State v. Smith

• Decision Date: 03 May 1985
• Docket Number: No. C7-84-795,C7-84-795
• Citation: 367 N.W.2d 497
• Parties: STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Charles D. SMITH, Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

Page 497

367 N.W.2d 497

STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Charles D. SMITH, Appellant.

No. C7-84-795.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

May 3, 1985.

Syllabus by the Court

Defendant received a fair trial and was properly found guilty of first-degree premeditated murder and first-degree murder in the commission of aggravated robbery.

C. Paul Jones, Public Defender, Michael F. Cromett, Asst. Public Defender, Minneapolis, for appellant.

Hubert H. Humphrey, III, Atty. Gen., St. Paul, Thomas J. Johnson, Hennepin County Atty., Vernon E. Bergstrom, Michael Richardson, Beverly J. Wolfe, Paul R. Jennings, Anne E. Peek, Asst. County Attys., Minneapolis, for respondent.

Heard, considered and decided by the court en banc.

COYNE, Justice.

Defendant was found guilty by a district court jury of first-degree premeditated murder, Minn.Stat. Sec. 609.185(1) (1982), and first-degree intentional murder in the commission of aggravated robbery, section 609.185(3), and he was sentenced by the trial court to a mandatory term of life in prison. On appeal, he claims (1) that the state failed to prove that he killed the victim or that he did so either with premeditation or with intent during the commission of an aggravated robbery, and (2) that he was denied a fair trial by (a) the prosecutor's violation of the discovery rules, (b) the trial court's denial of his pretrial request for a continuance, (c) the court's denial of his pretrial motion to suppress evidence that he contends was the fruit of a violation of the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, and (d) the court's admission of other-crime evidence. We affirm.

The victim was Allen Olson, a 40-year-old architect. Olson, a homosexual, shared a house in Southeast Minneapolis with another man. Olson's body was discovered by the roommate late on July 4, 1983, when the roommate returned from a weekend trip. There were no signs of forced entry. Olson, clad only in a shirt, was lying on his stomach in a pool of blood in the front part of the house. Electrical cords were tied around his hands and right ankle. A steak knife handle covered with blood was on the floor of the living room; the blade was found by the police in the fireplace. Another kitchen knife was on the kitchen floor, its blade bent. There was a trail of blood leading to the kitchen, blood on the steps leading upstairs, and blood on the floor and bedsheets in Olson's upstairs bedroom. Police experts found shoeprints in the blood on the floor and fingerprints on a number of items, including a glass. The house had been ransacked and a number of items taken. Olson's car was also missing.

The pathologist estimated that Olson was killed sometime between 1:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. on July 4. He found 40 different slash and stab wounds on the body, including 20 stab wounds to the chest and nine in the lower back. Some of the wounds were defensive wounds. Olson sustained serious injuries to the right lung, the liver, and the small bowel. The fatal wound was one to the heart. Of the other internal injuries, only the injury to the small bowel occurred after death.

Police located Olson's car on July 10 in an apartment parking lot in North Minneapolis. A witness stated that the car had been parked there for four days. Police found more fingerprints in the car, some of which matched prints found on the glass at the scene of the killing. A computer comparison of the prints with those in the computer data bank indicated that the prints were made by defendant.

Police learned from welfare authorities that defendant was then residing at the Arcola Hotel in downtown Minneapolis. On July 13 they obtained and executed a warrant to search defendant's room there. The search resulted in the discovery and seizure of a television set missing from Olson's house. Defendant was arrested outside the hotel later on the 13th. He was wearing a wristwatch and tie tack that belonged to Olson. An address book in defendant's pocket revealed that his girl friend lived only three blocks from the address where Olson's car was found. An expert concluded that the shoeprints found at the scene were from shoes that were the same size, shape and design and that had the same wear marks as the shoes defendant was wearing when arrested.

Police located two pieces of artwork missing from Olson's house at the Royal Star Liquidators, an auction house and dealer in second-hand furniture. Defendant, a frequent visitor to the store, had sold the pictures to the store on July 6.

The other-crime evidence admitted against defendant consisted of evidence that on June 11, 1983, defendant became angry with an acquaintance, Marleen Witte, in her residence, held a kitchen knife to her throat, threatened to kill her, tied her hands and one foot behind her back in much the same way that Olson was found tied, and then stole her television and her car. Defendant sold the television to Royal Star Liquidators on June 14. The car was recovered in St. Paul a few weeks later.

Defendant testified that he met Olson on the afternoon of July 3 in Stevens Square Park while watching some people play basketball. He said that during their conversation he told Olson he painted houses and did minor repairs and that Olson asked him to come with him and give him an estimate on painting his house. He testified that while at Olson's house Olson told him that he was a homosexual and began to undress. He claimed that he went downstairs and was joined by Olson after Olson changed clothes. Defendant testified that when he asked Olson which bus to take to get home, Olson said that defendant could drive his car and that he would ride along. Defendant claimed that Olson dropped him off at his sister's house at 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. on July 3 and that that was the last time he saw Olson. He testified that he spent that night at his sister's place, spent July 4 with his girl friend, then checked into the hotel with his girl friend at 7:00 p.m. on the 4th. He denied that he took any items from Olson and claimed that he bought the television set and the watch a few weeks earlier from a man in a grocery store parking lot and bought the tie tack in a thrift shop.

Defendant also denied that he ever tied up and robbed Marleen Witte. He claimed that she loaned him her car and that he drove it for a few days, then abandoned it. He claimed that he found the television set he sold to Royal Star Liquidators in the back seat of Witte's car.

Two of defendant's sisters and his girl friend testified as alibi witnesses.

State's rebuttal witnesses established that Olson was with his brother on the afternoon of July 3 until 5:00 p.m., that he was at the office of his architectual firm on the 3rd between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m., and that he talked with his brother on the telephone on the 3rd at about 11:30 p.m.

1. Defendant's contention that the state failed to prove that he killed Olson is without merit, as is his contention that the state failed to prove either that he premeditated Olson's death or intentionally killed him in the commission of an aggravated robbery. The evidence that defendant killed Olson was overwhelming. The only real issue for the jury was whether defendant did so either with premeditation or with intent during the commission of an aggravated robbery. The 40 stab wounds, the fact that there was blood all over the house, and the fact that Olson was found tied up in a position that made movement nearly impossible indicated that the stabbing and slashing took place in more than one part of the house and over a period of time before Olson was bound. The testimony of the pathologist that death likely occurred within one minute of the infliction of the fatal wound to the heart and the unlikelihood that defendant would have tied the victim after the victim was dead indicated further that defendant inflicted the fatal wound after tying the victim. "Extensive planning and calculated deliberation need not be shown by the prosecution [to establish premeditation]. The requisite 'plan' to commit first-degree murder can be formulated virtually instantaneously by a killer." State v. Neumann, 262 N.W.2d 426, 430 (Minn.1978). While a mere series of blows may not be enough to justify a finding of premeditation, State v. Swain, 269 N.W.2d 707, 714 (Minn.1978), a long and severe beating may be enough. State v. Walker, 306 Minn. 105, 235 N.W.2d 810 (1975), cert. denied, 426 U.S. 950, 96 S.Ct. 3172, 49 L.Ed.2d 1187 (1976). This case, like the recent case of State v. Spurgin, 358 N.W.2d 648, 651-52 (Minn.1984), is more like Walker than Swain, with the totality of the circumstances sufficiently establishing that the killing was premeditated.

We also conclude that the evidence was sufficient to support a finding of intentional murder during the commission of an aggravated robbery and not just, as defendant contends, a homicide accompanied by a theft of property.

2. Defendant raises four issues in support of his contention that he should be given a new trial:

(a) First, defendant argues that the prosecutor violated the discovery rules by failing to disclose that an expert, Lieutenant Arvidson of the identification unit of the police department, had lifted a latent fingerprint from a wooden box in the victim's living room and matched it with defendant's known prints. The print apparently was temporarily lost by the police when it slipped through a crack in the evidence box and was not found until 6 weeks later. Arvidson testified that, because the print was of relatively poor quality, he did not report the results of his comparison. The state became aware of the existence of the print during its testimonial examination of a different officer, Sergeant Weiner. The prosecutor asked Lieutenant Arvidson about the print the morning before he testified and learned of the match for the first time. The prosecutor did not disclose the evidence before he began his questioning of Arvidson. After the prosecutor elicited the...