State v. Kutchara, C8-82-1093
| Decision Date | 06 July 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. C8-82-1093,C8-82-1093 |
| Citation | 350 N.W.2d 924 |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Bruce Mitchell KUTCHARA, Appellant. |
Syllabus by the Court
Defendant received a fair trial and was properly convicted of assault in the third degree and fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle, but defendant's sentence duration is reduced from 32 months to 25 months.
C. Paul Jones, State Public Defender, Susan K. Maki, Asst. Public Defender, Minneapolis, for appellant.
Hubert H. Humphrey, III, Atty. Gen., Norman B. Coleman, Jr., Linda F. Close, Sp. Asst. Attys. Gen., St. Paul, Julius E. Gernes, Winona County Atty., Winona, for respondent.
Considered and decided by the court en banc without oral argument.
Defendant was found guilty by a district court jury of assault in the third degree and fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle, Minn.Stat. Secs. 609.223 and 609.487, subd. 3 (1982). The trial court sentenced defendant for the assault to 32 months in prison, which is the presumptive sentence for the assault (a severity level IV offense) when committed by a person with a criminal history score of five. On appeal defendant contends (1) that his convictions should be reversed outright because the evidence was such that the jury should have found that he acted in self-defense, (2) that he should be given a new trial because the trial court prejudicially erred (a) in admitting Spreigl evidence, (b) in allowing the use of prior convictions to impeach defendant's credibility, (c) in failing to let defense counsel personally examine certain medical records of the victim of the assault, and (d) in failing to give certain instructions bearing on his claim that he was resisting an unlawful arrest; and (3) that his sentence should be modified because the trial court erred in computing his presumptive sentence duration and erred in refusing to depart dispositionally and place him on probation. We affirm defendant's convictions but reduce the sentence duration from 32 months to 25 months.
This prosecution arose from an incident in which defendant seriously beat a Winona Police Officer after the officer stopped his car and approached defendant in response to an obscene greeting by defendant. After administering the beating, defendant fled on his motorcycle.
1. Defendant's first contention is that he is entitled to an outright reversal of his convictions because the evidence was such that the jury should have found that he acted in self-defense. The police officer's testimony, which the jury was free to credit, clearly was sufficient to support the convictions. The jury was free to discredit defendant's testimony that he did not attack the officer, testimony that was unbelievable given the evidence of the seriousness of the officer's injuries. Defendant's claim that the officer attacked and injured him was rebutted by evidence suggesting that any injuries to defendant were sustained in an altercation at a bar preceding the confrontation with the officer.
2. Defendant's contention that he did not receive a fair trial is based on a number of claims of trial error.
(a) Defendant claims first that the trial court erred in admitting evidence concerning the earlier altercation at the bar. We hold that the trial court had discretion to admit this evidence pursuant to Minn.R.Evid. 404(b), which provides:
Evidence of other crimes, wrongs or acts is not admissible to prove the character of a person in order to show that he acted in conformity therewith. It may, however, be admissible for other purposes, such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident.
Since the evidence did not tend to show that defendant was guilty of another crime, the chance of it creating unfair prejudice was less than is ordinarily the case when evidence is admitted under Rule 404(b). Further, this is not the type of case in which, but for the evidence admitted under Rule 404(b), the jury would have concluded that defendant was a model law-abiding citizen. The jury would have known in any event that the police knew defendant, that he admittedly shouted obscenities at the officer, and that he had a prior criminal record.
(b) Defendant next contends that the trial court erred in letting the state use two of his prior convictions to impeach his credibility when he testified. Defendant had five prior felony convictions. The trial court let the state use only two of these, a 1974 conviction of attempted burglary and a 1974 conviction of attempted aggravated robbery. Significantly, among the three convictions that the court did not let the state use was a prior assault conviction. Under our decisions, the trial court clearly did not abuse its discretion in letting the state use the two prior convictions. State v. Bettin, 295 N.W.2d 542 (Minn.1980); State v. Brouillette, 286 N.W.2d 702 (Minn.1979); State v. Jones, 271 N.W.2d 534 (Minn.1978).
(c) Defendant next complains about the trial court's refusal to let him examine the victim's private medical records going back 5 years to see if there was anything in them that might bear on his claim. A crime victim's past medical records are generally protected from disclosure by the physician-patient privilege. Minn.Stat. Sec. 595.02(4) (1982). However, the medical privilege, like other privileges, sometimes must give way to the defendant's right to confront his accusers. State v. Leecy, 294 N.W.2d 280, 283 (Minn.1980); Westen, The Compulsory Process Clause, 73 Mich.L.Rev. 71, 170-73 (1974). In this case the defendant had full discovery of all the X-rays and other medical records relating to this particular incident, and the trial court viewed all the other medical records going back 5 years in camera to see if there was anything relevant to the case. See, Syrovatka v. State, 278 N.W.2d 558, 562 (Minn.1979) (). We believe that the trial court handled the issue correctly.
(d) Defendant makes three separate claims relating to the instructions. He argues that the trial court prejudicially erred in failing to instruct the jury specifically that a person has a right to resist an unlawful arrest, that the defense of self-defense could apply to the offense of fleeing a police officer, and that the state has the burden of proving that a defendant did not act in self-defense.
The trial court gave a standard instruction on the presumption of innocence and on the state's burden of proving defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, stating specifically that "defendant does not have to prove his innocence." With respect to the two assault charges, the court stated:
In relation to the charges of assault in the second degree and assault in the third degree, the defendant asserts a defense of self-defense. The defendant is not guilty of such charges if he used reasonable force against [the police officer] to resist an offense against his own person, and such offense was being committed or the defendant reasonably believed that it was. It is lawful for a person who is being assaulted and who has reasonable grounds to believe that bodily injury is about to be inflicted upon him, to stand his ground and defend himself from such attack, and in doing so he may use all force and means which he believes to be reasonably necessary and which would appear to a reasonable person, in similar circumstances, to be necessary to prevent the injury which appears to be imminent. The kind and degree of force which a person may lawfully use in self-defense is limited by what a reasonable person in the same situation would believe to be necessary. Any use of force beyond that is...
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...like other privileges, the medical privilege "sometimes must give way to a defendant's right to confront his accusers." State v. Kutchara, 350 N.W.2d 924, 926 (Minn.1984). We have held that the proper procedure to follow in cases such as this is for the district court to review the medical ......
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