State v. Arradondo

110 N.W.2d 469, 260 Minn. 512, 1961 Minn. LEXIS 602
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedAugust 4, 1961
Docket38,181
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 110 N.W.2d 469 (State v. Arradondo) 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
State v. Arradondo, 110 N.W.2d 469, 260 Minn. 512, 1961 Minn. LEXIS 602 (Mich. 1961).

Opinion

Thomas Gallagher, Justice.

Defendant appeals from his conviction of the crime of carnal knowledge and abuse of a female child under the age of 18 years. On appeal he asserts that (1) the court erred in receiving a confession made by him to a police officer after his arrest; (2) the court erred in “excluding all members of the petitioner’s race (Negro) from the jury” and that statements to the jury that there should be no prejudice because of defendant’s color or because the girls involved were white deprived him of a fair trial; (3) the court erred in allowing testimony of two girls as to other acts of defendant which had no relation to the charge upon which he was being held; and (4) no warrant was issued for his arrest.

The evidence indicates that sometime during March or. April of 1957 defendant had sexual intercourse with the prosecutrix, then 14 years of age, in an apartment in north Minneapolis. This girl testified *514 that this was her first act of this kind and that defendant had accomplished it by using force upon her. She testified further that for 16 months she was sent to the Home of the Good Shepherd as a juvenile delinquent; that on September 23, 1959, and on October 5, 1959, she again had .sexual intercourse with defendant at his brother’s home in Minneapolis; that she was then 16 years of age; that defendant at times had discussed marriage with her; that he had talked about getting girls to “hustle” for him; and that she had talked with defendant sometime in October 1959 and had then told him that she thought she might be “sent up again” and that he would be involved, but that defendant had not seemed worried aboút it and had said that the law “couldn’t do anything to him.”

Two other girls, each 16 years of age, testified against defendant. Testimony .of one of these girls, was that defendant- had had sexual intercourse with her in the months of March, April, May,, June, July, and August of 1959, mostly at the homes of his cousin and his mother in Minneapolis; that he had discussed the .subject, of marriage with her and had said that he needed money and wanted hér. to go on,.the streets working for him as a prostitute. The other- girl testified that about the middle of October 1959 she had had sexual intercourse with defendant at her apartment in Minneapolis; that he had talked about their getting married; and that he had told her she should go out on the streets for herself so that she could get the things she wanted.

In a written statement signed by defendant made to the police on November 3, 1959, shortly after his arrest, defendant admitted that he had had sexual intercourse with the prosecutrix on October 5, 1959, in Minneapolis; that at about that time he had had sexual intercourse with one of the other two girls testifying; and that he knew at the time that each of these girls was of the age of 16 years. 1 The *515 pólice officer also testified that before he took the written statement from defendant he had asked defendant similar questions and received similar answers .to those included in the statement. Defendant did not take the stand nor /deny any of the testimony outlined above. .

Defendant’s trial in district court commenced and was completed on November 23, 1959. After a short deliberation, the jury returned a *516 verdict of guilty on that date. On January 20, 1960, after a presentence investigation, 2 the court sentenced defendant as follows:

“The Court: It is the sentence of this Court that you, John Booker Arradondo, for the crime of Carnal Knowledge and Abuse of a Female Child, of which you have been found and adjudged by a verdict of the jury of guilty heretofore entered herein, and of which you are hereby adjudged guilty, be sentenced to the Youth Conservation Commission of the State of Minnesota until by them discharged under due process of law.

“Your record, Booker, or your difficulty has been one of not working, seeking out these young girls, and I am convinced that as they say, although you deny it, that you have led many of them to believe that you had an interest in marriage, and you have tried to get them to hustle for you. You deny that, I know, but all of them tell the *517 same story. Some of them say that they did on occasion. You haven’t worked; you haven’t earned hardly an honest dollar since you got out of school or before. It is time you straightened up your thinking. You have been in trouble as a juvenile, and that hasn’t seemed to straighten you out, although when you are in confinement you seem to adjust pretty well. I am sorry that you feel you are being treated any differently because you are of the colored race than if you were white, but I can assure you that any young man with your record of the white race would have been in trouble a long time before you were, in my judgment, and be treated a lot more severely than you have been. You could have been charged very clearly with at least six offenses similar to the one that you were charged and convicted of.”

We find no error in the court’s reception of the typewritten statement signed by defendant wherein he confessed his guilt. It was made voluntarily to a police officer shortly after defendant’s arrest. It was not taken until after he had been advised that he was under no compulsion to give it and that it might be used against him at his trial. He acknowledged receipt of a copy thereof by endorsement thereon to such effect pursuant to Minn. St. 611.033. It is well established that a confession not induced by threats of harm or promise of favor or reward is admissible in evidence. State v. Potoniec, 117 Minn. 80, 134 N. W. 305; State v. Nordstrom, 146 Minn. 136, 178 N. W. 164; 5 Dunnell, Dig. (3 ed.) § 2462. Whether a confession was given under such circumstances ordinarily is for the trial court, and its determination in this respect will not be reversed unless it is manifestly contrary to the evidence submitted to establish that the confession was obtained without threats or compulsion and after defendant had been fully advised as to his rights with respect thereto. State v. Nelson, 199 Minn. 86, 271 N. W. 114; State v. Schabert, 218 Minn. 1, 15 N. W. (2d) 585. Examination of the record here clearly establishes that the court’s action in receiving defendant’s confession in evidence was proper under the principles above set forth.

There is nothing which even slightly suggests that the jury panel, from which the jurors selected to try defendant were drawn, was impaneled contrary to constitutional or statutory requirements; or *518 that prejudicial statements to the jury deprived defendant of a fair trial because of his race. But even if there were evidence that constitutional or statutory provisions had been violated in drawing the panel, it would have been incumbent upon defendant to challenge in writing before it was sworn and to specify the facts upon which the challenge was based. § 631.23; State ex rel. Passer v. Renville County Board, 171 Minn. 177, 213 N. W. 545, 52 A. L. R. 916; 10 Dunnell, Dig. (3 ed.) § 5248. It is well established that in the absence of fraud or collusion an objection to a jury panel made subsequent to its verdict conies too late. State v.

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Bluebook (online)
110 N.W.2d 469, 260 Minn. 512, 1961 Minn. LEXIS 602, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-arradondo-minn-1961.