State v. Schneider
| Decision Date | 15 July 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. C0-98-1071.,C0-98-1071. |
| Parties | STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Cletus Eugene SCHNEIDER, Appellant. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
John M. Stuart, State Public Defender, Lyonel Norris, Minneapolis, for appellant.
Michael A. Hatch, Atty. Gen., James Backstrom, Dakota County Atty., Nicole E. Nee, Asst. Dakota County Atty., Hastings, for respondent.
Heard, considered, and decided by the court en banc.
Cletus Eugene Schneider appeals from his conviction for the first-degree premeditated murder of his estranged wife, Dorothy Sandburg, in violation of Minn.Stat. § 609.185(1) (1998). The sole issue on appeal is whether the evidence against Schneider was sufficient to support the jury verdict. We affirm.
On the morning of Thursday, June 12, 1997, Dorothy Sandburg went from her home on Judicial Road in Burnsville to work in St. Cloud. Sandburg left work shortly after 4:00 p.m. The next day, June 13, Sandburg's sister, Colette Johnson, became concerned when she was unable to contact Sandburg and was informed by Sandburg's employer that Sandburg had not been at work on June 13. At about 7:00 p.m., Johnson went to Sandburg's home along with her other sister and her brother-in-law. The group attempted to open the front door, but Sandburg's body was blocking it. They immediately telephoned the police.
When police arrived, Johnson told them that she believed Schneider killed Sandburg. Sandburg and Schneider, who had been married nearly 25 years, were separated and on the eve of a martial dissolution trial, scheduled to commence on June 19, 1997. The marriage was both Sandburg's and Schneider's second.
After confirming that Sandburg was dead, police searched the exterior of the house, but found no signs of forced entry. Police also noted no evidence of a burglary and that everything in the house appeared "very neat, very tidy." Near Sandburg's body, police found an ATM envelope, an advertisement, a lunch bag, a set of keys, and a purse, indicating that she had been attacked shortly after her entry into the home. Underneath Sandburg's wrist was a boat tiller. Schneider kept a sailboat in the yard and a boat tiller in the basement of the Judicial Road home. Police found a second boat tiller stored in the basement near other boating equipment.
Investigators from the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) collected five drops of blood originating from the murder scene. One drop of blood was collected from Sandburg's abdomen and three drops were collected from the floor near her body. The fifth drop of blood was taken from Sandburg's left shoe after the autopsy. A BCA investigator identified the particular drops for examination because they were circular, indicating that they fell from a source directly above the location of the drop, possibly from the perpetrator.
Dr. Lindsey Thomas, assistant coroner for Dakota County, arrived at Sandburg's home at approximately 9:00 p.m. on Friday, June 13. After examining the body, she concluded that Sandburg had probably been dead for at least 24 hours. The following Monday, Thomas conducted an autopsy. The autopsy revealed that Sandburg's head injury was consistent with having been struck with the boat tiller found under her wrist. Sandburg also had injuries to her neck, and the cause of her death was manual strangulation.
Saturday morning, June 14, officers interviewed Schneider at the home of his son in law and daughter. Schneider had been residing with his daughter and son-in-law since a December 1996 court order excluded him from the Judicial Road home. The officers informed Schneider of Sandburg's death, and then interviewed him. Schneider appeared nervous during the interview, and did not inquire as to the cause of Sandburg's death until 49 minutes into the interview. Schneider told the officers about the impending marital dissolution proceeding and about financial stress between him and Sandburg. According to Schneider, he and Sandburg kept separate finances during their marriage, and Schneider saved his money while Sandburg spent her income. When the officers asked who might benefit from Sandburg's death, Schneider responded that Sandburg's sons from her previous marriage were the beneficiaries of her life insurance. Schneider failed to mention that he was the beneficiary of over $200,000 worth of life insurance policies, a fact of which he had been apprised during the marital dissolution proceedings.
Schneider was cooperative with the police. He allowed the officers to seize any items they requested, including the clothes he claimed to have been wearing on June 12, which had since been laundered. Schneider also consented to the seizure of his truck and several of his tools. Schneider told the police his whereabouts on June 12 and 13. This version of his whereabouts differed slightly from his testimony at trial. Some of the details, such as his going to the credit union to deposit an unemployment check, were confirmed by outside sources. Schneider claimed that he was at his daughter's home during the time frame when police believed Sandburg was murdered. However, this assertion could not be confirmed by Schneider's daughter and was contradicted by the testimony of his son-in-law and some neighbors.
Police found no blood on the shirt, pants, or shoes that Schneider claimed to have been wearing on June 12. However, police did find human blood on a pair of shorts, two pair of underwear, and three shirts taken from Schneider's home in a later search. There was an insufficient quantity of blood to perform deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing on the shorts, one pair of underwear, and one shirt. The blood on the other pair of underwear and shirts was consistent with that of Schneider. Police found no blood on the interior of Schneider's truck, and only a small amount of blood underneath the driver's side door handle. The amount of blood was too minute to be identified as human blood.
Schneider voluntarily submitted to an additional interview at the police station on Wednesday, June 18. Police asked Schneider why someone might want to kill Sandburg, to which Schneider responded that it was her "unyielding nature." Schneider insisted that he did not kill Sandburg. After the interview, police took hair and blood samples and fingerprints from Schneider.
On August 11, 1997, two months after the murder, police received the results of the DNA testing on the five drops of blood that originated from the crime scene. That same day, police arrested Schneider at the Judicial Road home, which he had been maintaining at the request of police. Schneider was indicted on charges of first-degree premeditated murder, Minn.Stat. § 609.185(1); first-degree murder while committing burglary, Minn.Stat. § 609.185(3); second-degree intentional murder, Minn.Stat. § 609.19, subd. 1(1) (1998); and second-degree murder in violation of an order for protection, Minn.Stat. § 609.19, subd. 2(2).
At trial, Sandburg's divorce attorney testified that Sandburg filed for marital dissolution on July 24, 1996, nearly 1 year before her murder. During the marital dissolution proceedings, the couple's primary assets were listed as follows: Judicial Road home, $176,700; industrial lot, $34,100; house in Mexico, $4,000; Schneider's IRA, $217,780; Schneider's cash account, $40,000; and Sandburg's life insurance, $268,000. The values of and claims to most of these assets were disputed in the marital dissolution proceedings.
Sandburg's divorce attorney testified that in December 1996, both Sandburg and Schneider moved for exclusive use and possession of the Judicial Road home. The court granted Sandburg temporary use and possession of the home. The order included a standard provision mutually restraining Schneider and Sandburg from "interfering with, harassing, maltreating, vilifying, or molesting the other party."
Sandburg's divorce attorney also testified that on May 9, Schneider informed her that he was depressed and wanted a continuance of trial, which had been scheduled for May 15. On May 15, Sandburg's attorney went to court anticipating Schneider would request a continuance, but Schneider did not appear. A new trial date was set for June 19, 1997, just one week after Sandburg's death. Schneider had terminated the services of his attorney over a fee dispute, and as of June 12, 1997, Schneider had not hired a new attorney to represent him at trial.
Sandburg's divorce attorney also read into evidence an affidavit filed by Schneider on November 21, 1996, which referred to Sandburg as "narcissistic" and "exploitative." She further testified regarding two incidences where, prior to being granted exclusive use and possession of the Judicial Road home, Sandburg locked Schneider out of the home. Both times, Schneider was able to gain entry into the home despite the locks.
One of Schneider's co-workers testified that, "on two occasions I remember specifically [Schneider] said * * * that the only way he would be able to keep his money is if Dorothy wasn't alive."
At trial, Schneider testified in his own defense. On cross-examination, he read into evidence part of a letter that he wrote in 1993 or 1994 regarding being locked out of the Judicial Road home. In that letter, Schneider wrote, He also read part of a document dated February 6, 1997, in which he wrote,
Schneider also read into evidence a letter he had written to a friend in February 1997, in which he wrote:
And to top everything off Dorothy is being one monster of a lying bitch. I don't know if I had mentioned anything about her neurotic condition. She has not been diagnosed professionally, but without doubt she has...
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