State v. LaRose
| Decision Date | 16 December 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. C9-03-95., No. C5-03-93 |
| Citation | 673 N.W.2d 157 |
| Parties | STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Franklin William LaROSE, Appellant. |
| Court | Minnesota Court of Appeals |
Mike Hatch, Attorney General, William A. Szotkowski, Assistant Attorney General, Paul, MN, and Earl E. Maus, Cass County Attorney, Walker, MN, for respondent.
John M. Stuart, Minnesota Public Defender, Steven P. Russett, Assistant State Public Defender, Minneapolis, MN, for appellant; and Franklin W. LaRose, Cass Lake, MN, pro se.
Considered and decided by RANDALL, Presiding Judge, MINGE, Judge, and PORITSKY, Judge1.
On consolidated appeals from separate convictions for felony fifth-degree controlled substance crime (possession of marijuana), appellant argues that the law against possessing marijuana is merely a civil/regulatory law and, thus, the State of Minnesota cannot enforce that law on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation. Appellant also argues that the search warrant in one of the two cases was improperly issued to a reservation peace officer. Appellant further claims that the cooperative agreement between the state and reservation officers was invalid, and that, in any event, it did not authorize issuance of search warrants to tribal authorities. Because Minnesota prohibits all marijuana possession, the laws are criminal/prohibitory in nature and, therefore, the state has subject-matter jurisdiction. We find that the search warrant was properly issued to a reservation peace officer. We affirm.
Appellant Franklin William LaRose is an enrolled member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and resides on the Leech Lake Reservation. On October 5, 2000, pursuant to a tip, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at appellant's home and searched for marijuana. During the search, officers found approximately 44 marijuana plants on appellant's property and several bags of marijuana in his home.
Appellant was charged in Cass County District Court with fifth-degree possession of marijuana, a felony. Minn.Stat. § 152.025, subd. 2(1) (2002). The district court denied appellant's motion to suppress the marijuana seized during the warranted search of his home and premises located within the Leech Lake Reservation boundaries. The district court also denied appellant's motion to dismiss for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.
After appellant unsuccessfully challenged the state's jurisdiction to enforce its marijuana-possession laws against tribal members on reservations, the parties agreed to try the case on stipulated facts. Appellant was present in court at this proceeding, but appellant did not personally waive his right to a jury trial. On June 26, 2001, the district court found appellant guilty of fifth-degree possession staying imposition of the sentence and placing appellant on probation for five years pending appeal. On appeal this court affirmed the district court's finding on subject-matter jurisdiction and remanded with directions to the district court to allow appellant to exercise or waive his right to a jury trial. Appellant renewed his jurisdictional challenge on remand.
On July 19, 2001, while the first case proceedings were underway, a second search warrant was issued for appellant's residence to Officer Victoria St. Cyr, a licensed Minnesota peace officer employed by the Leech Lake Department of Public Safety. When executing the search warrant the next day, officers seized a bag containing about one-quarter pound of marijuana from appellant's kitchen table. Appellant was subsequently charged with an additional count of fifth-degree controlled substance crime. In the second proceeding, appellant again challenged subject-matter jurisdiction and also claimed that the search warrant had not been authorized and was improperly issued to a tribal official.
The district court found that the Leech Lake Band had entered into a law enforcement compact with a number of counties, including Cass County, authorizing the Band to enforce criminal laws within the Leech Lake Reservation through the Leech Lake Department of Public Safety ("the Department"). As a licensed Minnesota peace officer and member of the Department, Officer St. Cyr had authority over criminal offenses committed on the reservation. Under this authority, Officer St. Cyr sought the search warrant from the Cass County District Court, which by virtue of Public Law 280 has jurisdiction over criminal offenses committed within the Leech Lake Reservation areas that lie within Cass County. The district court found no constitutional or statutory defect in the issuance of the warrant and denied appellant's motion to suppress.
By this time, the first case had been remanded, and the issue of appellant's right to a jury trial was back before the district court. Appellant now properly waived his right to a jury trial in both the first and second proceedings and submitted both cases to the district court for trial on stipulated facts. The court found appellant guilty. The court stayed imposition on the first case and placed appellant on probation for five years. On the second case, the court sentenced appellant to a stayed year-and-a-day prison term and five years probation. These appeals followed.
I. Does the State of Minnesota have subject-matter jurisdiction to enforce its possession of marijuana laws on the Leech Lake Reservation?
II. Did the district court determine correctly that a search warrant was properly issued to a Leech Lake Band Department of Public Safety Law Enforcement Officer (a Minnesota licensed peace officer); was the evidence seized in accordance with that search warrant properly admitted?
The determination of subject-matter jurisdiction is a question of law, which this court reviews de novo. State v. Busse, 644 N.W.2d 79, 82 (Minn.2002); State v. R.M.H., 617 N.W.2d 55, 58 (Minn. 2000), reh'g denied, (Oct. 3, 2000). The ability of a state to exercise its jurisdiction over Native American matters is governed by federal statute or case law. State v. Stone, 572 N.W.2d 725, 728 (Minn.1997). Absent federal authorization, a state may not assert jurisdiction over Indian tribes. Bryan v. Itasca County, Minnesota, 426 U.S. 373, 392, 96 S.Ct. 2102, 2113, 48 L.Ed.2d 710 (1976). In Public Law 280, Congress granted Minnesota broad criminal jurisdiction and limited civil jurisdiction over reservations within the State of Minnesota. 18 U.S.C. § 1162 (1994); 28 U.S.C. § 1360 (1994).2
Subject-matter jurisdiction was determined by this court in appellant's first appeal. State v. LaRose, No. C1-01-1706 at 6, 2002 WL 977460 (2002). A court's prior ruling on a controlling legal issue becomes law of the case for subsequent proceedings. Kissoondath v. U.S. Fire Ins. Co., 620 N.W.2d 909, 917 (Minn. App.2001). When an appellate court has ruled on an issue of law, the "issue decided becomes `law of the case' and may not be relitigated ... or reexamined." Sylvester Bros. Dev. Co. v. Great Cent. Ins. Co., 503 N.W.2d 793, 795 (Minn.App.1993). When a court decides upon a rule of law, that decision continues to govern the same issues in subsequent stages in the same case. Kissoondath, 620 N.W.2d at 917 (quoting Arizona v. California, 460 U.S. 605, 618, 103 S.Ct. 1382, 1391, 75 L.Ed.2d 318 (1983) (quotations omitted)).
Appellant argues that his earlier appeal involved only his first case. Therefore, while the "law of the case" doctrine may have precluded relitigation of the jurisdictional issue on remand in that case, but see State ex rel. Farrington v. Rigg, 259 Minn. 483, 485, 107 N.W.2d 841, 842 (1961)
(), it did not preclude appellant from asserting and litigating the jurisdictional issue when he was charged by a separate complaint with a separate unrelated criminal offense. Under the law-of-the-case doctrine, "issues considered and adjudicated on a first appeal become the law of the case and will not be reexamined or readjudicated on a second appeal of the same case." Lange v. Nelson-Ryan Flight Serv., Inc., 263 Minn. 152, 155, 116 N.W.2d 266, 269 (1962) (emphasis added). This doctrine is "limited to the same case and to only the issue previously decided and is not intended to be carried into other cases as a precedent." Id. at 156, 116 N.W.2d at 269 (emphasis added). Also, appellant argues that this Court's prior decision is not controlling in appellant's subsequent prosecution. See Minn.Stat. § 480A.08, Subd. 3 (); but see Minn.Stat. § 480A.08, Subd. 3(b) ()
Further, if this court concludes that appellant is precluded from appealing the jurisdictional issue in one or both of his cases, then appellant argues he must be given the opportunity to withdraw his jury trial waivers. Appellant asserts that he waived his right to jury trials and submitted his cases to the court on stipulated facts so he could preserve and appeal the trial court's jurisdictional rulings. See State v. Lothenbach, 296 N.W.2d 854, 858 (Minn.1980)
(). Appellant contends that by now arguing that the jurisdictional issues may not be reviewed on appeal, the state has breached the terms of the negotiated settlement and rendered appellant's waiver of his right to a jury trial invalid. See State v. Ross, 472 N.W.2d 651, 653-54 (Minn. 1991) (). Therefore, appellant argues this court must either review the jurisdictional issue or remand to allow appellant an opportunity to withdraw his jury trial waivers. See State v. Verschelde, 595 N.W.2d 192, 197 (Minn.1999) (...
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