State v. Hummel

• Decision Date: 17 April 1992
• Docket Number: No. C4-90-2416,C4-90-2416
• Citation: 483 N.W.2d 68
• Parties: STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Jimmy Robert HUMMEL, Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

Page 68

483 N.W.2d 68

STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Jimmy Robert HUMMEL, Appellant.

No. C4-90-2416.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

April 17, 1992.

Syllabus by the Court

1. A criminal defendant has no constitutional right to have the trial court conduct an in camera inspection of confidential medical records. Such an inspection is available only after a plausible showing that the information sought would be both material and favorable to the defense.

2. A peaceable warrantless entry of a residence is justified by exigent circumstances when police come directly from the homicide scene, have reason to believe the suspect is armed and dangerous, and are informed by a family member that the suspect is present.

3. A warrantless search of a residence is permissible when a person or persons who exercise control over the property are present and consent to the search.

4. Photographic and videotape evidence of a homicide scene and autopsy is admissible so long as it gives the jury information that could be testified to, the evidence is not duplicative, and its probative value is not substantially outweighed by its prejudicial impact.

Steven J. Meshbesher, Sean M. Quinn, Meshbesher, Birrell & Dunlap, Ltd., Minneapolis, for appellant.

Hubert H. Humphrey, III, Atty. Gen., Paul R. Kempainen, Asst. Atty. Gen., St. Paul, and Stephen Rathke, Crow Wing County Atty., Brainerd, for respondent.

Heard, considered and decided by the court en banc.

OPINION

GARDEBRING, Justice.

This is an appeal by the petitioner, Jimmy Robert Hummel, from his 1990 conviction for first degree murder in the 1989 killing of Shana Pesheck. The petitioner, then 16, was certified to stand trial as an adult, and that decision was affirmed. In re the Matter of the Welfare of J.R.H., C3-89-2045, 1990 WL 81402 (Minn.App. June 19, 1990), pet. for rev. denied (Minn. July 31, 1990). Petitioner was indicted on two counts of first degree murder (premeditated and felony-burglary), two counts of second degree murder (intentional and felony) and one count of third degree murder. After a jury trial, petitioner was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. On appeal, petitioner argues his constitutional rights were violated when the trial court (a) declined his request to conduct an in camera inspection of the victim's psychiatric/psychological records; (b) denied a motion to suppress evidence gained from two warrantless searches; and (c) allowed into evidence photographs and videotape of the victim's body at the crime scene and photographs from the autopsy. We affirm.

I.

Petitioner and Shana Pesheck began dating in 1988. They argued and fought frequently, and by the spring of 1989, although they still saw each other often and talked on the telephone daily, the relationship was deteriorating. At approximately 10:30 p.m. on July 26, 1989, petitioner was at his home, talking with Ms. Pesheck on the telephone. They had a long, heated conversation; petitioner hung up five times, and Ms. Pesheck called back each time. After the calls, petitioner decided to drive to Ms. Pesheck's house to see her. However, petitioner's car was not yet insured and his mother would not give him the keys. Petitioner left on foot, grabbing what his mother believed to be a knife. Petitioner's father set off to find him, and petitioner's brother called the police and Ms. Pesheck. A sheriff's deputy went to Ms. Pesheck's home to warn her. Ms. Pesheck said she did not consider petitioner a threat, but she did agree to lock the doors. About an hour after petitioner left his home, police were notified that he had returned without going to Ms. Pesheck's house. Petitioner, still upset, stayed up until 1:30 a.m., then went to his bedroom. Meanwhile, Ms. Pesheck had gone to sleep on her family's living-room couch. Sometime during the early-morning hours, petitioner drove his mother's car to Ms. Pesheck's home and stabbed her to death.

At 5:30 a.m. on July 27, the victim's mother awoke to find the body, later determined to have 21 or 22 stab wounds. The mother called police, and one of the first officers to arrive was Deputy Sheriff James Peterson, who was aware of the call to police the night before. Peterson went inside the house and surveyed the scene. Later, he and Brainerd Patrolman Terry Crocker left for the Hummel house. They arrived at about 6:20 a.m. Petitioner's mother answered the door, and Peterson, who was in street clothes, showed her his badge and identification card and asked if petitioner was home. When Mrs. Hummel said yes, Peterson said he needed to talk to petitioner and it was important. Mrs. Hummel, followed by Peterson, went to petitioner's bedroom, but he was not there and the window screen had been cut. By that time, petitioner's father also was awake, and Peterson told both parents that petitioner was a possible suspect in a homicide. Peterson asked where petitioner might be and whether he had access to any firearms. Petitioner's father went to see if any guns were missing and Peterson followed. While they looked for a shotgun in petitioner's room, Peterson noticed a shirt and pair of white shorts covered with what appeared to be blood.

Peterson returned outside, where Crocker told him that in looking at a car in the driveway he had seen blood on the car, on the keys in the ignition, and on two knives on the floor of the passenger side. Shortly thereafter, Chief Sheriff's Deputy Irv Tollefson arrived at the Hummels' home with consent-to-search forms. Peterson filled out a form, presented it to petitioner's father, explained what it was and asked him to sign. However, Peterson noticed that Mr. Hummel was having trouble reading the form and suggested that he show it to Mrs. Hummel, which Mr. Hummel did. Peterson explained the form to Mrs. Hummel who looked it over, gave it back to her husband, and indicated approval to sign it, which Mr. and Mrs. Hummel both did. Inside the house, the officers retrieved the bloody clothing from petitioner's bedroom. Later that morning, petitioner was arrested after he was found sleeping in a deer stand behind his parents' home.

Before trial, petitioner made motions for (a) the court to subpoena and conduct an in camera inspection of the victim's psychiatric/psychological records from Grace Unit, a treatment facility for adolescents, where both the victim and petitioner had been hospitalized; (b) a change of venue; (c) suppression of a statement petitioner made to police; and (d) suppression of evidence gained from the searches of petitioner's home. The statement was suppressed, but petitioner's other motions were denied. At trial, the bloody clothing found in the Hummel home was admitted. The trial court also admitted twelve photographs of the victim's body at the death scene, seven photographs showing blood splatters, ten photographs from the autopsy, several diagrams of the body from the autopsy, and a videotape of the crime scene. The videotape did not go to the jury. The trial court felt the videotape might be cumulative, but decided to allow it in. On appeal, petitioner raises the following issues:

(1) Did the trial court violate petitioner's fourteenth amendment right to due process when it declined his request to subpoena and review, in camera, a psychiatric/psychological file on the victim?

(2) Did the trial court violate petitioner's rights under the fourth and fourteenth amendments by admitting evidence gained in two warrantless searches?

(3) Did the trial court violate petitioner's right to a fair trial by admitting into evidence twelve photographs of the victim at the death scene, seven photographs of blood splatters, ten photographs from the autopsy and a videotape from the death scene?

(4) Did the cumulative effect of these decisions violate petitioner's right to a fair trial?

II.

The first issue in this case is under what circumstances must a trial court review, in camera, confidential medical records when requested by a defendant to do so. The question arises in the context of petitioner requesting in camera review with no showing of relatedness to the case.

"There is no general constitutional right to discovery in a criminal case." Weatherford v. Bursey, 429 U.S. 545, 559, 97 S.Ct. 837, 846, 51 L.Ed.2d 30 (1977). But due process requires that "criminal defendants have the right to the government's assistance in compelling the attendance of favorable witnesses at trial and the right to put before a jury evidence that might influence the determination of guilt." Ritchie v. Pennsylvania, 480 U.S. 39, 56, 107 S.Ct. 989, 1000, 94 L.Ed.2d 40 (1987). Under the Minnesota rules, a defendant may seek a discovery order from the court in its discretion, Minn.R.Crim.P. 9.01, subd. 2(3), or request a subpoena of witnesses and records, Minn.R.Crim.P. 22.01, 22.02. The rules "are intended to give the defendant and prosecution as complete discovery as is possible under constitutional limitations." Minn.R.Crim.P. 9.03, Comment, para. 1.

At the same time, Minn.Stat. Sec. 595.02 subd. 1(d) and (g) (1988) prohibits unauthorized disclosure of medical and psychiatric/psychological information. At issue, then, is how these competing concerns are to be reconciled. ¹ "[T]he medical privilege, like other privileges, sometimes must give way to the defendant's right to confront his accusers." State v. Kutchara, 350 N.W.2d 924, 926 (Minn.1984). See also State v. Paradee, 403 N.W.2d 640 (Minn.1987) (adopting the Ritchie analysis for child welfare reports in criminal sexual conduct case).

But a defendant may not have direct access to the confidential material sought. It first must be screened by the trial court. "The in camera approach strikes a fairer balance between the interest of the privilege holder in having his confidences kept and the interest of the criminal defendant in obtaining all relevant evidence." Paradee, 403 N.W.2d at 642.

In this case, petitioner argued that he was entitled, under...