State v. King, C9-99-298.
| Decision Date | 01 March 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. C9-99-298.,C9-99-298. |
| Citation | 622 N.W.2d 800 |
| Parties | STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Arron Scott KING, Petitioner, Appellant. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Heard, considered, and decided by the court en banc.
In this case, we are asked to determine whether testimony given at a guilty plea hearing by an alleged accomplice to a crime bears adequate indicia of reliability such that it can be admitted against a criminal defendant charged with the same crime. A Washington County jury found defendant/appellant Arron King guilty of two counts of aiding and abetting first-degree burglary. At King's trial, the state introduced a redacted version of the guilty plea testimony of King's alleged accomplice. King objected to the use of the plea testimony on the grounds that it was inadmissible hearsay and that its admission violated his Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause rights. The court allowed the testimony and gave an instruction on the alleged accomplice's unavailability and his prior convictions. Following the guilty verdicts, the court sentenced King on one count to serve 57 months in prison. King appealed and a divided panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed. We reverse and remand for a new trial.
Appellant Arron King was convicted of a July 15, 1998 burglary of a private residence in Grant, Minnesota. The burglarized house is in the country and is somewhat secluded. The owner resided in the upper two levels of the house, and a tenant, Andreas Koelbl, resided in the walkout basement level.
Koelbl worked evenings as a bartender, so he was often home during the afternoon. On the afternoon of July 15, Koelbl was in his apartment when he heard the homeowner's dog barking. He then heard someone knocking on the front door. When the knocking continued, he walked to his window and looked out to the driveway. He saw someone, later identified as King, in the driveway. On the day of the incident, Koelbl reported to the police that King was standing by a car in the driveway and that King began walking toward the house only after Koelbl heard a loud bang from upstairs. At trial, Koelbl testified that as he looked at King, the knocking continued. He further testified that he saw King walking toward the house, and that after Koelbl moved away from the window he heard a loud bang from upstairs.
After hearing the loud bang, Koelbl exited the house through a basement-level door. Koelbl then walked to the front of the house, where he was able to observe that the front door was open and that the deadbolt lock was lying on the ground. He also saw an unfamiliar car parked in the driveway with the motor running, but no driver or other persons were visible. Koelbl got into the car, drove to a neighbor's house, and instructed the neighbor to call the police. Koelbl then returned to the house with the intent to block the driveway and to get a better description of whoever was involved in the burglary. Upon returning to the house, Koelbl began to pull the car into the driveway, which Koelbl estimated to be about 40 yards long. As he pulled into the driveway, Koelbl spotted King squatting by the side of the driveway.
Koelbl testified that King was closer to the house than to the street. There is conflicting testimony as to exactly where King was squatting, but he was not next to the house because that area would not have been visible from Koelbl's position at the end of the driveway. Koelbl testified that King appeared startled to see Koelbl driving what turned out to be King's car and King began motioning Koelbl to come to him. King then began to run toward Koelbl with his hand on his waistband, so Koelbl, fearing for his safety, backed the car out of the driveway and into the street. Koelbl further testified that King started to follow him, but then turned and ran off through a pasture. Koelbl subsequently spotted King's alleged accomplice, Arron Weatherspoon, running toward the same pasture. Once King and Weatherspoon were out of sight, Koelbl returned to the house, where he waited for the police.
When the police arrived, they discovered disturbed drawers and closets on the upper level of the house and in Koelbl's basement apartment. Socks from the homeowner's drawers were found around the upper level of the house and in the yard. Some of the socks in the yard contained pieces of jewelry. The police also found a sock in the yard that did not belong to either the homeowner or Koelbl. The police ascertained that the homeowner had over $7,000 in jewelry taken from her house. This jewelry was never found. Koelbl had approximately $75 in mostly one-dollar bills and a cellular phone taken from his apartment. Koelbl's VCR was unplugged and left sitting on a chair outside his apartment.
After an extensive manhunt, King and Weatherspoon were arrested several hours later while hiding in some brush near Highway 36. King voluntarily surrendered to the police, but Weatherspoon resisted arrest. King was taken to the Washington County Jail and booked. All of the items found on King during both a search incident to arrest and a search at the jail were later determined to be his own. After receiving King's consent, the police searched King's car and found only King's property. During the search incident to Weatherspoon's arrest, the police recovered 54 one-dollar bills.
During the booking process, King inquired about his car. Washington County Sheriff's Deputy James Gribble, who was processing King, acted as though he did not understand King's questions. Gribble testified that King then explained the situation to Gribble in a way that suggested King had been inside the house. Gribble could not remember the exact words used by King, but gave the following testimony: "After I told him [King] I didn't know what he was talking about, he stated something close to the effect of the guy's house we were in, he took my car." Gribble also testified that when he told King that his car had been impounded, King responded that he did not know why the police were holding his car because he did not go into the house.
Washington County Sheriff's Investigator Dean Tilley interviewed King twice regarding his role in the burglary, giving him Miranda warnings each time. King agreed to waive his right to remain silent and then talked to Tilley. In both interviews, King repeatedly stated that he had not been inside the house and that the reason he was at the house was because Weatherspoon, who is King's uncle, had asked him for a ride to the house of someone Weatherspoon claimed to know.
King gave the following version of events to Tilley. King stated that Weatherspoon paged him and offered to pay for gas if King would give him a ride to someone's house. Weatherspoon told King that he was going to the house because the person who lived there owed Weatherspoon money and was going to pay him back. Following Weatherspoon's directions, King drove his car to the house in Grant. When they arrived, Weatherspoon got out of the car and knocked on the front door, while King stayed with the car. After receiving no answer, Weatherspoon began walking around the house. King initially claimed that Weatherspoon came out the front door, but then King stated he was not sure exactly what Weatherspoon did because after waiting for Weatherspoon for a few minutes, King decided to look for him around the back of the house. It was only when he returned to the front yard that he noticed the front door was open and his car was missing.
During the second interview, Tilley attempted to catch King in a lie by asking King whether he walked around the pool in the backyard, even though there was no pool. In five different responses to Tilley's questions about the pool, King stated that he did not remember seeing a pool or that he did not notice a pool. King did admit that he had not walked all the way around the house as he had initially stated, but that he had only walked around the back of the house and then turned around and returned to the front of the house. King also gave a description of the backyard to Tilley that is consistent with the state's exhibit on the layout of the lot.
King stated that he first thought Weatherspoon had left with his car, but then he spotted Koelbl in the car at the end of the driveway. King said he motioned to Koelbl because he wanted to explain that he was not involved in what was going on at the house. King next ran toward Koelbl, holding his pager so he would not lose it. King stated that Koelbl started to drive toward him at full speed and then he became scared, so he ran away.
Both King and Weatherspoon were charged with two counts of aiding and abetting first-degree burglary in violation of Minn.Stat. §§ 609.582 (2000) and 609.05 (2000). The burglary statute requires that either the accused enter a building without consent and intend to commit a crime or enter without consent and actually commit a crime. Minn.Stat. § 609.582, subd. 1(a) (2000). King and Weatherspoon were both charged under the accomplice statute, which provides that an accomplice is liable for the principal crime if the accomplice intentionally assists in some manner. Minn.Stat. § 609.05(a) (2000). The counts against King and Weatherspoon were under alternate charging theories, the first based on entering the house with the intent to commit a crime and the second based on entering and actually taking something from the house.
Weatherspoon pleaded guilty to one count as part of a plea agreement. Weatherspoon requested that as part of his plea agreement he be released pending sentencing so he could make arrangements for the care of his sick wife. In exchange for his plea and plea testimony, the state recommended that Weatherspoon receive a 37-month sentence and that Weatherspoon be released pending his sentencing. On September 16, 1998, Weatherspoon entered a guilty plea and testified to his participation in the burglary. Per his plea...
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