State v. Bicek

429 N.W.2d 289, 1988 Minn. App. LEXIS 912, 1988 WL 97931
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedSeptember 27, 1988
DocketC0-88-484
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 429 N.W.2d 289 (State v. Bicek) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals 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. Bicek, 429 N.W.2d 289, 1988 Minn. App. LEXIS 912, 1988 WL 97931 (Mich. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

OPINION

HUSPENI, Judge.

This appeal is from a sentence for convictions of two counts of second-degree (culpable negligence) manslaughter, Minn.Stat. § 609.205(1) (1986). The trial court imposed executed consecutive sentences of 24 months and 48 months for the deaths of appellant Duane Bicek’s wife and daughter, respectively. We affirm.

FACTS

Appellant Duane Bicek was indicted for first-degree murder for the deaths of his wife Mary and infant daughter Kristina caused by an explosion occurring on Febru *291 ary 2, 1986. The jury acquitted Bicek on these counts, but found him guilty of the lesser included offense of culpable-negligence manslaughter for each of the deaths.

The explosion occurred in the family automobile, in which Bicek had stored 50 pounds of explosives in the rear seat and 110 pounds of explosives in the trunk the year before. Bicek bought the explosives to dislodge some boulders on the family farm.

According to Bicek’s testimony, he was hooking up jumper cables from his pickup truck to attempt to start the automobile in which the victims were seated when the explosion occurred.

The state’s theory was that Bicek had deliberately detonated the explosives, which were stored in the automobile near some blasting caps. In a trial which lasted nearly two months, much expert testimony was presented on the mechanics of the explosion. However, the only record before us for review is a transcript of the sentencing hearing.

The court at sentencing noted Bicek’s admission that the explosives and blasting caps were in the car for eight days before the explosion, and observed that Bicek had received specific instructions not to transport them together. The trial court found that Mary Bicek may have known the explosives and blasting caps were in the car, and therefore in some degree “assumed that risk.” The court, however, found 20-month-old Kristina could not have appreciated the danger and therefore was “particularly vulnerable due to her age.” The court also found Kristina, “because of her age, was treated with particular cruelty.”

The court also cited the prolonged exposure (eight days) to the risk, the exposure of others, including those who offered assistance to the stalled Bicek vehicle, and the fact Bicek had purchased the explosives long before their intended use in order to achieve a minimal tax savings. The court denied Bicek’s motion for a dispositional departure and ordered executed consecutive sentences of 24 and 48 months, the latter a durational departure upward.

ISSUES

1. Did the trial court abuse its discretion in declining to depart by staying the sentences?

2. Did the court abuse its discretion in imposing a double durational departure?

ANALYSIS

I.

Bicek argued at length in the trial court that he should be given probation, a dispositional departure. Only a rare case would warrant this court’s reversal of the trial court’s refusal to depart. State v. Kindem, 313 N.W.2d 6, 8 (Minn.1981). This is not such a case. The fact that the deaths were accidental is already assumed by the definition of “culpable negligence” manslaughter under Minn.Stat. § 609.205(1) (1986), and therefore cannot be considered as a factor supporting disposi-tional departure. The trial court could have considered that Bicek has already suffered from the offense because the victims were his wife and child. See State v. Back, 341 N.W.2d 273, 275 (Minn.1983) (defendant’s remorse may bear on dispositional departure). However, it was not an abuse of discretion for the trial court, which observed Bicek throughout the trial and heard his testimony, to fail to depart on that basis.

II.

Bicek contended at oral argument that the consecutive sentencing was not proper because the presumptive sentence was not given for the most severe current conviction and, therefore, it was not “executed according to the guidelines.” Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines II.F.2 (permissive consecutive sentencing). We interpret the language of section II.F.2 to mean only that the most severe offense must carry a presumptively executed sentence. Here there were two victims. An identical offense was committed against each. The manslaughter offense carries a presumptively executed sentence.

*292 The section II.F.2 language cannot be construed to prohibit a consecutive sentence coupled with a departure under these circumstances. In any event, sentence durations for offenses to be sentenced consecutively are to be aggregated into a single presumptive sentence. Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines II.F. The trial court then may depart from the aggregate presumptive sentence. See State v. Mortland, 395 N.W.2d 469, 474-75 (Minn.Ct.App.), aff'd as modified 399 N.W.2d 92, 94 (Minn.1987). Under this analysis, the court’s aggregate 72-month sentence represented only a 1.5 times departure from the presumptive sentence, not a double departure as asserted.

The court’s reasons for departure can be summarized as follows:

1) particular vulnerability of Kristina due to her age;
2) particular cruelty to Kristina (due to her age);
3) extended exposure to the risk;
4) exposure of others;
5) early purchase of the explosives for tax savings; and
6) careless neglect and wanton disregard for Kristina’s rights.

Bicek contends the trial court erred in considering Kristina Bicek’s vulnerability, and his particular cruelty due to her age, in sentencing for an offense based on negligent conduct. We agree with Bicek’s argument regarding “particular cruelty.” “Particular cruelty” is not applicable to conduct which, however reckless, is not done with intent to harm. Recklessness involves intentional conduct but without intent to harm. See State v. Bolsinger, 221 Minn. 154, 157-58, 21 N.W.2d 480, 484 (1946).

However, the departure may be sustained by other factors cited by the trial court. We are not persuaded by Bicek’s argument against the use of the child’s particular vulnerability as an aggravating factor.

Second-degree negligence requires

culpable negligence whereby the person creates an unreasonable risk, and con-
sciously takes chances of causing death or great bodily harm to another; * * *.

Minn.Stat. § 609.205(1) (1986). “Culpable negligence” has been defined as follows:

It is more than ordinary negligence. It is more than gross negligence. It is gross negligence coupled with the element of recklessness.

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429 N.W.2d 289, 1988 Minn. App. LEXIS 912, 1988 WL 97931, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bicek-minnctapp-1988.