State v. Oates

• Decision Date: 20 June 2000
• Docket Number: No. C9-99-1533.,C9-99-1533.
• Citation: 611 N.W.2d 580
• Parties: STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Lovell Nahmor OATES, Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Court of Appeals

611 N.W.2d 580

STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Lovell Nahmor OATES, Appellant.

No. C9-99-1533.

Court of Appeals of Minnesota.

June 20, 2000.

Mike Hatch, Attorney General, St. Paul, MN; and Amy Klobuchar, Hennepin County Attorney, Beverly J. Benson, Assistant County Attorney, Minneapolis, MN (for respondent).

Michael C. Davis, St. Paul, MN (for appellant).

Considered and decided by TOUSSAINT, Chief Judge, SCHUMACHER and SHUMAKER, Judges.

OPINION

SCHUMACHER, Judge

This appeal is from a judgment of conviction and sentence for second-degree murder and four counts of second-degree assault. See Minn.Stat. §§ 609.19, subd. 1(1), 609.222, subd. 2 (1998). Appellant Lovell Oates was sentenced to an aggregate prison term of 378 months. We affirm.

FACTS

Appellant Lovell Nahmor Oates was indicted on charges of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and four counts of second-degree assault for a September 21, 1998, shooting incident at the South Beach night club in downtown Minneapolis. Ragan Durrenberger, a South Beach patron, died of a gunshot wound to the head. Justin Vasser and Diamond Porter, two other patrons, suffered gunshot wounds. The state alleged that the three victims were struck after Oates pulled a gun on Ricky Fuller, the intended victim, and Fuller struggled with Oates for the weapon.

The state sought to introduce evidence of six prior incidents involving Oates, three of which also involved Ricky Fuller, that occurred in or just outside various Minneapolis night clubs. The state argued that the three 1995 incidents involving Fuller were admissible to show the relationship between Oates and Fuller. The trial court ruled that the 1995 incidents, an escalating series of encounters in which Fuller mediated a fight involving Oates, then fought with Oates, and lastly was struck by a bullet fired by a man who looked like Oates, were admissible, without the need for a Spreigl analysis.

The trial court also ruled that the state could present, as Spreigl evidence, a 1997 drive-by shooting outside a night club. The court, however, excluded Spreigl evidence of two 1998 incidents at the South Beach night club.

Justin Vasser testified that he went to the South Beach night club with Ricky Fuller the night of the shooting. Vasser testified, over defense objection, that there was "bad blood" between Fuller and Oates. Vasser and Fuller were standing together when Vasser felt a scuffle and saw someone coming at Fuller with a gun. Vasser described the man as wearing a silky Versace paisley shirt. He testified that Fuller wrestled the man for the gun, and he heard a shot. After a pause, he heard more shots coming from around the dance floor that appeared to be fired by the same man, wearing the same shirt, with his hair in French braids.

The state presented the testimony of several eyewitnesses to the shooting, including four South Beach employees who chased after the fleeing gunman. Almost all of the eyewitnesses described the gunman as wearing a brightly-colored, "Versace-style," patterned silk or satin shirt. Several of the eyewitnesses described his hair as being in French braids or "corn rows." Two of the eyewitnesses positively identified Oates as the gunman in a photo lineup. Another eyewitness picked out two photographs, one of them Oates's photo, from the photo lineup.

Ricky Fuller testified that he saw Oates at the South Beach night club on the night of the shooting. He testified he did not get a look at the face of the man who drew the gun on him. Fuller testified about the three 1995 incidents. He admitted on cross-examination that neither of the first two incidents was a "big deal" and that he was not 100% sure of his identification of Oates as the gunman in the third incident. But he testified that he recognized Oates's car as the vehicle from which the shot was fired.

The state presented the testimony of a forensic firearms examiner who identified the cartridges and bullet fragments found at the scene, as well as one live bullet, as PMC brand 9 mm ammunition. Police officers executed a search warrant at Oates's residence three days after the shooting. They found several patterned, brightly-colored shirts matching the eyewitnesses' description. They also found an empty box for a 9 mm gun, as well as a holster, and several boxes of PMC brand 9 mm ammunition.

Oates presented testimony that he was seen at a concert the evening of the shooting and was wearing a suit, along with a solid-colored shirt unlike the shirt described by eyewitnesses. The jury acquitted Oates of first-degree murder, but found him guilty of second-degree murder for the death of Ragan Durrenberger, and of second-degree assault against Justin Vasser, Diamond Porter, Ricky Fuller, and Mohammad Kafi, one of the South Beach employees.

The trial court sentenced Oates to 306 months for the second-degree murder, concurrent 36-month sentences for the second-degree assaults committed against Vassar and Porter, and consecutive 36-month sentences for the second-degree assaults against Fuller and Kafi.

ISSUE

1. Did the trial court abuse its discretion in instructing the jury on evidence of flight?

2. Did the court abuse its discretion in allowing Spreigl and "relationship" evidence?

3. Is the evidence sufficient to support the convictions?

4. Did the trial court err in imposing multiple sentences?

ANALYSIS

1. Oates argues that the trial court abused its discretion in instructing the jury on the inference that can be drawn from evidence of flight. Trial courts are allowed "considerable latitude" in the selection of language for jury instructions. State v. Gray, 456 N.W.2d 251, 258 (Minn.1990) (quoting Alholm v. Wilt, 394 N.W.2d 488, 490 (Minn.1986)). In reviewing a claim of error in instructing the jury, a reviewing court will generally not reverse absent an abuse of discretion. See State v. Persitz, 518 N.W.2d 843, 848 (Minn.1994)

(discussing refusal to give instruction requested by defense).

The trial court instructed the jury, over a defense objection, as follows:

Evidence of flight - of the flight of the defendant prior to his arrest is a factor that may be considered by you as evidence of the consciousness of guilt.

Oates argues that the evidence did not support any instruction on evidence of flight and that, in any event, the trial court's instruction materially misstated the law.

The state presented two types of "flight" evidence: (1) evidence that Oates was identified as the gunman (or presumed gunman) fleeing on foot from the South Beach night club and then fleeing in a car described by eyewitnesses; and (2) evidence that Oates took a cab from his home more than two hours later and was arrested in Chicago a month after the shooting.

Evidence of flight from the scene of a crime is evidence intimately connected to the crime itself. See State v. Mosby, 450 N.W.2d 629, 632-33 (Minn.App.1990)

(holding that evidence defendant attempted to steal a car in which to flee was evidence admissible as part of the proof of the offense, not Spreigl evidence), review denied (Minn. Mar. 16, 1990). Evidence that Oates was identified fleeing from the South Beach night club, as well as descriptions of the fleeing gunman as someone similar in appearance, tended to prove Oates's guilt directly, as evidence of identity, not indirectly, through an inference of "consciousness of guilt." There is no need to instruct the jury that a suspected gunman fleeing the scene is displaying a "consciousness of guilt."

The second type of "flight" evidence— Oates's cab ride and his arrest in Chicago —had only a slight tendency to prove consciousness of guilt and did not warrant a "flight" instruction. A taxi driver testified he picked up a man he was "60 to 70% [sure]" was Oates two hours after the shooting and drove him to another south Minneapolis location. But there was no evidence as to the significance of that location and no evidence linking this local "flight" with Oates's eventual arrest in Chicago one month later. Nor was there evidence of how long Oates had been in Chicago, how he got there, or any other circumstance tending to connect that trip to the South Beach shooting.

The supreme court has discouraged trial courts from giving instructions on particular kinds of evidence, especially with respect to inferences. State v. Olson, 482 N.W.2d 212, 215 (Minn.1992); see State v. Starfield, 481 N.W.2d 834, 839 (Minn.1992)

(stating that instructions "drawing attention to particular kinds of evidence" generally should be avoided). The trial court's instruction drew attention to the "flight" evidence and may have implied that the jury should credit the state's theory that Oates did in fact flee to Chicago after the shooting.

There is only limited support in Minnesota for giving an instruction on evidence of flight. See State v. McLaughlin, 250 Minn. 309, 319, 323-24, 84 N.W.2d 664, 671-72, 674 (1957)

(holding that when there is sufficient evidence of flight court may give a qualified instruction allowing inference of guilty); cf. State v. Smith, 299 N.W.2d 504, 506 (Minn.1980) (holding that defendant waived issue by failing to object but noting disagreement of courts and commentators on issue). We conclude that it was error to give the "flight" instruction in this case given the minimal evidence of flight. Therefore, we do not address Oates's argument that the instruction given misstated the law.

An error in instructing the jury is harmless if it can be said beyond a reasonable doubt that the error had no significant impact on the verdict. See Olson, 482 N.W.2d at 216

. The state's evidence of identity was strong, despite Oates's highlighting of minor inconsistencies in the eyewitness testimony. More importantly, there was eyewitness testimony identifying Oates as the person fleeing the South Beach in a deliberate, conspicuous manner different from that of the terror-stricken patrons scattering in confusion. Given this strong...