State v. Johnson
| Docket Number | A21-1360 |
| Decision Date | 29 August 2022 |
| Citation | 979 N.W.2d 483 |
| Parties | STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Raeleen Kay JOHNSON, Appellant. |
| Court | Minnesota Court of Appeals |
Keith Ellison, Attorney General, St. Paul, Minnesota; and Rachel V. Cornelius, Waseca County Attorney, Waseca, Minnesota (for respondent)
Cathryn Middlebrook, Chief Appellate Public Defender, Jenna Yauch-Erickson, Assistant Public Defender, St. Paul, Minnesota (for appellant)
Considered and decided by Frisch, Presiding Judge; Worke, Judge; and Johnson, Judge.
On direct appeal from two convictions of deprivation of parental custodial rights and one conviction for the false reporting of a crime, appellant argues that the evidence is insufficient to support her convictions for deprivation of parental custodial rights by concealment and false reporting of a crime and that the district court abused its discretion by making certain evidentiary rulings. Because venue is proper in the county where appellant made the false report, the state introduced sufficient evidence to establish the false-reporting conviction, and the district court acted within its discretion in its evidentiary rulings, we affirm in part. But because the state introduced insufficient evidence to sustain the deprivation-of-parental-custodial-rights-by-concealment conviction, we reverse in part and remand to the district court to enter judgment of conviction and impose a sentence on the other conviction of deprivation of parental custodial rights.
Appellant Raeleen Kay Johnson and B.R. (father) are the parents of R.R.R. (the child), born in April 2012. Father has sole legal and physical custody of the child; Johnson has court-ordered parenting time with the child on Wednesdays and every other weekend. The parenting-time agreement provides in relevant part that Johnson pick the child up from daycare on Wednesday afternoons and drop the child off at daycare on Thursday mornings; on weekends when Johnson has parenting time, the agreement provides that she pick the child up from daycare on Friday afternoons and drop him off on Monday mornings. If the child is sick while in Johnson's care, Johnson must return the child to father.
During the last week of August 2020, Johnson had scheduled parenting time with the child from Wednesday afternoon (August 26) to Thursday morning (August 27), and again from Friday afternoon (August 28) to Monday morning (August 31).
On Wednesday, August 26, Johnson's mother drove Johnson to the daycare to pick up the child. When Johnson picked up the child, he was allegedly "stuffed up in his nose ... coughing," and sick with a cold. Later, when Johnson and her mother returned to Johnson's residence in the City of Waseca, they discovered several small bruises on the child's chest. The child allegedly indicated that father caused the bruises by poking him. Father testified at trial that he did not hit, poke, or otherwise injure the child.
On Thursday morning, Johnson called the daycare and reported that the child had cold symptoms. The daycare advised Johnson to keep the child home because the child's reported symptoms were similar to COVID-19 symptoms. Johnson kept the child at her home rather than returning him to father, as specified in the custody agreement.
That same morning, father learned that Johnson had not dropped the child off at daycare. Father asked Johnson where the child was; Johnson replied that she was keeping the child at her home because he was sick. Father stated that he would pick the child up from Johnson's residence that afternoon, but Johnson indicated that she did not want father coming to her home. Father contacted Waseca police, who told him that law enforcement would not intervene. Johnson testified at trial that she did not return the sick child to father as specified in the parenting-time agreement "[b]ecause [she] believed [father] was hurting [her] son."
On Friday morning, Johnson again called the daycare to report that the child had cold symptoms, and she again was told to keep the child home. According to Johnson, the child also informed her that "he couldn't see very well and had a bad headache." Father contacted the Waseca police a second time, and he again was told that law enforcement would not intervene. However, the Waseca police informed father to call again on Monday if Johnson had not returned the child. Father later testified that he "was worried" about the child and "wasn't sure what was going on." Yet, he "let it go" because Johnson's parenting time with the child started that afternoon.
On Saturday and Sunday, the child allegedly continued to complain to Johnson that he was experiencing headaches and poor vision. Johnson testified that the child "could not see to put small things together and he ran into [the] refrigerator door." Father testified that he continued to worry about the child because the child normally calls father during Johnson's parenting time, but the child did not call him that weekend.
On Monday, Johnson did not bring the child to daycare or return the child to father. Instead, Johnson again called the daycare to report that the child still had cold symptoms. The daycare again instructed Johnson to keep the child home. Johnson stated to father that morning: "I am keeping [the child] for Make-up time being I had no Phone Contact with him for the last month." Johnson then contacted the child's former primary physician in Mankato, which is located in Blue Earth County, to schedule a medical appointment for the child on Tuesday, the following day. Also on Monday, father contacted law enforcement a third time. Sometime that day, he notified Johnson that Father also made a formal report to the Waseca police department.
On Tuesday morning, Johnson again did not bring the child to daycare. At approximately 9:40 a.m., father spoke with a Waseca police officer to report again that Johnson was keeping the child in violation of his custody rights. The officer indicated that he "would look into the matter."
Sometime between 10:15 and 10:40 a.m., Johnson's mother drove Johnson and the child to the child's former physician in Mankato. According to Johnson, the child still had "the headache," "cold symptoms," and trouble with his vision. At the doctor's office, Johnson reported those symptoms to the nurse, who instructed Johnson to take the child immediately to the emergency department in Mankato. The drive from the City of Waseca to Mankato is approximately 30 minutes, and the trio stayed at the doctor's office for approximately 35 minutes. Given this time frame, Johnson and the child left for the Mankato emergency department between approximately 11:20 and 11:45 a.m.
Sometime after Johnson left for Mankato, Waseca police officers visited the homes of Johnson and her mother. Police received no answer at either location. A Waseca police officer then called Johnson's father, who informed the officer that he did not know the location of Johnson or the child but "the last he saw [Johnson] and [the child] was Sunday and ... both were fine." Johnson's father also gave the officer Johnson's cellphone number. At approximately 11:00 a.m., a Waseca police officer called Johnson and left a voicemail, instructing her to return the officer's call. Shortly thereafter, law enforcement "pinged" Johnson's phone and located her in the Mankato area.1
Around noon, Johnson, her mother, and the child reached the Mankato emergency department. Johnson later testified that the emergency-department staff instructed guests and visitors to turn their phones off, and she complied with this instruction. At approximately 1:00 p.m., Johnson and the child met with an emergency-department doctor. According to Johnson, the child reported to the doctor that he "had a hard time seeing," "his vision was blurry," "he was kind of dizzy," and "he had a headache." Johnson also informed the doctor that she believed that father physically abused the child and father's abuse caused the child's vision problems. Johnson alleged that father caused bruises by hitting or poking the child, and father used cruel language toward the child. Johnson also alleged that the child had bowel and bladder accidents at father's house but not at her home. The emergency-department doctor met with the child twice in private, and the child provided similar descriptions of abuse as Johnson. Neither Johnson nor the child reported the child's alleged cold symptoms to the doctor.
The emergency-department doctor observed no indication that the child was abused or had vision problems.2 The doctor reported that "the conversation feels a bit led by [Johnson]" and "there is at least some over-endorsement from the [child]." Nevertheless, the doctor filed a child-protection report because he is a mandated reporter, and he did not "really know what was going on from a child abuse standpoint."
At 1:00 p.m., while Johnson and the child were meeting with the emergency-department doctor, the same Waseca police officer called Johnson a second time and left another voicemail, instructing Johnson to return his call no later than 3:00 p.m. that day.
After meeting with the emergency-department doctor, Johnson and the child met with an emergency-department social worker to discuss the child-abuse allegations. Johnson again alleged that father physically abused the child and the child again corroborated Johnson's allegations, demonstrating to the social worker that father poked and hit him.
At approximately 3:40 p.m., the child was discharged from the emergency department into Johnson's care. Johnson testified that shortly after discharge she checked her phone for the first time since arriving at the emergency department and discovered the Waseca police officer's voicemail. At around 4:10 p.m., Johnson returned...
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