State v. Irby, A11–1852.

• Decision Date: 02 July 2014
• Docket Number: No. A11–1852.,A11–1852.
• Citation: 848 N.W.2d 515
• Parties: STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Jaimiah Lamar IRBY, Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

848 N.W.2d 515

STATE of Minnesota, Respondent,

v.Jaimiah Lamar IRBY, Appellant.

No. A11–1852.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

July 2, 2014.

Syllabus by the Court

Minnesota Statutes § 351.02(4) (2012) does not apply to a district court judge residing in Minnesota but outside her judicial district because a district court judge does not hold a “local” office as that term is used in the statute.

Lori Swanson, Attorney General, Saint Paul, MN; and Michael O. Freeman, Hennepin County Attorney, Jean Burdorf, Assistant Hennepin County Attorney, Minneapolis, MN, for respondent.

Cathryn Middlebrook, Chief Appellate Public Defender, Theodora Gaïtas, Assistant State Public Defender, Saint Paul, MN, for appellant.

OPINION

ANDERSON, Justice.

Appellant Jaimiah Lamar Irby argues that he is entitled to a new trial because we found that the judge who presided over his conviction and sentencing, the Honorable Patricia Kerr Karasov, failed to reside in her judicial district from July 1, 2009, to September 30, 2009. Although this period of absence concluded before Irby's trial began, Irby contends that Judge Karasov automatically forfeited her office under Minn.Stat. § 351.02(4) (2012) when she moved outside her district, and that she therefore lacked the authority to hear his case. Because we conclude that a district court judgeship does not fall within the meaning of “local” office in Minn.Stat. § 351.02(4), and, consequently, this portion of the statute does not apply to Judge Karasov, we affirm.

Appellant Jaimiah Lamar Irby was involved in a 4–year relationship with T.D. The couple had two children together before their relationship ended in approximately March 2009. In September 2009, T.D. obtained an order for protection against Irby after an incident in which he became violent and would not let her leave the apartment they had previously shared. Shortly thereafter, Irby, armed with a handgun, confronted T.D., her mother, and her sister at her mother's house. Irby eventually shot both T.D. and her sister. Although T.D. and her sister survived, her sister suffered a punctured lung, and both required multiple surgeries.

The State initially charged Irby with first- and second-degree assault against T.D. under Minn.Stat. §§ 609.221, subd. 1, 609.222, subd. 1 (2012); first- and second-degree assault against T.D.'s sister under Minn.Stat. §§ 609.221, subd. 1, 609.222, subd. 1; and first-degree burglary under Minn.Stat. § 609.582, subd. 1(c) (2012). Irby's first trial, in June 2010, ended in a mistrial as a result of a deadlocked jury. Before Irby's second trial, held in June 2011, the State added the charge of a prohibited person in possession of a firearm under Minn.Stat. § 624.713, subds. 1(2), 2(b) (2012). The jury found Irby guilty of all charges and the district court entered judgment of conviction. Irby appealed.

Both of Irby's trials were presided over by Hennepin County District Court Judge Patricia Kerr Karasov. On November 16, 2011, several months after the second of Irby's two jury trials, we issued an opinion in a disciplinary proceeding involving Judge Karasov. In re Karasov, 805 N.W.2d 255 (Minn.2011). We concluded that the Minnesota Board on Judicial Standards had proven by clear and convincing evidence that Judge Karasov had failed to reside within her judicial district from July 1, 2009, to September 30, 2009, in violation of Article VI, Section 4, of the Minnesota Constitution. ¹In re Karasov, 805 N.W.2d at 268. For this violation, as well as her failure to cooperate with the Board's investigation, we censured Judge Karasov and suspended her for 6 months without pay. Id. at 277.

In his appeal, Irby argued, for our purposes here, that Judge Karasov's failure to reside in her district rendered her office vacant under Minn.Stat. § 351.02(4) (providing that every office shall become vacant on “the incumbent's ceasing to be an inhabitant of the state, or, if the office is local, of the district, county or city for which the incumbent was elected or appointed, or within which the duties of the office are required to be discharged”). Under Irby's theory, Karasov automatically ceased to be a judge when she moved out of her district in 2009, and thus, despite moving back to the district before Irby's trial, she had no authority to hear cases absent the Governor appointing her to her former position.

The court of appeals rejected this argument and affirmed Irby's conviction, relying in part on our decision in In re Karasov. State v. Irby, 820 N.W.2d 30, 35–36 (Minn.App.2012). The court of appeals reasoned that our “suspension—rather than removal—of the subject judge strongly implie[d], at the very least, that the [supreme] court viewed the subject judge as a de facto judge, if not a de jure judge, notwithstanding her residency violation.” Id. at 36.

We granted Irby's petition for review on the issue of whether he is entitled to a new trial because Judge Karasov's failure to reside in her district rendered her office vacant under Minn.Stat. § 351.02(4). We reject Irby's argument and affirm the court of appeals, although on different grounds.

I.

A judicial officer's authority to conduct a trial is a legal question that we review de novo. State v. Pflepsen, 590 N.W.2d 759, 763 (Minn.1999) (“Questions concerning the authority and jurisdiction of the lower courts are legal issues subject to de novo review.”). Although we generally “limit our review of errors to which the defendant did not object at trial to those constituting plain error affecting substantial rights,” and Irby did not object to Judge Karasov presiding at trial, we have said that in cases “involving a fundamental question of judicial authority, ... plain error analysis is inappropriate.” State v. Harris, 667 N.W.2d 911, 920 (Minn.2003). Therefore, we decline to apply plain-error analysis and instead review de novo.

II.

Minnesota Statutes § 351.02(4) provides, as relevant here:

Every office shall become vacant on the happening of ...:

....

(4) the incumbent's ceasing to be an inhabitant of the state, or, if the office is local, of the district, county or city for which the incumbent was elected or appointed, or within which the duties of the office are required to be discharged.

(Emphasis added.) When we concluded that she had failed to reside in her district during the summer of 2009, we also noted that “Judge Karasov was residing at her lake home in Chicago City ... during this period.” In re Karasov, 805 N.W.2d at 265. Because Judge Karasov continued to reside in Minnesota during the time in question, she clearly did not “ceas[e] to be an inhabitant of the state.” Minn.Stat. § 351.02(4). Judge Karasov's office, therefore, did not become vacant under the first portion of the statute.

Since the first portion of Minn.Stat. § 351.02(4) does not apply, Irby's argument must rely on the second half of that paragraph—that Judge Karasov was no longer an inhabitant of the “district ... for which [she] was elected or appointed, or within which the duties of [her] office are required to be discharged.” But this language is preceded by a qualifier: it applies only “if the office is local.” Id. For Irby's claim to succeed, a district court judgeship must therefore be a “local” office under the statute. Whether a district court judgeship qualifies as a “local” office under Minn.Stat. § 351.02(4) is a question of first impression for our court, and as a matter of statutory interpretation, it is one that we review de novo. Premier Bank v. Becker Dev., LLC, 785 N.W.2d 753, 758 (Minn.2010).

We begin with the text of the statute.² “The goal of statutory interpretation is to ‘ascertain and effectuate the intention of the legislature.’ ” W. Nat'l Ins. Co. v. Thompson, 797 N.W.2d 201, 205 (Minn.2011) (citation omitted); see alsoMinn.Stat. § 645.16 (2012). When interpreting a statute, we give words and phrases their plain and ordinary meaning. Martin v. Dicklich, 823 N.W.2d 336, 342 (Minn.2012). If the statute is not ambiguous,we apply its plain meaning. Id. A statute is ambiguous if its language is subject to more than one reasonable interpretation. Id. In this case, Minn.Stat. § 351.02(4) is ambiguous because it is subject to more than one reasonable interpretation.

One reasonable interpretation of Minn.Stat. § 351.02(4) recognizes that district court judges act with statewide authority and therefore do not hold a “local” office within the meaning of section 351.02(4). The phrase “if the office is local” itself is not so plain and unambiguous as to allow for only one interpretation. Cf. Oehler v. City of St. Paul, 174 Minn. 410, 418, 219 N.W. 760, 763 (1928) (“The words ‘office’ and ‘officer’ are terms of vague and variable import, the meaning of which necessarily varies with the connection in which they are used....”). But interpreting the phrase within the context of the entire statute, as we must, see ILHC of Eagan, LLC v. Cnty. of Dakota, 693 N.W.2d 412, 419 (Minn.2005), provides some clarification. While the first part of Minn.Stat. § 351.02(4) refers to the incumbent ceasing to reside in the state, the “local” portion of the statute references ceasing to reside in a particular “district, county or city.” Thus, the language of the statute reasonably supports the construction that statewide offices are only impacted by the first part of the statute, and that a “local” office refers to an office operating beneath the statewide level, such as at the district, county, or city level.

There is constitutional and statutory support for the proposition that a district court judgeship is a statewide office, and therefore not a “local” office. The judicial power of the state is exercised through its courts, including the “district court.” Minn. Const. art. VI, § 1. We have said that the district court is “a constitutional court of original jurisdiction,” and we have recognized the district court for over 100 years as “the one court of general jurisdiction” in the state....