State v. Cox

820 N.W.2d 540, 2012 WL 4094359, 2012 Minn. LEXIS 490
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedSeptember 19, 2012
DocketNo. A11-0240
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 820 N.W.2d 540 (State v. Cox) 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. Cox, 820 N.W.2d 540, 2012 WL 4094359, 2012 Minn. LEXIS 490 (Mich. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION

ANDERSON, PAUL H., Justice.

A Hennepin County jury found Brandon Dominic Cox guilty of first-degree felony murder, second-degree intentional murder, and being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm for the shooting death of cab driver James Moody. Following the jury’s verdicts, the Hennepin County District Court convicted Cox of each count, including the second-degree murder count. The court then sentenced Cox to life in prison with the possibility of parole on the first-degree felony murder conviction, and to a 60-month concurrent sentence on the prohibited person in possession of a firearm conviction; but, the court did not sentence Cox on the second-degree intentional murder conviction. On appeal, Cox makes three arguments: (1) the court erred by failing to instruct the jury that it could not find Cox guilty based on uncorroborated accomplice testimony, (2) the court erred by instructing the jury to continue deliberating after the jury indicated it was deadlocked, and (3) the court erred by convicting Cox of both first- and second-degree murder. We vacate Cox’s second-degree intentional murder conviction, but we otherwise affirm Cox’s convictions.

[543]*543On February 4, 2007, at 3:45 a.m., a Rainbow Taxi cab driver and his passenger discovered the body of cab driver James Moody outside the Brookhaven apartment complex1 in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. The Rainbow Taxi cab driver and his passenger found Moody’s body lying face down outside the driver’s-side front door of Moody’s Green and White Taxi cab.2 The passenger called 911.

Police officers arrived at the crime scene within 10 minutes of the 911 call. Upon arrival at the scene, the officers found Moody’s Green and White Taxi cab parked along the curb next to the entrance to the Brookhaven apartment complex. The officers observed that the cab’s meter was running. The officers also found Moody’s body lying outside the driver’s-side front door of the cab and observed a small amount of frozen blood surrounding a gunshot wound on Moody’s back. The officers began investigating the scene. In the course of their investigation, the officers found one shell casing on the ground near Moody’s body, and another shell casing on the driver’s-side floorboard of the cab. Eventually, the officers found a third shell casing on the cab’s front passenger seat. The officers also found about $127 dollars in Moody’s wallet and $25 on the front passenger seat of the cab.

Soon after the first police officers arrived at the crime scene, other police officers, emergency personnel, and crime lab technicians arrived. The emergency personnel examined Moody and pronounced him dead. Meanwhile, the police officers contacted the Green and White Taxi dispatcher, who told the officers that Moody had responded earlier that morning to a call requesting a pick up at apartment 101 at the 3911 building of the Brookhaven complex.3 The call was placed at 3:10 a.m. from an Omaha, Nebraska, cell phone number, and the caller had given the name “David.”

The officers investigating the crime scene learned that Moody’s meter began to run at 3:24 a.m., indicating either that Moody arrived at the 3911 building at 3:24 a.m. or that the unknown passenger(s) got into the cab at that time. The officers then went to apartment 101 of the 3911 building to inquire about the pick-up request. After speaking to the family that lived in apartment 101, the officers determined that the family had not called for the cab.

Around 6:00 a.m., the Hennepin County Medical Examiner, Dr. Andrew Baker, arrived at the crime scene. Dr. Baker began to examine Moody’s body. In the course of Dr. Baker’s examination, a bullet “fell out” of Moody’s body. Dr. Baker later concluded that Moody had suffered three gunshot wounds and died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Around 6:30 a.m., lead Detective Garett Flesland arrived at the crime scene. Fles-land and his officers began to canvas the Brookhaven apartments in an effort to locate an eyewitness to the shooting. While the officers did not locate any eyewitnesses, they did speak with D.L., a tenant of the 3911 building. D.L. told the officers [544]*544that she had heard three gunshots “in quick succession” and had seen a cab parked outside the building. She also told officers that she had seen an airport taxi minivan outside at the same time she noticed the cab. Officers later determined that the airport minivan was not involved in Moody’s shooting.

Later that same day, around 3:00 p.m., D.L. called Detective Flesland. D.L. told Flesland that he should speak to Shemica Thomas, a friend of D.L.’s who lived in the 3909 building. D.L. said that Thomas had visitors from Omaha who had arrived Friday, but that the visitors had left Thomas’s apartment earlier that morning to go to a Walgreens drug store near the Brookha-ven apartment complex. D.L. told Fles-land that Thomas had said “she hoped it was gone” when her visitors left, which D.L. interpreted to mean that Thomas hoped the visitors had taken a gun with them.

After ending the telephone call with D.L., Flesland went to D.L.’s apartment. Upon his arrival at the apartment, Fles-land learned that Thomas was sleeping in the back bedroom of the apartment. After Thomas awoke, she agreed to speak to Flesland in his squad car and eventually to accompany him to the police department for further conversation about the shooting.

During this conversation, Thomas initially denied having guests at her apartment, but later admitted that she had hosted guests from Omaha. Thomas told Fles-land that her guests were named “Brooks” and “Little Will” or “Will.” Thomas said that on the previous evening she and her guests had spent time at the Brunswick Zone bowling alley, then took a cab to her apartment where they watched movies, ate pizza, and eventually went to sleep.

Thomas said she and her guests woke up early in the morning to flashing police car lights. She also said that she heard police officers knock on her door later that morning, but her guests told her not to answer the door. Thomas said that sometime after the police had gone, D.L. stopped by Thomas’s apartment. Thomas and her guests spoke with D.L. for a few minutes. Then Thomas’s guests left for the Wal-greens drug store and did not return.4

After receiving this information, Fles-land obtained a copy of a surveillance video from the Brunswick Zone and asked Thomas if she could identify anyone in the video. Thomas identified both Brooks and Little Will. Flesland then asked Thomas for consent to take possession of any items Brooks left behind in her apartment. Thomas agreed and accompanied Flesland and several police officers to her apartment.

At her apartment, Thomas identified for Flesland a duffel bag and some clothing that belonged to Brooks. Flesland also found two cell phones at Thomas’s apartment, one of which was serviced by a cell phone provider in Omaha. The officers later discovered that this cell phone belonged to defendant Brandon Dominic Cox. Flesland and the police officers also searched Thomas’s kitchen. While searching the kitchen, Flesland found a handgun and a “baggie” of ammunition in a cupboard above the refrigerator. Flesland then “froze” the apartment and applied to the district court for a search warrant. Upon obtaining the search warrant, Fles-land seized the gun and ammunition. Flesland also obtained Thomas’s consent to swab her hands for gun residue.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
820 N.W.2d 540, 2012 WL 4094359, 2012 Minn. LEXIS 490, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-cox-minn-2012.