State v. Townsend
| Decision Date | 11 March 2019 |
| Docket Number | A18-0792 |
| Citation | 925 N.W.2d 280 |
| Parties | STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Savonte Maurice TOWNSEND, Appellant. |
| Court | Minnesota Court of Appeals |
Keith Ellison, Attorney General, St. Paul, Minnesota; and Michael O. Freeman, Hennepin County Attorney, Jonathan P. Schmidt, Assistant County Attorney, Minneapolis, Minnesota (for respondent)
Cathryn Middlebrook, Chief Appellate Public Defender, Julie Loftus Nelson, Assistant Public Defender, St. Paul, Minnesota (for appellant)
Considered and decided by Halbrooks, Presiding Judge; Larkin, Judge; and Smith, Tracy M., Judge.
Appellant challenges her conviction of simple robbery, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the conviction. We affirm.
Respondent State of Minnesota charged appellant Savonte Maurice Townsend with one count of simple robbery. The case was tried to the district court.
The evidence at trial showed that on May 25, 2017, Townsend went to Trader Joe’s in St. Louis Park, which is a business that includes a grocery store and a wine shop. W.S., a Trader Joe’s employee in the wine shop, observed Townsend and another woman put bottles of liquor in their handbags. Based on this behavior, W.S. assumed that the women were shoplifting. As the women moved toward the common hallway between the Trader Joe’s grocery store and wine shop with the liquor bottles, W.S. began to ask, "[A]re you going to pay for that?" Townsend said, "Run!" and the other woman ran into the hallway. W.S. grabbed the back of Townsend’s blouse as she ran past him and into the hallway. Once Townsend was in the hallway, W.S. grabbed Townsend’s handbag, which caused her to stop.
W.S. held Townsend against a wall in the hallway with his forearm and attempted to take her handbag. W.S. testified that Townsend said, "I’m going to bite you, I’m going to bite you." Next, Townsend tried to bite W.S.’s arm. In response, W.S. let go of Townsend. At some point during the struggle, a bottle of liquor fell out of Townsend’s handbag and broke on the floor. Townsend tried to leave but slipped and fell on the wet floor, at which point W.S. grabbed Townsend’s handbag again. W.S. testified that at that point, he believed there were three bottles of liquor remaining in Townsend’s bag.
A physical struggle ensued between W.S. and Townsend as they moved out of the hallway and onto the sidewalk outside of Trader Joe’s. Townsend yelled at W.S. to let her go, and W.S. responded, "Give me the booze first." W.S. testified that he took the remaining liquor bottles out of Townsend’s bag and then released her. Townsend ran to a car and drove away.
At trial, Townsend admitted that she went to Trader Joe’s to steal alcohol. Townsend testified that she took only one bottle of liquor from the wine shop and then walked out of the shop. Townsend also testified that she did not know W.S. was a Trader Joe’s employee. She denied biting or threatening to bite W.S.
The district court found Townsend guilty as charged, entered judgment of conviction, and sentenced her to serve 51 months in prison. Townsend appeals, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to sustain her conviction.
Was the evidence sufficient to sustain Townsend’s conviction of simple robbery?
When considering a claim of insufficient evidence, an appellate court carefully analyzes the record to determine whether the evidence, when viewed in a light most favorable to the conviction, was sufficient to permit the fact-finder to reach the verdict that it did. State v. Webb , 440 N.W.2d 426, 430 (Minn. 1989). An appellate court assumes that the fact-finder believed the state’s witnesses and disbelieved the defense witnesses. Statev. Tscheu , 758 N.W.2d 849, 858 (Minn. 2008). The court will not disturb a guilty verdict if the fact-finder, acting with due regard for the presumption of innocence and the requirement of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, could reasonably conclude that the defendant was proved guilty of the offense charged. Bernhardt v. State , 684 N.W.2d 465, 476-77 (Minn. 2004). An appellate court "review[s] criminal bench trials the same as jury trials when determining whether the evidence is sufficient to sustain convictions." State v. Hough , 585 N.W.2d 393, 396 (Minn. 1998).
"When a sufficiency-of-the-evidence claim turns on the meaning of the statute under which a defendant has been convicted, [appellate courts] are presented with a question of statutory interpretation that [they] review de novo." State v. Henderson , 907 N.W.2d 623, 625 (Minn. 2018). In such circumstances, an appellate court uses a two-step process: first, it uses statutory interpretation to determine the meaning of the relevant statutory language; second, it determines whether the evidence was sufficient to establish guilt using that interpretation. See State v. Robinson , 921 N.W.2d 755, 756–58, 761–62 (Minn. 2019) ().
The state charged Townsend with simple robbery under Minn. Stat. § 609.24, which provides:
Whoever, having knowledge of not being entitled thereto, takes personal property from the person or in the presence of another and uses or threatens the imminent use of force against any person to overcome the person’s resistance or powers of resistance to, or to compel acquiescence in, the taking or carrying away of the property is guilty of robbery ....
Townsend contends that the evidence was insufficient to sustain her conviction because "the state failed to prove that Trader Joe’s liquor is ‘personal property’ under the simple robbery statute" and because she "never overcame anyone’s resistance or compelled anyone’s acquiescence in the carrying away of Trader Joe’s property."
Townsend argues that "she did not take ‘personal property’ from another" because she "took a bottle of liquor, i.e. , store merchandise, owned by Trader Joe’s, which is a business, not a person." Recently, the supreme court held that State v. Bowen , 921 N.W.2d 763 (Minn. 2019). Thus, the evidence was sufficient to prove Townsend took personal property from another within the meaning of the simple-robbery statute.
Townsend also argues that she is guilty of theft or attempted simple robbery, and not simple robbery, because "although she engaged in a physical altercation with the store clerk when leaving, [she] did not overcome the clerk’s resistance or compel his acquiescence in the carrying away" of the liquor. "Instead," she argues, "the clerk thwarted [her] attempt to carry away the liquor and [she] left empty-handed." Townsend therefore concludes that because she "never completed the crime of simple robbery, her conviction must be reversed."
We understand Townsend’s argument to be that she is not guilty of simple robbery because she relinquished possession of the liquor bottles once she was outside of the store and Trader Joe’s ultimately retained them. Because one of the bottles was destroyed during the struggle that ensued after Townsend removed the bottles from the wine shop, we question whether the record supports Townsend’s argument. Nonetheless, we consider the issue that Townsend has raised and turn our attention to the language of the charging statute.
Again, the simple-robbery statute requires the use or threat of imminent use of force "against any person to overcome the person’s resistance or powers of resistance to, or to compel acquiescence in, the taking or carrying away" of personal property. Minn. Stat. § 609.24 (emphasis added). Commission of a simple robbery "does not require that the use of force or threats actually precede or accompany the taking" but rather "requires only that the use of force or threats precede or accompany either the taking or the carrying away." State v. Kvale , 302 N.W.2d 650, 653 (Minn. 1981) (emphasis added). Thus, caselaw treats the "taking" and the "carrying away" as separate acts. See id . ( that the use of force "overcame the victim’s power to resist and compelled his acquiescence both in the completed taking and in the contemporaneous carrying away of the [property]"); see also State v. Thonesavanh , 904 N.W.2d 432, 438 (Minn. 2017) ().
Townsend’s argument recognizes that "taking" and "carrying away" are separate and distinct acts under the simple-robbery statute. She concedes that "as soon as she took the bottle of [liquor] off the shelf and put it in her purse, she was guilty of theft" and argues that she "was initially only guilty of theft because she accomplished the ‘taking’ of the liquor without any use of force or threat of force against anyone." As to the carrying away, Townsend asserts that she is not guilty of simple robbery because she "did not overcome the clerk’s resistance or compel his acquiescence in the carrying away." As to that assertion, Townsend argues that the sufficiency of the state’s evidence turns on the interpretation of the simple-robbery statute and sets forth the standards that would guide such an interpretation. However, Townsend does not engage in statutory interpretation to support her position. Nonetheless, because we agree that statutory interpretation principles are appropriately considered in addressing Townsend’s argument, we turn to those principles.
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