State v. CJM

409 N.W.2d 857
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedJuly 21, 1987
DocketC4-86-1763
StatusPublished

This text of 409 N.W.2d 857 (State v. CJM) 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. CJM, 409 N.W.2d 857 (Mich. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

409 N.W.2d 857 (1987)

STATE of Minnesota, Respondent,
v.
C.J.M., Appellant.

No. C4-86-1763.

Court of Appeals of Minnesota.

July 21, 1987.
Review Denied September 18, 1987.

*858 Hubert H. Humphrey III, State Atty. Gen., St. Paul, Robert F. Carolan, Dakota Co. Atty., Mark Nathan Lystig, Asst. Co. Atty., Hastings, for respondent.

C. Paul Jones, State Public Defender, Marie L. Wolf, Asst. Public Defender, Minneapolis, for appellant.

Considered and decided by POPOVICH, C.J., and WOZNIAK and LESLIE, JJ., with oral argument waived.

OPINION

WOZNIAK, Judge.

C.J.M. appeals from the judgment of conviction and sentencing on charges of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree and intrafamilial sexual conduct in the third degree, sentencing him to 140 months in custody to run concurrently with his previous sentences for unrelated burglary charges. We affirm as modified.

FACTS

LMM, appellant's sister, alleged that on a Friday or Saturday night in late February 1985, she was raped by appellant. She was alone in the house sleeping in her bedroom when appellant, then 19 years of age and living outside the family home, burst into her bedroom demanding money for liquor. She refused and got out of bed to run out of her bedroom. He was drunk, and she was frightened of him. He grabbed her by the arms and threw her to the floor. He unbuttoned her pajamas and, while holding her arms, forced her to have sexual intercourse. Appellant told her he would kill her if she told their mother. Later that evening, LMM's mother and stepfather came home, but appellant had left the house. She did not tell anyone of the incident at that time.

About six months later, LMM went to a medical clinic where a nurse practitioner informed her that she was approximately six months pregnant. LMM began to cry and told the nurse practitioner it must be her brother. She alleged that she had not had another sexual relationship except for her brother.

When LMM returned home, she told her mother that her brother had raped her, caused her pregnancy, and she wanted an immediate abortion. The next day, LMM traveled with her family to Wichita, Kansas and obtained an abortion. No blood testing was done to determine paternity.

Initially, her mother was very supportive of LMM and her decision to have an abortion. A few months later, however, when LMM decided to press charges against appellant, her mother became angry with her. Her mother stated at the trial that she believed that LMM's boyfriend was the father. LMM had been dating her boyfriend around the time of the alleged rape.

*859 After the abortion, LMM was fired from her part-time job at a nursing home because she had missed work without notifying her employer. She went to see Barb Starr, a teacher and work experience coordinator for Apple Valley High School. LMM gave Starr a note indicating she had become pregnant as a result of her brother forcing himself on her. She asked Starr to keep the information confidential, but help her get rehired. LMM gave Starr the information to show her absence from work was not her fault. Later Starr learned she was legally obligated to report the incident. Starr then reported the incident to a social worker with Dakota County Human Services in the Child Protection Division. The social worker contacted the Burnsville Police Department.

On September 25, 1985, Officer Holden and the social worker interviewed LMM. She told them that she had been raped by her brother in late February 1985, that her brother did not know about the pregnancy, and that she did not want him to be contacted.

On November 5, 1985, Holden interviewed LMM again and taped her statement. In that statement, LMM told Holden she was sure the incident happened on Friday. Officer Holden and LMM also discussed the incident informally at her home a number of times. In all these conversations, LMM stated that the incident which had occurred in February 1985 was the only time in which she had a sexual relationship with her brother.

In February 1986, LMM changed her statement. She told Holden that appellant first raped her when she was 13 and he had been raping her once or twice a week since that time. At trial she also stated appellant had raped her once or twice a week from the time she was 13 until she was in 10th or 11th grade, and she did not know why she had not told the police about these earlier incidents at first.

Prior to trial, appellant was incarcerated on unrelated charges. During this time, Holden interviewed him. After reading the Miranda rights, Holden incorrectly stated that blood tests proved appellant fathered the unborn child and that there were witnesses to the rape. Appellant began making incriminating statements, stating he had been drunk and using cocaine from November 1984 until June 1985, and did not remember that period of time. Appellant also stated he had been in Jacksonville, Florida, during the month of February in 1985, returning to Minnesota on February 27 or 28. Appellant remembered that he was living with his grandmother in Minneapolis, but went out to Burnsville in early March 1985 to party with two of his friends. Appellant then said he wanted a lawyer and ended the conversation.

After trial, the jury found appellant guilty of first degree sexual conduct and third degree intrafamilial sexual abuse.

The trial court gave credit for jail time served from the conviction date of June 19, 1986, but refused to give credit from the time of the complaint on December 19, 1985, because appellant had been incarcerated on other unrelated charges.

ISSUES

1. Was the evidence sufficient to support the convictions for first degree criminal sexual conduct and third degree intrafamilial sexual abuse?

2. Did the trial court err in refusing to award appellant credit for incarceration from the time the complaint was filed even though he was incarcerated on unrelated charges?

3. Did the trial court err in admitting appellant's statements to a police officer?

4. Was appellant denied his right to effective assistance of counsel?

ANALYSIS

The conviction must be affirmed if a jury could reasonably conclude that the defendant was guilty. State v. Merrill, 274 N.W.2d 99, 111 (Minn.1978). It is the exclusive function of the jury to weigh the credibility of witnesses in a criminal trial. State v. Blair, 402 N.W.2d 154, 158 (Minn. Ct.App.1987).

*860 1. A conviction for criminal sexual conduct in the first degree requires proof that the defendant engaged in sexual penetration, caused personal injury to complainant, and used force or coercion to accomplish sexual penetration. Minn.Stat. § 609.342, subd. 1(e)(i) (Supp.1985).

Personal injury means "bodily harm" or "severe mental anguish or pregnancy." Id. § 609.341, subd. 8 (1984). Force is defined as

the infliction, attempted infliction, or threatened infliction by the actor of bodily harm or commission or threat of any other crime by the actor against the complainant or another, which causes the complainant to reasonably believe that the actor has the present ability to execute the threat, and also causes the complainant to submit.

Id., subd. 3.

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Related

United States v. Cronic
466 U.S. 648 (Supreme Court, 1984)
State v. Zaycheck
386 N.W.2d 294 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1986)
State v. Blair
402 N.W.2d 154 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1987)
State v. Ahiagbede
394 N.W.2d 187 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1986)
State v. Merrill
274 N.W.2d 99 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1978)
State v. Garner
294 N.W.2d 725 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1980)
State v. C.J.M.
409 N.W.2d 857 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1987)

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