Sykes v. State

• Decision Date: 26 May 1998
• Docket Number: No. C1-97-1554,C1-97-1554
• Citation: 578 N.W.2d 807
• Parties: Joseph N. SYKES, petitioner, Appellant, v. STATE of Minnesota, Respondent.
• Court: Minnesota Court of Appeals

Page 807

578 N.W.2d 807

Joseph N. SYKES, petitioner, Appellant, v. STATE of Minnesota, Respondent.

No. C1-97-1554.

Court of Appeals of Minnesota.

May 26, 1998.

Review Denied July 16, 1998.

Syllabus by the Court

1. Jurisdiction of Minnesota district courts is established where any part of the charged offense occurs within the territorial boundaries of the state.

2. Alleged trauma associated with being incarcerated following arrest, by itself, will not support a defendant's claim that he was coerced into accepting a plea. There must be an actual showing that the defendant was induced to plead guilty by the threat of harm or other coercion. The state advising a defendant that it will prosecute fully under the law if there is not a negotiated plea is not coercion. It is simply a restatement by the state of what it has the legal right to do.

3. The postconviction court's finding that defendant's petition for relief was untimely was harmless error on these facts. On the merits of each of defendant's claims, he cannot prevail.

Mark W. Peterson, Minneapolis, for appellant.

Hubert H. Humphrey III, Attorney General, Michael A. Fahey, Carver County Attorney, Peter A.C. Ivy, Assistant County Attorney, for respondent.

Considered and decided by WILLIS, P.J., and RANDALL and KLAPHAKE, JJ.

OPINION

RANDALL, Judge.

Appellant argues that the postconviction court erred when it denied him relief. Appellant claims that his convictions for felony terroristic threats should be vacated because the district court lacked jurisdiction; that his guilty plea was not made voluntarily, and that there was no factual basis to support his guilty plea. He also claims that his petition for postconviction relief was timely. We affirm.

FACTS

Sykes is an English law student and 13-year former member of Eckankar, a nonprofit cult-like religious organization that has a church in Chanhassen. On September 19, 1995, Sykes was charged in Carver County District Court with six counts of terroristic threats in violation of Minn.Stat. § 609.713, subd. 1 (1996), following six incidents of threatening conduct by him that took place between January 1994 and September 7, 1995. Sykes was arrested in California on November 28, 1995, and extradited to Minnesota.

On December 22, 1995, after consulting with local counsel, Sykes appeared before the district court and pleaded guilty to Counts II and V of the complaint pursuant to a plea agreement. Count II alleged that on July 10, 1995, Sykes sent a letter to Eckankar's Minneapolis office. The letter was posted from England. According to the complaint, Sykes "charged out-of-body slime attacks" that caused damage to his clothing. Sykes "further claimed that his car was forced off the road by sorcery and filled with slime." The letter closed by stating,

[t]he pressure I am under from the members of Eckankar you have sent against me is at a level where I am not responsible. If I flip, I will find you, and I will kill you, your wife, that is your second wife, and your pathetic dog. I would enjoy it. No one would defend you.

Count V of the complaint alleged that on July 13, 1994, Sykes left a threatening telephone message directed at Douglas Kunin, Eckankar's church counsel, on Eckankar's answering machine in Minnesota. According to the complaint, the message stated, in part, that:

This is a message for Doug Kunin from Joe Sykes. As [Kunin] may remember, I was a member of Eckankar until one year ago. I left because I'd endured 9 months of the most sever [sic] black witchcraft. For one year, I continued to have black witchcraft from a devil who calls himself Peddar Zaskq. I intend to go to America within the next few weeks to murder as many ECKists as I can. And I am putting this on tape for police purposes. At the same time, the FBI and newspapers are going to have full information in detail about all of the witchcraft methods used by members of Eckankar against me.

The call was made from England.

By the terms of the plea agreement, imposition of sentence would be stayed for 10 years on the condition that Sykes would immediately depart from the United States; he would have no contact with Eckankar; and he would not return to the United States during the period of probation. During the plea hearing, Sykes testified that: (1) he sent the letter and left the telephone message; (2) the communications originated from England; (3) the letter and the message could have caused fear in the mind of those receiving the communications; (4) both were sent in reckless disregard of that possibility; and (5) both would have some effect on the person receiving them. As part of the plea agreement, Sykes acknowledged that his guilty pleas were made knowingly and voluntarily and that he was waiving his right to a trial. The district court accepted Sykes's plea and imposed sentence in accordance with the plea negotiation. Following the hearing, Sykes immediately boarded a plane for England.

On January 11, 1996, Sykes contacted Minnesota attorney Joseph Marshall, requesting that Marshall represent him in an action to vacate his convictions. Sykes had recently found out that these Minnesota convictions could be an impediment to his admission to the English bar. On February 12, Marshall declined the representation. By letter dated February 19, Sykes attempted to persuade Marshall to accept his case. Marshall again declined the representation. Eventually, Sykes obtained his present counsel.

Before filing his petition for postconviction relief, Sykes contacted the Carver County Attorney's office, requesting that the Carver County Attorney stipulate to the vacation of the pleas, judgment, and sentence. Sykes explained to Carver County that he was applying for admission to the English bar and that the Minnesota criminal convictions were an impediment. The Carver County Attorney's office declined, indicating that Sykes's criminal record was a point to be properly considered by the English authorities and the reason offered by Sykes did not justify vacating his plea and convictions.

On February 26, 1997, Sykes filed a petition for postconviction relief, seeking to vacate the pleas, judgment, and sentence. Following a hearing on the matter, the postconviction court denied Sykes's petition. The postconviction court found that the state had jurisdiction over the charged offenses, that there was an adequate basis for Sykes's guilty plea, and that Sykes knowingly and voluntarily waived his right to trial after consulting with private counsel. The court further found that Sykes's petition for postconviction relief was not timely because it was filed 13 months after the entry of judgment. The postconviction court did consider the substantive merits of Sykes's claim as an alternative basis to deny relief. This appeal follows.

ISSUES

Does the State of Minnesota have jurisdiction over the charged offenses?

Were Sykes's guilty pleas made voluntarily?

Is there an adequate factual basis to support the guilty pleas?

Is Sykes's petition for postconviction relief timely?

ANALYSIS

An appellate court reviews a postconviction proceeding to determine whether the postconviction court's findings are supported by sufficient evidence. Roby v. State, 531 N.W.2d 482, 483 (Minn.1995). A postconviction court's decision will not be disturbed absent an abuse of discretion. Id.

I.

Sykes argues there was no "operative event" that took place within Minnesota that could constitute the essential elements of the crime of making terroristic threats. Thus, he argues that the district court lacked jurisdiction over the charged offenses. Principally Sykes argues that neither the result nor the effect of his conduct on the victims constitutes an element of terroristic threats. Rather, he argues that both the result and the effect are merely circumstantial evidence relevant to the element of intent. Thus, he argues that result and effect cannot be used to establish jurisdiction. Sykes points out that the district court found jurisdiction to try the charged offenses because the phone calls were received in Minnesota and the letter was sent into Minnesota and received. Sykes argues that the district court erred because, according to Sykes, the crime, if any, was completed on English soil and thus, Minnesota has no jurisdiction.

On appeal, this court reviews jurisdictional questions de novo. State v. LaRose, 543 N.W.2d 426, 427 (Minn.App.1996). "At common law the criminal jurisdiction of state courts was limited to crimes committed within the territorial boundaries of the state." State v. McCormick, 273 N.W.2d 624, 625 (Minn.1978). Extraterritorial jurisdiction for Minnesota courts to hear and try criminal offenses has been expanded by Minn.Stat. § 609.025 (1996). This section provides in relevant part that:

A person may be convicted and sentenced under the law of this state if the person:

* * * *

(3) Being without the state, intentionally causes a result within the state prohibited by the criminal laws of this state.

Minn.Stat. § 609.025, subd. 3 (emphasis added).

Both the Minnesota and United States Constitutions embody the concept of territoriality. Article I, section 6 of the Minnesota Constitution provides the right to a trial in "the county or district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which county or district shall have been previously ascertained by law." The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution establishes the right to a trial in "the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed." To withstand constitutional attack under the Minnesota and United States Constitutions, "some part of the crime charged must be 'committed' within the jurisdiction." State v. Smith, 421 N.W.2d 315, 319 (Minn.1988). For a district court in Minnesota to have jurisdiction in this case, some part of the offense of terroristic threats had to be committed within the territorial boundaries of Minnesota.

The terroristic threat statute,...