State of Minnesota v. Ashley Ann Johnson

Court of Appeals of Minnesota·Decided September 6, 2016·No. A15-1559·Unpublished

Opinion

This opinion will be unpublished and may not be cited except as provided by Minn. Stat. § 480A.08, subd. 3 (2014).

STATE OF MINNESOTA

IN COURT OF APPEALS

A15-1559

State of Minnesota,

Respondent,

vs.

Ashley Ann Johnson,

Appellant.

Filed September 6, 2016

Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded Muehlberg, Judge

Dakota County District Court File No. 19HA-CR-13-3133

Lori Swanson, Attorney General, St. Paul, Minnesota; and

James C. Backstrom, Dakota County Attorney, Stacy St. George, Assistant County Attorney, Hastings, Minnesota (for respondent)

Cathryn Middlebrook, Chief Appellate Public Defender, St. Paul, Minnesota; and

Thomas C. Burman, Liz Kramer, Special Assistant Public Defenders, Stinson Leonard Street, LLP, Minneapolis, Minnesota (for appellant)

Considered and decided by Peterson, Presiding Judge; Hooten, Judge; and Muehlberg, Judge.

 Retired judge of the district court, serving as judge of the Minnesota Court of Appeals by appointment pursuant to Minn. Const. art. VI, § 10.

UNPUBLISHED OPINION

MUEHLBERG, Judge Appellant, Ashley Johnson, appeals from the district court judgment convicting her of aiding and abetting assault in the first degree and aiding and abetting assault in the third degree. Johnson argues that the evidence was insufficient to support her convictions, her Fifth Amendment rights were violated, the prosecutor committed misconduct in his closing argument, and she was improperly sentenced for a lesser-included offense. Because we conclude that the evidence is sufficient to support her convictions, that Johnson has not demonstrated prejudice for any possible Fifth Amendment violation, and that the prosecutor did not commit misconduct, we affirm in part. Because we agree that Johnson was impermissibly sentenced on a lesser-included offense, we reverse and remand with directions to vacate the sentence and conviction for that offense.

FACTS

On August 9, 2011, Eagan police officers responded to a report of an assault.

According to the probable cause statement, the officers “learned that there had been an ongoing dispute between neighbors about a bicycle that had been taken within the last few days,” and that the owner of the bicycle, A.R., along with his friend, K.R., were the victims of the assault, but only the charges involving K.R. are addressed here.

The dispute began when A.R. accused P., Johnson’s father figure, of stealing his bicycle, and it encompassed two additional confrontations between A.R. and Johnson’s family. At a court trial, A.R. testified that the first confrontation escalated into “kind of a heated argument” but eventually “dissipated” and both parties walked away. The second

confrontation occurred on the day before the assault. A.R. testified that Johnson was “kind of the aggressor” during that argument, but the participants eventually dispersed without incident. The third encounter occurred on the afternoon of the assault, when A.R. was with K.R. and one of their neighbors. A.R. testified that Johnson was yelling aggressively during the incident, but he could not remember what she said. Following the argument, a woman in Johnson’s family talked to both sides, eventually convincing A.R. and P. to shake hands and agree to “stop it and carry on with [their] lives.” A.R. testified that after he shook hands with P., Johnson started threatening him: “She said that—she kept calling us racial slurs, saying we were going to get it, and she was going to call two racial slurs to come get us.” A.R. testified that Johnson called him and his brother “half-breeds” and she told him that “she was going to have two n-----s come, like, teach [them] a lesson.”

Later that day, A.R. was sitting on the street curb with K.R., when a gold-colored car drove by. A.R. testified that, a few minutes after the car passed and parked, the men in the car walked over to A.R. and K.R., accompanied by Johnson. A.R. testified that one of the men started yelling at him, “saying that [he] was trying to jump his cousin or something.” While A.R. was talking to one of the men, the other punched him in the back of the head, knocking him over. A.R. testified that Johnson “was behind and to the right of the guy that punched [him] in the front of the head,” about three or four feet away from him. He further testified that Johnson was “[j]ust watching” and that he did not “remember her doing anything other than standing there.” Soon after falling down, A.R. lost consciousness and has no further memory of the assault. A.R. was not seriously injured.

K.R., who suffered serious injuries as a result of the assault, confirmed A.R.’s testimony regarding the argument with Johnson and her family on the day of the assault. K.R. corroborated A.R.’s testimony that Johnson was very angry during the confrontation and that she called them “half-breeds.” He recalled Johnson yelling “f-ck that, f-ck you half-breeds, we’re going to get some real n-----s in the hood tonight.” K.R.’s description of the assault generally corroborated A.R.’s testimony, but it diverged slightly at times. First, he testified that one of the men asked A.R. about jumping his brother, not his cousin. Second, K.R. specified that the men in the gold-colored car pulled up to Johnson’s house before going over to K.R. and A.R. Most importantly, K.R. specified that Johnson was yelling and indicating with her hands during the assault, which he took to mean “[t]hat these are the guys—these are the, quote-unquote, real n----s that she’s going to bring to the hood tonight. And this was the situation that was going to occur after the handshake.” K.R. testified that the last thing he remembered before he lost consciousness was Johnson being “very loud and obnoxious” and that she was “saying things like f-ck.”

The state also presented evidence on the subsequent investigation and K.R.’s injuries.

Because most of these facts are not relevant on appeal, we note only a few salient facts. K.R. suffered serious injuries, including a broken nose, shattered teeth, a puncture wound on his lip, and swelling. Also, in the course of the investigation, A.R. was given a breath test and his alcohol concentration registered as 0.09. Both A.R. and K.R. testified that they had been drinking beer on the day of the incident.

In addition to the above testimony and other evidence, the state offered the transcript of a statement that Johnson made at a previous hearing. At that hearing, Johnson asked to

address the court on the record, then proceeded to explain that she wanted a different public defender. As part of her explanation, Johnson said, “She wanted me to lie under oath and say that I wasn’t there, and I was there.” Johnson was represented at the time, her attorney was present, and she had been advised of her Fifth Amendment rights at her first appearance.

At trial, Johnson made a motion in limine to prohibit the state from introducing her statement, arguing that it was inadmissible as a statement made during a plea discussion; that it was more prejudicial than probative; that she was effectively without counsel, “given that it was in the context of her attempting to request a new attorney”; and that she was “not at that date advised of her right to remain silent or her right against self-incrimination.” The state opposed Johnson’s request, arguing that the statement was highly probative and was made in open court. The district court denied Johnson’s request, finding there was “sufficient indicia of reliability,” that the statement was voluntarily made, and that Johnson was represented by an attorney at the time she made the statement.

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