Reed v. State

793 N.W.2d 725, 2010 Minn. LEXIS 803, 2010 WL 5348083
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedDecember 29, 2010
DocketNo. A10-39
StatusPublished
Cited by58 cases

This text of 793 N.W.2d 725 (Reed v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reed v. State, 793 N.W.2d 725, 2010 Minn. LEXIS 803, 2010 WL 5348083 (Mich. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION

ANDERSON, G. BARRY, Justice.

Ronald Lindsey Reed was convicted of conspiracy and aiding and abetting the murder of a police officer. On direct appeal, we affirmed Reed’s convictions. State v. Reed (Reed I), 737 N.W.2d 572 (Minn.2007). Reed then sought postcon-viction relief, asserting that the district court violated his constitutional right to self-representation, the statute of limitations barred his prosecution, trial and appellate counsel provided ineffective assistance, and a new trial was required because a witness recanted her testimony. The postconviction court denied Reed’s petition without a hearing. We affirm.

We fully discussed the facts of this case in Reed’s direct appeal. See Reed I, 737 N.W.2d at 578-79. We focus here on the facts relevant to this proceeding.

Police officer James Sackett was shot and killed while responding to a false emergency call on May 22, 1970. Soon after the killing, the caller, Constance Trimble-Smith, was tried for the killing and testified that someone told her to make the fictitious report, but did not identify the person. She was acquitted. Much later, on January 12, 2005, Reed was indicted for conspiracy to commit murder in violation of Minn.Stat. § 609.175, subd. 2 (2010), and aiding and abetting murder under Minn.Stat. §§ 609.05, subd. 1, and 609.185(a)(1) (2010).

On February 7, 2006, two weeks before opening statements were delivered in his trial, Reed requested the district court to appoint new counsel, stating that he was unhappy with his representation. The court denied the motion, holding that Reed’s attorneys had, in the court’s view, “presented a zealous defense on behalf of Mr. Reed.” Reed asked if he could read [729]*729his motion into the record. The court accepted Reed’s written motion, but refused to read it into the record, stating, “I have indicated for the record exactly what his request is and that it is based on his feeling that the defense counsel have not adequately presented or prepared their case for trial.” The court filed Reed’s motion under seal.

Trimble-Smith testified for the State at Reed’s trial. Trimble-Smith stated that Reed told her to make the 1970 telephone call that lured Sackett to the location of the shooting. There were some inconsistencies between the testimony she provided at trial and the testimony she provided to the grand jury that indicted Reed, which the prosecution highlighted during direct examination. At trial, she testified that it was impossible for Reed to have been the shooter and that Reed did not know the shooting would result from the phone call.

The State also presented testimony from John Griffin, who stated that Reed essentially confessed to shooting Sackett when Griffin and Reed met in the early 1980s. Another witness, Anthony Foster, testified that he, Reed, and two others were together in Foster’s apartment two or three days after the murder. Foster stated that Reed was acting “more subdued,” but that Reed did not say anything about the murder when the topic arose.

Reed was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and aiding and abetting murder. Based on Reed’s conviction for aiding and abetting first-degree murder, the district court sentenced Reed to life imprisonment. The court did not impose a sentence for the conspiracy charge.

On direct appeal, we affirmed Reed’s conviction for aiding and abetting first-degree murder. Reed I, 737 N.W.2d at 590. The postconviction court denied Reed’s petition for postconviction relief. Reed now appeals from the postconviction court’s denial of postconviction relief.

I.

In his petition for postconviction relief, Reed argued that the district court violated his constitutional right to self-representation when it denied his February 7, 2006, motion for substitute counsel.1 The postconviction court denied this claim as proeedurally barred under State v. Knaffla, 309 Minn. 246, 252, 243 N.W.2d 737, 741 (1976), and, in the alternative, denied the claim as lacking factual support.

We review the denial of postcon-viction relief for abuse of discretion. Quick v. State, 692 N.W.2d 438, 439 (Minn.2005). Under this standard of review, a matter will not be reversed unless the postconviction court exercised its discretion in an arbitrary or capricious manner, based its ruling on an erroneous view of the law, or made clearly erroneous factual findings. Dobbins v. State, 788 N.W.2d 719, 725 (Minn.2010). We review issues of law de novo. Butala v. State, 664 N.W.2d 333, 338 (Minn.2003).

The Knaffla rule provides that “where direct appeal has once been taken, all matters raised therein, and all claims known but not raised, will not be considered upon a subsequent petition for post-conviction relief.” Knaffla, 309 Minn. at 252, 243 N.W.2d at 741. This bar also applies to claims that should have been [730]*730known on direct appeal. King v. State, 649 N.W.2d 149, 156 (Minn.2002). There are two exceptions to the Knaffla bar: “(1) if the claim presents a novel legal issue or (2) if fairness requires review of the claim and the petitioner did not deliberately and inexcusably fail to raise the issue on direct appeal,” a postconviction court may consider the claim. Quick, 692 N.W.2d at 439. The second prong requires that the “claim must have merit and must be asserted without deliberate or inexcusable delay.” Wright v. State, 765 N.W.2d 85, 90 (Minn.2009).

Reed raised the self-representation claim on direct appeal in Reed I. His supplemental brief to this court summarized the basic contents of the February 7, 2006, motion. We rejected Reed’s self-representation claim on direct appeal. Reed I, 737 N.W.2d at 587. Consequently, we conclude that the postconviction court did not abuse its discretion when it determined that Knaffla barred the claims raised in his February 7, 2006, motion because the record demonstrates that Reed raised the same issue on direct appeal.

Relying on the second exception to the Knaffla rule, Reed argues that Knaffla does not bar the claims because he could not adequately argue the self-representation claim raised in his motion. Reed contends he could not raise the issue completely because the motion was drafted by his brother, sealed by the court, not used by appellate counsel, and unseen by Reed until after his direct appeal. Reed asserts that State v. Lopez, 587 N.W.2d 26 (Minn.1998), supports his contention. We disagree.

In Lopez, the defendant was essentially unable to prepare a pro se supplemental brief on direct appeal because the trial transcripts had not been translated into his native language. Id. at 27 n. 1. We noted that “[i]n the interest of justice, Lopez will not be precluded from raising any of the issues related to the translation of his trial transcript or his pro se claims in a postconviction petition.” Id. Reed’s analogy to Lopez is not persuasive. Trial transcripts are prepared by others and are not otherwise available to the defendant, whereas Reed’s brother drafted the two-page motion pursuant to Reed’s direction. Because Reed directed the creation of the motion, Reed knew the contents of his motion.

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Bluebook (online)
793 N.W.2d 725, 2010 Minn. LEXIS 803, 2010 WL 5348083, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reed-v-state-minn-2010.