State v. Juarez

• Decision Date: 18 December 1997
• Docket Number: No. C2-96-404,C2-96-404
• Parties: STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Alexander JUAREZ, petitioner, Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

Page 286

572 N.W.2d 286

STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Alexander JUAREZ, petitioner, Appellant.

No. C2-96-404.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

Dec. 18, 1997.

Syllabus by the Court

The admission of a statement by the defendant that he was "gonna have to get a lawyer next" was error, because the jury was likely to infer that the defendant was invoking his right to counsel. However, the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt because the verdict actually rendered was surely unattributable to the error.

Steven P. Russett, Asst. State Public Defender, St. Paul, for appellant.

Hubert H. Humphrey III, Atty. Gen., St. Paul, Michael O. Freeman, Hennepin County Atty. by Linda K. Jenny, Asst. County Atty., Minneapolis, for respondent.

Considered and decided by the court en banc without oral argument.

OPINION

TOMLJANOVICH, Justice.

On November 9, 1995, appellant Alexander Juarez was convicted of attempted criminal sexual conduct, third-degree criminal sexual conduct, and two counts of soliciting a minor to engage in prostitution, in violation of Minn.Stat. §§ 609.17, 609.324, subds. 1(b)(2), 1(c)(2), 609.342, subd. 1(a), and 609.344, subd. 1(e)(1996). At a pretrial hearing, Juarez moved that a portion of his taped statement to the police be suppressed, specifically all statements made after Juarez said "I'm gonna have to get a lawyer next." The district court did suppress the portion of the statement following Juarez' reference to an attorney, but ruled that the statement itself was not an invocation of Juarez' right to counsel and allowed it to be introduced at trial. The court of appeals concluded that although the admission of this statement was error, the error was harmless and affirmed the conviction. Juarez now petitions this court for further review.

Until March of 1995, appellant Alexander Juarez, born April 18, 1936, was employed as a maintenance painter at St. Joseph's Home for Children, a mental health facility for emotionally disturbed children. Juarez held this position for approximately five years. St. Joseph's offered a program called Operation Success to children at the residential facility who met certain criteria, allowing these children to work with St. Joseph's staff both on site and occasionally off site. Through this program, Juarez had interaction with several residents of St. Joseph's, including 16-year-old C.C. and 15-year-old A.F. Through his maintenance position at St. Joseph's, Juarez also had some contact with 17-year-old resident J.M., although J.M. never worked for Juarez.

On March 24, 1995, during a group meeting at St. Joseph's, there was a discussion about the presence and distribution of cigarettes and marijuana in the facility. C.C. was accused by several residents of distributing the cigarettes and marijuana. Accusations were then leveled against Juarez by both C.C. and J.M. that Juarez had supplied the cigarettes and marijuana. After the meeting, C.C. and J.M. met with staff counselor Raven Mason. J.M. told Mason that Juarez was having sex with C.C. Initially C.C. said nothing, but after J.M. left, C.C eventually told Mason that he and Juarez had sex at Juarez' house and that Juarez had given C.C. over $300. The police were immediately notified and Juarez was suspended with pay pending the investigation.

On March 27, 1995, C.C. underwent a sexual assault examination. The examination revealed no physical evidence of a sexual assault. ¹ On April 4, 1995, the investigating officer, Sergeant Martinson, spoke with C.C., who told Martinson that Juarez paid C.C. money to fondle C.C.'s buttocks and that on two occasions Juarez had anal intercourse with C.C. On one of those occasions, Juarez was unable to maintain an erection. C.C. also told Martinson that Juarez told him that he had sex with two other residents of St. Joseph's, B.M. and L.N. On April 5, 1995, Martinson spoke with J.M., who accused Juarez of sexually propositioning him. ² The next day, Martinson spoke with J.S, Juarez' 10-year-old foster child. J.S. told Martinson that Juarez had fondled his buttocks and had digitally penetrated his anus, but J.S. refused and it was not pursued any further. J.S. also told Martinson that Juarez had once asked him if he could insert his "dingleberry" into his anus. J.S. further said that on several occasions Juarez would threaten to put him in a "cuckoo house" if he told anybody what was going on.

As a result of this investigation, Juarez was arrested and interrogated. At one point during this interrogation, Juarez stated "I'm gonna have to get a lawyer next." At that point, Martinson left the room for several minutes. When Martinson returned, he told Juarez that he believed Juarez would be convicted. Juarez responded, "Well, I'm gonna have to get a lawyer on that." Martinson then asked if Juarez wanted to talk to him, to which Juarez responded, "No, I think I better get a lawyer." Juarez' taped statement up to and including "I'm gonna have to get a lawyer next," was played at trial during Martinson's testimony.

At trial, the jury heard testimony from J.S., C.C., J.M., and A.F., accusing Juarez of criminal sexual conduct and solicitation. J.S. testified that Juarez had "touched [his] butt" on more than one occasion and that Juarez tried to touch his "booty-hole" with his finger. J.S. stated that on one occasion Juarez asked "if he could put his dick in my butt," but J.S. said no, and Juarez never tried to do so. J.S. testified to seeing Juarez and C.C. watching pornographic movies in Juarez' bedroom. J.S. further testified that he did not tell anyone about these things because Juarez often told J.S. that he would be sent to the "cuckoo house."

C.C. testified that before he started working for Juarez, Juarez had grabbed his butt a couple times, but C.C. told him he was uncomfortable with that and Juarez stopped. C.C. then got permission to work off grounds with Juarez "between four and five and a dozen" times, but usually ended up at Juarez' house instead of working. C.C. testified that he watched pornographic movies with Juarez in his bedroom on more than one occasion. C.C. testified that on one occasion Juarez digitally penetrated his anus. When C.C. told him to "knock it off," Juarez stopped, and gave C.C. ten to twenty dollars.

C.C. further testified that Juarez had given him alcohol occasionally, and one time when C.C. "wasn't in the right state of mind," Juarez attempted to have anal sex with C.C. However, Juarez was unable to maintain an erection. C.C. testified that afterwards he asked Juarez for some money, and Juarez gave him $40. The last time C.C. was at Juarez' house, C.C. testified that someone spiked his Coke with whiskey, and Juarez had anal sex with him when C.C. was "just drunk out of [his] mind." C.C. further testified that Juarez had a .32 caliber handgun, and that the gun was sitting on a counter about four feet away from the bed. Juarez did not overtly threaten him with the gun, but C.C. testified that the gun scared him. ³

J.M. testified that both C.C. and Juarez told him that Juarez had anal sex with C.C. J.M. also testified that Juarez would make sexual innuendos to him and once mentioned that he had a 12-inch penis. J.M. stated that on one occasion when Juarez was talking about having sex with J.M. in the future, he showed J.M. some money.

A.F. testified that when he was a resident at St. Joseph's he worked for Juarez off-grounds remodeling a condominium. A.F. testified that on one occasion, Juarez asked him "how much it would cost for me to turn around and bend over," which A.F. interpreted as a sexual reference. A.F. testified that on another occasion Juarez asked him "how much for a blow job" and whether A.F. knew any "gay" kids on his unit at St. Joseph's. A.F. testified that after this incident he stopped working for Juarez, but he did not report any of these incidents because he did not think anyone would believe him. A.F. further testified that he saw Juarez grab 14-year-old L.R.'s buttocks. L.R. and A.F. were roommates at St. Joseph's at the time. After this incident, A.F. saw L.R. with approximately $500, which L.R. said he got from his "uncle," meaning Juarez. A.F. testified that he did not know C.C., J.M., or J.S.

Testifying in his own defense, Juarez said that he never inappropriately touched his foster son, J.S. He also testified that he never threatened to send J.S. to the "cuckoo house," but that once after J.S. had misbehaved at school he asked him why he was acting like a "Loony Tune." Juarez claimed he had permission to bring C.C. off-grounds to repair a sidewalk, but that it was too cold, so instead he brought C.C. to his house to do some work. Juarez testified that he had never had sex with C.C. Juarez also denied he gave C.C alcohol or drugs. Juarez admitted he owned a gun, but he claimed he always kept it unloaded. Juarez denied propositioning either J.M. or A.F. for sex. Juarez also testified that A.F. stopped working for him because Juarez fired him for deliberately plastering over an outlet while he was working at the condominium.

Daniel Fisher testified for the defense. Fisher lived with Juarez from July 1, 1994 to March 1, 1995, which was during the period of time that Juarez' foster son J.S. was living at the house. Fisher said that he was home much of the time and that he never saw Juarez behave inappropriately with J.S., nor did he ever see any pornography at the house.

Several St. Joseph residents testified for the defense as well: B.M., R.W., D.K., J.J and L.N. ⁴ They all testified that Juarez never inappropriately touched them or propositioned them when they worked with him on jobs. B.M. also testified that he was at Juarez' house the day C.C. alleged his drink was spiked and Juarez had anal intercourse with him. B.M. claimed he did not see Juarez engage in any inappropriate behavior with C.C.

L.R. also testified for the defense. Refuting A.F.'s testimony, L.R. claimed Juarez never fondled his butt,...