State v. Roberts, A14–2039.
| Decision Date | 16 March 2016 |
| Docket Number | No. A14–2039.,A14–2039. |
| Citation | 876 N.W.2d 863 |
| Parties | STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Ishmael ROBERTS, Appellant. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Lori Swanson, Attorney General, Saint Paul, MN; and Michael O. Freeman, Hennepin County Attorney, Jean Burdorf, Assistant County Attorney, Minneapolis, MN, for respondent.
Cathryn Middlebrook, Chief Appellate Public Defender, Jessica Merz Godes, Assistant
State Public Defender, Saint Paul, MN, for appellant.
After the first phase of a bifurcated court trial on stipulated facts, appellant Ishmael Roberts was found guilty of two counts of first-degree premeditated murder, Minn.Stat. § 609.185(a)(1) (2014), for the stabbing deaths of two of his family members: his adoptive grandmother,1 B.W., and 14–year–old P.W. After the second phase of the bifurcated trial, in which the district court heard testimony from psychiatric experts, the district court found that Roberts failed to establish a mental-illness defense under Minn.Stat. § 611.026 (2014). The district court sentenced Roberts to life in prison without the possibility of release. Minn.Stat. § 609.185(a). Roberts now appeals the district court's rejection of the mental-illness defense. The issue presented on appeal is whether the district court clearly erred by finding that Roberts failed to establish, by a preponderance of the evidence, that he did not know that his acts were morally wrong at the time of the murders. Because the district court did not clearly err, we affirm.
Roberts was born in Liberia in 1989. Sometime between the ages of 15 and 17, Roberts was adopted by B.W. and moved to Minnesota. Roberts lived with B.W. in Minneapolis from 2006 to 2009. In 2009, Roberts moved to Oregon to live with other family members. The record of Roberts's mental health issues begins on February 17, 2010, when police in Oregon responded to a report of Roberts chasing his sister with a knife, jumping from a third-floor balcony, and stating that he wanted to kill himself. Roberts was hospitalized in Oregon and diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. On September 15, 2010, sometime after Roberts returned to Minnesota, witnesses saw Roberts talking to himself and swinging his legs over the side of a bridge. Police detained Roberts and admitted him to a hospital in Minnesota. A physician diagnosed Roberts with "acute psychosis." On October 7, 2010, police admitted Roberts to a hospital after receiving complaints that he had harassed people in a parking lot. During his hospital stay, Roberts reported that he was living on the street; that he was not getting along with his adoptive grandmother, B.W.; and that B.W. and other family members were "imposter[s]." Medical staff identified the following as possible diagnoses: paranoid schizophrenia, substance-induced psychosis, and psychosis not otherwise specified.
On July 8, 2012, in South Dakota, a police officer stopped a vehicle driven by Roberts for speeding. Roberts stated that he was driving to Minneapolis. After learning that the vehicle was stolen, the officer arrested Roberts. A search of the vehicle revealed marijuana, a pistol, black bandanas, black gloves, a gas mask, and a machete. Roberts was released from custody on October 26, 2012. The items recovered from the vehicle were not returned to Roberts. After his release, Roberts boarded a bus to Oregon, but left the bus in Montana, where he convinced a ticket agent to change his destination to Minneapolis. Roberts boarded a new bus and arrived in Minneapolis near midnight on October 27, 2012.
Two days later, at 4:28 a.m. on October 29, 2012, police responded to a stabbing in Minneapolis at B.W.'s home. B.W. and P.W. were found dead at the scene. B.W. suffered 12 stab wounds and 48 incision wounds. P.W. suffered 7 stab wounds and 52 incision wounds, including a 22–centimeter incised neck wound that nearly severed his head. For both victims, the cause of death was sharp-force injury and the manner of death was homicide. Next to P.W.'s feet, police found a long black sheath that could have been used to hold a sword or a machete. No corresponding blade was recovered.
B.G., a resident of B.W.'s home, had seen Roberts earlier that morning at 3:00 a.m., sitting in B.W.'s living room, wearing a black winter hat and black clothes. B.G. recognized Roberts because Roberts previously resided in the home. Roberts appeared "upset," acknowledged B.G. with a head nod, and told B.G. that he was tired. B.G. returned to sleep in the basement and did not wake up until he heard police officers in the home. C.K., another resident of the home, awoke in the early morning of October 29, 2012, to the sound of screaming. C.K. observed an unknown male in a black hoodie and skull-like mask stabbing B.W. with a long knife. C.K. fled to a neighbor's house to call 911.
After arriving at the murder scene, police observed that B.W.'s car was missing. That night, police located the car at a rollover accident in Waterloo, Iowa. Witnesses observed a male driver leave the car and flee on foot. Several blocks away, police located the driver, later identified as Roberts, and ordered him to the ground. Roberts did not comply and instead walked away. Roberts stated that he understood the order but that he was not going to stop walking. An officer fired a Taser at Roberts and detained him. Roberts stated that he knew his rights and refused to identify himself.
Police determined that Roberts was wearing clothing sold at a Target in Waterloo, Iowa. At this Target, police recovered a pair of black, blood-stained dress shoes from a trash can near the entrance. Surveillance video from that entrance showed Roberts dropping the shoes into the trash can. An analysis of blood on the shoes revealed a DNA profile matching P.W. Police also determined that the shoes Roberts wore at the time of his arrest, Converse sneakers, were stolen from a Shoe Carnival in Waterloo. Surveillance video from October 29, 2012, showed Roberts entering the Shoe Carnival at 2:39 p.m. wearing dark-colored dress shoes, and leaving at 3:00 p.m. wearing the same dress shoes. Police found an empty shoebox and a piece of fabric with a security tag at the Shoe Carnival, both of which matched the Converse sneakers that Roberts was wearing. Police also recovered a car floor mat, consistent with B.W.'s car, from a dumpster behind the Shoe Carnival. The car floor mat contained a blood-like substance.
At approximately 7:00 p.m. on the night after the murder, Roberts was escorted into a holding cell at the Waterloo police station. Roberts briefly screamed inaudible words at an officer as the cell door closed, and then he fell asleep. Officers entered the cell twice that night to conduct a search, to take photographs, and to ask Roberts to change into an orange jumpsuit. Roberts was cooperative with all commands, except he refused to wear jail-issued socks.
The next morning, October 30, 2012, at 5:00 a.m., officers from the Minneapolis Police Department interviewed Roberts at the Waterloo police station. Roberts understood that he was in Iowa, claimed that he had no family, and stated that he did not remember the rollover crash. Roberts then invoked his right to counsel, stating "I would need a, I would need [an] attorney first before [I] have any conversation." The police officers terminated the interview. Later that day, when advised of the murder charges against him, Roberts stated, "I will be spending my life going from jail to jail."
On November 29, 2012, Roberts was booked into the Hennepin County Jail. Roberts reported that he felt things crawling up his nose and that he heard voices telling him to "sell his soul." On January 30, 2013, Roberts reported to a psychiatrist at the jail that he was being followed by the FBI and that he was receiving instructions through the television. The psychiatrist diagnosed Roberts with schizophrenia, paranoid type, and psychosis not otherwise specified.
On February 1, 2013, the district court ordered a Rule 20.01 competency examination. See Minn. R.Crim. P. 20.01. The court-appointed psychologist, Dr. Panciera, found that Roberts was incompetent to proceed at trial. After Roberts participated in a treat-to-competency program, the district court found Roberts competent to proceed. On November 12, 2013, Dr. Panciera issued a Rule 20.02 report,2 concluding that Roberts suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and that, at the time of the murders, Roberts "was not able to understand his actions and their moral implications realistically or rationally." The State hired Dr. Wernsing to conduct an additional Rule 20.02 examination. Dr. Wernsing diagnosed Roberts with substance-induced psychosis in remission. He opined that Roberts knew that his actions were wrong based in part on his conduct shortly before and after the murders.
After the first phase of a bifurcated court trial on stipulated facts, the district court found Roberts guilty of two counts of first-degree premeditated murder. After the second phase, in which the district court heard expert psychiatric testimony, the district court rejected Roberts's mental-illness defense. Although Roberts "suffered from a mental illness," the district court found that Roberts did not establish a mental-illness defense, Minn.Stat. § 611.026, because Roberts failed to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that he did not know the nature of his acts or that they were morally wrong at the time of the murders.
A criminal defendant is presumed sane and responsible for his acts, see Minn.Stat. § 611.025 (2014), and bears the burden of proving a mental-illness defense by a preponderance of the evidence, State v. Linder, 304 N.W.2d 902, 907 (Minn.1981). The mental-illness defense in Minnesota follows the M'Naghten rule,3 see State v. Odell, 676 N.W.2d 646, 647 (Minn.2004), which is codified by statute:
No person having a mental illness or cognitive impairment so as to be incapable of understanding the proceedings or making a defense...
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