State v. Jackson
| Decision Date | 10 March 2014 |
| Docket Number | A13-0346 |
| Parties | State of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Ronnie Jerome Jackson, III, Appellant. |
| Court | Minnesota Court of Appeals |
This opinion will be unpublished and
may not be cited except as provided by
Minn. Stat. § 480A.08, subd. 3 (2012).
Affirmed
Crow Wing County District Court
Lori Swanson, Attorney General, St. Paul, Minnesota; and
Donald F. Ryan, Crow Wing County Attorney, Candace Prigge, Assistant County Attorney, Brainerd, Minnesota (for respondent)
Cathryn Middlebrook, Chief Appellate Public Defender, Michael W. Kunkel, Assistant Public Defender, St. Paul, Minnesota (for appellant)
Considered and decided by Chutich, Presiding Judge; Worke, Judge; and Larkin, Judge.
UNPUBLISHED OPINION
Appellant Ronnie Jackson appeals his conviction of first-degree arson, arguing that (1) the evidence was insufficient to convict him; (2) the district court committedplain error by failing to properly instruct the jury on accomplice liability; (3) the district court erred in permitting the state to reopen its case-in-chief; (4) the facts found by the jury were insufficient to prove that appellant's sleeping roommate was a "particularly vulnerable" victim; and (5) the district court committed plain error in failing to properly instruct the sentencing jury. Because the evidence was sufficient and no reversible error occurred, we affirm Jackson's conviction. Because the district court did not err in its instructions and sentenced Jackson within its discretion, we also affirm Jackson's sentence.
On the evening of June 20, 2011, Jackson was with J.S., a woman he was dating, at the home where J.S. lived in Brainerd (Brainerd home). J.S.'s mother owned the home and allowed her daughters to live there. Around 6:30 p.m. that evening, Jackson and J.S. went to J.S.'s mother's other home, located in Barrows. A few hours later, Jackson and J.S. got into an argument, during which Jackson grabbed J.S.'s arms.
Around 11 p.m., Jackson returned to the Brainerd home, where he had stayed off and on since he and J.S. started dating earlier that year. Jackson spoke with another housemate, C.H., who helped Jackson pack up some of his belongings. Jackson also stopped at R.F.'s home, where he was planning to stay for the night.
Jackson then returned to J.S.'s mother's home in Barrows. J.S. was sleeping and woke up to Jackson punching her in the head. J.S.'s mother called 911, and Jackson said to them, "I can burn both your houses down." Jackson went back to R.F.'s house andtold R.F. that if he "really wanted to," he could "burn both them houses down." Jackson then left R.F.'s house.
Sergeant Vukelich of the Crow Wing County Sheriff's Department responded to the 911 call. After hearing about Jackson's threats to burn down a house, officers began looking for him. Sergeant Vukelich contacted Officer Davis, a patrol officer at the Brainerd Police Department, who then checked on the Brainerd home. Seeing nothing unusual, Officer Davis next went to the Lazy Acres trailer park, where he saw Jackson's white Mercury Cougar parked by one of the trailers. Officer Davis spoke with D.P., who was at the trailer. She told the officer that Jackson was not there, but that her car, a gray Hyundai Sonata, was missing from her driveway. While Officer Davis was speaking with D.P., he received a call of a "structure fire" at the Brainerd home.
At 4:00 a.m., a man who happened to be driving by the Brainerd home called 911 after he saw the house on fire. He banged on the door of the burning house, and eventually C.H. and J.S.'s sister emerged.
After responding to the fire, Officer Davis returned to the Lazy Acres trailer park because D.P. wanted to report that her car was stolen. D.P. told Officer Davis that shortly after he left the first time, her daughter, Nancy Portz, and Jackson arrived at her house; Portz was driving her mother's gray Hyundai. Jackson and Portz were at the trailer home for about five minutes and then left in Jackson's white Cougar.
During their investigation of the fire, officers spoke with an employee of a Holiday gas station. The employee described a customer who entered the store in the early morning hours of June 21 and bought a gasoline can, a Bic lighter, and $5 worth ofgasoline. The description of the customer matched Jackson's appearance, and the employee further described a silver-colored car that matched the description of Portz's mother's car. The receipt for these items was dated 6/21/11 at 3:29 a.m. and showed that a Visa card with the last four digits 6145 was used to buy the gas can, gas, and lighter.
Early that same morning, officers stopped Jackson on highway 169 near Onamia, driving his white Mercury Cougar. Nancy Portz was with him. Officers found a lighter and J.S.'s purse in Jackson's car. Officers also found three Visa gift cards in Jackson's pocket, one of which was the card used to buy the gasoline. A gas can was later discovered along the route between the Brainerd home and the Lazy Acres trailer park.
Jackson first denied knowing anything about the fire. The following day, June 22, Jackson gave a statement to investigators, admitting his participation. Jackson admitted that he and Nancy Portz bought the gas and that he handed the gas can to her in the Holiday parking lot. He told Portz where J.S. lived, and he said that Portz put gloves on and, after they parked behind the house, she ran to the house while Jackson waited in the car. Jackson stated, "When I . . . next time I look up, dude, it was whoosh." When asked where Portz poured the gas, he said, Jackson also stated that, at some point after they drove away, Portz threw the gas can out of the window. Jackson insisted several times that he did not think that Portz would "do it," but he admitted to "egging her on." He also admitted that he knew C.H. was in the home when the blaze was set.
The state charged Jackson with first-degree arson. A jury trial was held in Crow Wing County. Jackson chose not to testify and did not call any witnesses.
The jury found Jackson guilty of first-degree arson, third-degree arson, and fifth-degree arson. After a Blakely hearing the next day, the jury responded "yes" to four special-verdict form questions. The district court sentenced Jackson to 115 months for the first-degree arson conviction. This appeal followed.
A person is guilty of first-degree arson if, "by means of fire," he "intentionally destroys or damages . . . a dwelling." Minn. Stat. § 609.561, subd. 1 (2010). "A person is criminally liable for a crime committed by another if the person intentionally aids, advises, hires, counsels, or conspires with or otherwise procures the other to commit the crime." Minn. Stat. § 609.05, subd. 1 (2010). Jackson argues that the evidence was insufficient to prove he was liable as an accomplice to first-degree arson because the state did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Nancy Portz intended to destroy or damage the home. He contends that the proven circumstances are equally consistent with Portz intending only to damage a couch that was sitting on the house's wooden deck. We disagree with his contention.
In considering an insufficient-evidence claim, we determine whether the evidence, when viewed in the light most favorable to the conviction, is sufficient to allow the jury to reach a verdict of guilty. State v. Silvernail, 831 N.W.2d 594, 599 (Minn. 2013). We defer to the jury's acceptance of the circumstances proved by the state and rejection ofevidence that conflicted with those circumstances. Id. at 598-99. When reviewing a conviction based on circumstantial evidence, as here, the circumstances proved by the state must be "consistent with guilt and inconsistent with any rational hypothesis except that of guilt." Id. at 599 (quotation omitted).
The circumstances proved by the state here show that, on the night of the fire, Jackson and J.S. got into an argument, and Jackson threatened to burn down J.S.'s home, a threat he made more than once that evening. Jackson bought a gas can, more than a gallon of gasoline, and a lighter, gave Portz the can of gasoline, told Portz where J.S. lived, drove her there, and admitted to "egging [Portz] on." After Jackson saw the "whoosh" of fire, Portz got back in the car and told Jackson, Jackson and Portz discarded the gas can enroute to Portz's mother's trailer, changed cars, and were fleeing in Jackson's car when the police found them.
In addition, a deputy state fire marshal testified for the state as an expert in the area of fire origins and investigations. The marshal determined that the fire was intentionally set and that the fire's area of origin was the wooden deck where a couch had been sitting next to the house. The end of the couch "would have been no more than a foot away from the exterior of the house," and the deck itself was made of wood. The marshal testified that "as close as the sofa was to the wall, it would be very reasonable to expect that there very likely would be damage to the house" and it "would be unlikely that there wouldn't be damage to the house." The siding to the home had melted andburned away, and many photographs showing the extensive damage to the home were admitted into evidence.
The record supports the inference that Portz intended to set fire to the home itself and that Jackson knew that she was going to damage the home by fire and intended his presence or actions to further the commission of that crime. See State v. Mahkuk, 736 N.W.2d 675, 682 (Minn. 2007). That Portz only intended to damage the couch and not the home is not a reasonable, rational inference to draw from the circumstances proved, including where and how the fire...
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