of the State Public Defender, Leslie J. Rosenberg, Assistant State Public Defender, Minneapolis, MN, for Appellant.

Mike Hatch, Minnesota State Attorney General, John B. Galus, Assistant Attorney General, St. Paul, MN, David M. Olin, Pennington County Attorney, Thief River Falls, MN, for Respondent.

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

OPINION

ANDERSON, PAUL H., Justice.

On April 4, 2005, a Pennington County jury found John Russell Heden guilty of first-degree murder—criminal sexual conduct, in violation of Minn.Stat. § 609.185(a)(2) (2004); first-degree murder—child abuse, in violation of Minn.Stat. § 609.185(a)(5) (2004); and second-degree felony murder, in violation of Minn.Stat. § 609.19, subd. 2(1) (2004), for the March 1, 2004 "shaken infant" death of his three-month-old daughter. The district court then convicted Heden of first-degree murder—criminal sexual conduct and sentenced him to life imprisonment without the possibility of release. Heden raises seven issues on this direct appeal and asks us to reverse and dismiss the charge of first-degree murder—criminal sexual conduct and remand for a new trial on first-degree murder—child abuse and second-degree felony murder. We affirm.

At 6:40 a.m. on March 1, 2004, appellant John Russell Heden dialed 911 to report that his three-month-old daughter, Rose, was not breathing. Emergency responders arrived within minutes, but they were unable to revive Rose, who was not breathing, had no pulse, and had blood coming out of her nose. When a paramedic informed Heden that further resuscitation efforts would be futile, he responded by shrugging his shoulders and making a statement to the effect that, unfortunately, bad things happen. Heden's wife, Shawna, who had been at work, was picked up by first responders and arrived home after the resuscitation efforts were terminated. After securing the scene, a deputy asked Heden and Shawna to go to the county law enforcement center to be interviewed. A first responder gave Heden and Shawna a ride because the Hedens' only working vehicle was still at Shawna's place of employment.

Heden and Shawna waited in the lobby of the law enforcement center for a Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) agent to interview them. When BCA Agent Philip Hodapp arrived, he introduced himself and explained that he was going to the county attorney's office, but would be back to speak with them. At that time, a deputy was at the county attorney's office preparing a search warrant for the Hedens' home.

Shawna, who was interviewed first, informed Hodapp that she had gotten up around 5:00 a.m. and left for work at approximately 5:15 a.m. Shawna stated that she had last checked on Rose at 1:00 a.m., at which point Rose had been fine. Hodapp interviewed Heden next. This interview, like the interview of Shawna, was recorded. Heden was neither under arrest nor physically restrained during the interview. Heden's stepsister, who was in the lobby of the law enforcement center during the interviews, testified that Heden and Shawna were "free to go in and out" of the building.

During this first interview, Heden initially told Hodapp that he had woken up around 6:00 a.m. to find Rose unresponsive and then called 911. Later in the one-hour interview, Heden said that he had gotten up a little bit earlier to feed Rose, and then found her unresponsive when he checked on her at about 6:00 a.m. Heden denied striking or shaking Rose that morning, but acknowledged that he had shaken her lightly on or about February 14. He also acknowledged having performed "rescue breathing" on Rose about one month earlier. Both Heden and Shawna gave permission to search their home and agreed to provide Hodapp with the clothing they were wearing that morning. Hodapp then suggested that Heden and Shawna meet him at their home so that they could give him their clothing.

Heden and Shawna left the law enforcement center in Heden's stepsister's car. Hodapp arrived at the Hedens' home about 20 to 30 minutes before the Hedens and, while there, he observed blood spatters around Rose's crib. Based on discrepancies between the evidence at the scene and Heden's earlier statement, Hodapp decided to interview Heden again. After Heden and Shawna arrived, they were admitted to the home one at a time to change their clothes. When it was Heden's turn, Hodapp followed him into a bedroom. When Hodapp and Heden were alone in the bedroom, Hodapp began to ask Heden some questions. Heden was not physically restrained. Hodapp also recorded this conversation, but this time the audio recorder was hidden in a pocket of Hodapp's notebook and Heden was probably unaware that he was being recorded.

Hodapp asked Heden about some discrepancies between his earlier statement and other evidence, and after a number of other questions, asked Heden if he had done something to Rose to stop her from crying. Heden responded, "Yeah, I guess I ain't sure if I did shake her a little bit." Hodapp then encouraged Heden to tell the truth. Heden stated that he was "a little antsy" because he did not want to go to prison. Hodapp informed Heden that he could make him no promises in that respect. Heden then admitted to shaking Rose back and forth "too hard." Hodapp asked Heden to demonstrate how he had shaken her, and Heden complied by showing Hodapp what he had done. Hodapp asked Heden how many times he had shaken Rose back and forth, and Heden responded that he had shaken her approximately five times. Heden also acknowledged that Rose's head had snapped back and forth when he shook her.

About 15 minutes into the interview, Hodapp told Heden that he was turning on his tape recorder, pretended to activate the recorder, and then asked Heden to repeat what he had told him. At this point, Heden left the bedroom to use the bathroom. When he returned to the bedroom, Heden repeated his admission, after which Hodapp asked questions highlighting Heden's cooperation with the investigation and asked him, "[y]ou're not under arrest, right?" Heden responded, "[y]eah."

Hodapp then informed Heden that he was now the focus of the investigation and told Heden that he needed to advise him of his rights. Heden asked if he was under arrest, and Hodapp responded that he needed to call the county attorney to "see what he wants to do." Hodapp then advised Heden of his Miranda rights and asked if he wanted to give a full statement. Heden again acknowledged shaking Rose, and said that an injury to Rose's chin was from putting her on the floor. The interview ended after about 27 minutes, at which point Hodapp asked Heden to remain in the bedroom while Hodapp spoke with deputies and the county attorney. Hodapp left the bedroom and conferred with the deputies who were at the home. Heden was then placed under arrest.

The next day, Dr. Michael McGee performed an autopsy on Rose. McGee concluded that the manner of death was homicide and the cause of death was "craniocerebral injuries due to or associated with shaken infant due to or associated with an assault." McGee found a fresh-appearing abrasion on Rose's chin, a fingernail scratch on Rose's cheek, and fresh-appearing "fingerprint" bruising on Rose's upper chest that he did not believe were CPR injuries. McGee also found a laceration in Rose's vaginal canal. He later testified that the cause of this laceration was penetration by an oversized object with enough force to tear the tissue, which would have caused Rose pain. McGee stated that this injury was both old and new: the original laceration would have occurred a minimum of two to four days before Rose's death, but the injury was re-torn on the day she died and began to bleed again.

Dr. McGee stated that Rose died due to a fresh-appearing subdural hemorrhage. McGee also found bilateral "perioptic hemorrhage"—bleeding "around the outer aspect of the eye or around the optic nerve"—which is associated with shaken infant syndrome. McGee testified that the fatal head injuries were consistent with having been inflicted between 6:00 a.m. and 6:40 a.m. on March 1, but he could not rule out infliction of the injuries between 5:00 a.m. and 6:40 a.m. McGee also found evidence of a previous, nonfatal shaking incident that occurred approximately 7 to 14 days before Rose's death and a 2- to 4-day-old tear in Rose's mouth caused by direct pressure.

After receiving preliminary autopsy results indicating that Rose had been sexually assaulted, BCA agents interviewed Heden a third time. After receiving a Miranda advisory, Heden said that Rose's crying had woken him up on the morning of March 1 and that he tried giving her a bottle and then a pacifier, neither of which calmed her. He then admitted that he had inserted his finger into her vaginal canal up to the second knuckle approximately three times, and that he noticed blood on his finger, which he wiped on his sweatpants. When nothing stopped Rose from crying, Heden said that he lost control and shook her. He then noticed Rose was not breathing and began to administer CPR. Following this third interview, the county attorney charged Heden with second-degree felony murder and first-degree criminal sexual conduct, and a grand jury subsequently indicted Heden for first-degree murder — criminal sexual conduct, first-degree murder — child abuse, and second — degree felony murder.

In a letter Heden wrote to Shawna from jail five days after Rose died, Heden said: "Something mentally had to happen to me that day, hon. I never imagined I'd do such a thing like that, especially when I don't like killing or horror movies." Shawna also testified at trial that Heden told her that he had "snapped" and had "wound up shaking [Rose] and doing the other charge," but that he said he only "stuck his fingers in" Rose once or twice on the day she died.

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