State v. Schneider, C3-86-40
| Decision Date | 20 March 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. C3-86-40,C3-86-40 |
| Citation | 402 N.W.2d 779 |
| Parties | STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Ronald Vernon SCHNEIDER, Appellant. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
1. There was sufficient evidence of intent to support defendant's conviction of first-degree burglary and first-degree murder.
2. Defendant did not prove he was legally insane at the time of the murder.
3. It was not error to allow the state to subpoena testimony from a defense-retained psychiatrist.
4. It was not error to elicit evidence from witnesses that they had been hired, but not called, by defendant.
5. Consecutive sentences were proper for defendant's multiple convictions.
Steven P. Russett, Asst. State Public Defender, Minneapolis, for appellant.
Michael Richardson, Asst. Co. Atty., Minneapolis, for respondent.
Heard, considered and decided by the court en banc.
The appellant-defendant, Ronald Schneider, appeals from the decision of a jury in Hennepin County District Court, first, finding him guilty of burglary, kidnapping and first-degree murder and then, in the second half of his bifurcated trial, rejecting his defense of insanity. We affirm the conviction and sentences imposed.
The events for which defendant faced trial began on February 13. On that day, defendant lost substantial sums in the stock market. This event, combined with previous stock market losses and with recent news that his girl friend was pregnant, left defendant in an angry and depressed state. After an evening spent alone, during which he broke two television sets he owned, defendant decided at about 2:00 a.m., February 14, to break into the offices of his dentist, Dr. Kraft, and his opthalmalogist, Dr. Hess. These offices are in a professional building located a couple of blocks from defendant's apartment. According to psychiatric testimony, defendant went to these offices because the offices of professionals like doctors or lawyers had an aura of power about them, and defendant wished to manipulate the medical instruments so as to gain power himself and compensate for his disappointments. Defendant took with him a pry bar, glass cutter and a gun. Defendant took the gun with him out of a general fear of other people.
The building in which Drs. Kraft and Hess worked is known as the Mark II Professional Building. The first floor is small, containing only a glassed-in entryway, an elevator, and a flight of stairs. The second and third floors are larger, extending over a parking lot and containing numerous offices.
Defendant went to the back entrance of the Mark II and cut a hole in the glass of the emergency exit door on the second floor of the building. After entering the building, defendant forced open the door to Dr. Kraft's office, played with the dental instruments and apparently arranged the lobby chairs in a circle. He then crossed the interior hallway to Dr. Hess's office. Defendant believed that Dr. Hess had previously cheated him out of $20 when he repaired his eyeglasses so defendant took $20 from the petty cash drawer. Defendant returned to Dr. Kraft's office, but left shortly.
Meanwhile, Richard Ligda, the manager of an insurance company on the third floor of the building, arrived at his office about 1:00-1:30 a.m. to practice using a recently acquired computer. At approximately 2:00 a.m., Ligda left his office and walked downstairs to leave for home. While going by the second floor, he noticed that office doors were ajar and that the glass of the emergency exit door was broken. Ligda went back to his office and called the police, then left the building to meet them outside. Officers John Scanlon and Lowell Hughes arrived in separate police cars within 5 minutes. The three men re-entered the building and walked along the hallways, checking the offices and restrooms for intruders. Finding none, the men used the phone in Ligda's office to tell Dr. Luckow about the break-in. The three then left the building. Officer Scanlon drove off in his car to see if anyone was leaving the area. Officer Hughes left on foot to investigate the origins of fresh footprints in the snow.
After standing alone in the parking lot for a few minutes, Ligda took the elevator to his office, planning to call the landlord and then go home. As he exited the elevator on the third floor, Ligda was confronted by a man he later identified as defendant coming up the stairs between the second and third floors. Seeing Ligda, defendant stopped, pulled a gun from his fatigue jacket, and pointed it at him. Defendant asked, "Are you the one who called the cops?" Ligda denied doing so and started walking down the hall. Defendant followed Ligda and said, "Come on, you're going to be a hostage." Defendant made Ligda walk downstairs 3-4 feet in front of him. At some point, while walking, defendant said, "If you were the one who called the cops, I'm going to kill you." Just before exiting the building, defendant said, "They're out here waiting to blast away." The parking lot was empty except for a police car and Ligda's car parked side by side. Defendant told Ligda to get into the police car. Ligda balked so defendant asked if the other car was Ligda's. Ligda denied it so defendant said, "Come on, we're going." and motioned for Ligda to walk down the driveway. As they walked, Ligda put his hands in the air, hoping to tip off any police in the area that something was amiss. A car began approaching on the road leading to the building. Defendant told Ligda to put his hands down. The car, which was a police car, continued towards the two, then stopped. Defendant, who, at this moment, was no longer behind Ligda, but a few steps to the right, walked ahead of Ligda, pointed down the road and said, Ligda took off to the left, hoping to get behind the car, and shouted, As Ligda passed the front of the car, he saw defendant walk up to the window and stick his hand through it, then heard two gunshots. Ligda ran across the highway and hid in the woods. Defendant opened the door of the police car and tried to see the face of the man he shot. Defendant heard a siren go off so he closed the door and walked back to his apartment. Officer Scanlon had been shot twice and died from a bullet passing through his heart.
After he got back to his apartment, defendant spent the rest of that day alone. At some point, he shaved off his mustache. His girl friend came to defendant's apartment the next day, February 15. The two briefly discussed the shooting. Defendant said it happened very quickly, that he panicked and did not know why he shot the police officer. All defendant remembered of the shooting was feeling the recoil of the gun discharging twice. Defendant did remember ordering the hostage to put his hands down and telling the police officer that "[h]e went that way." He also remembered opening the door of the police car and pushing the policeman over so he could get into the car though he couldn't remember why. Defendant remembered seeing the policeman shaking and leaning over and noticed that he did not have his gun out of his holster. While defendant was with his girl friend, he cut up the hat he had worn at the shooting, as well as another similar cap, and flushed the pieces down the toilet.
On September 15, the police arrested defendant in his apartment, acting on a tip from a friend of defendant.
After arrest, defendant was interviewed on behalf of the defense by two psychiatric experts, Drs. Zuelke and Philander. At trial, they recounted defendant's description of the shooting. According to defendant, as he approached the police car on the night of the shooting, he saw the car turn from white to black, appear to fill with liquid, and then turn into a giant white face surrounded by red hair. The face looked like that of his father, who had died in 1969. Defendant had not been invited to attend the funeral and had had doubts about the reality of his father's death. Defendant said he moved the body in the police car in an unsuccessful attempt to identify the body. Defendant said that, in the first few hours after the shooting, he wasn't sure what had happened. He watched the police activity at the sight of the killing and only gradually realized that he was the killer.
Defendant was originally charged with two counts of first-degree murder, felony murder and murder of a police officer in the course of duty, two counts of kidnapping, one count of first-degree burglary and one count of second-degree assault. In the first phase of his bifurcated trial, defendant was convicted of all counts. In the second, or sanity, phase of trial, the defense presented the opinions of Drs. Zuelke and Philander that defendant was legally insane at the moment of his act, i.e., he was suffering from a mental defect such that he did not know the nature of his act or did not know the difference between right and wrong. The state presented its own witness on the issue, Dr. Malmquist. The state also subpoenaed the testimony of two other psychiatrists, Drs. Schwartz and McCafferty, who had originally interviewed defendant at the request of the defense, but had not been called by the defense. Finally, the state introduced lay testimony that defendant had acted normally before and after the shooting. The jury found that the defense had not carried its burden of proving insanity.
The issues raised on appeal are:
I. Was there sufficient evidence of intent to support defendant's convictions of first-degree burglary and first-degree murder?
II. Did the defense show, by a preponderance of the evidence, that defendant was legally insane at the time of the killing?
III. Was it error to allow the state to subpoena testimony from a defense-retained psychiatrist?
IV. Could the state elicit evidence from witnesses who had been hired by the defense, but not called to testify for defendant?
V. Should defendant have received...
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