State v. Greybull

1998 ND 102, 579 N.W.2d 161, 1998 N.D. LEXIS 109, 1998 WL 251845
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedMay 20, 1998
DocketCriminal 970216
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 1998 ND 102 (State v. Greybull) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering North Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Greybull, 1998 ND 102, 579 N.W.2d 161, 1998 N.D. LEXIS 109, 1998 WL 251845 (N.D. 1998).

Opinions

MESCHKE, Justice.

[¶ 1] A jury found Danielle Greybull guilty of manslaughter for the stabbing death of Charlene Yellow Bear. Danielle appealed her conviction and the trial court’s finding that she was a special dangerous offender for sentencing. We affirm the conviction and the sentence.

[¶2] Between 8 and 9 p.m. on April 13, 1996, the occupants of a Bismarck apartment belonging to Michelle C’Hair discovered Charlene was not sleeping on the couch as they had believed, but was dead. An autopsy confirmed Charlene had died from a stab wound in her chest, and identified the time of her death at near 6:15 p.m.

[¶ 3] On the day of the stabbing, Danielle’s three children were at the C’Hair apartment with their father, Harold Harlan, Danielle’s ex-husband. The children told police Danielle had phoned them earlier and then came to the C’Hair apartment between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m. Danielle said she had gone there with her friend Dana Reidhammer to get her children, who had told her they had not been [162]*162fed that day. When Dana and Danielle arrived at the front door, the children ran out the back, refusing to go with Danielle. Danielle followed the children through the apartment to the back door in the kitchen.

[¶4] As they ran out, the children saw Charlene sleeping at the kitchen table. When the children returned to the apartment minutes later, they saw Charlene sitting on the couch in the living room. Later, the children reported Danielle had taken the kitchen telephone with her as she left the apartment.

[¶ 5] When Michelle C’Hair returned home from work at 7:40 p.m., the children were upstairs, where their father and other adults had been sleeping throughout the day. Michelle’s son told her Danielle had been at the apartment and had stolen their phone. In her apartment, Michelle saw Charlene sitting on the living room couch “kind of straight up slumped over to the left,” her eyes closed and head down. Soon, the children told Michelle of Danielle’s visit, and a neighbor came over and told Michelle the tires on Harold’s car were flat. When she went outside to look, Michelle saw the tires had been slashed.

[¶ 6] Michelle returned inside and saw Charlene had not moved on the couch. Shortly, one of the children told Michelle that Charlene’s lips were blue. Michelle checked on Charlene and discovered she was dead. After calling 911, Harold and Kay Yellow Bear moved Charlene to the floor, seeing for the first time blood and a stab wound near her chest. The police came to investigate.

[¶ 7] At 11:30 that evening, Bismarck police officers located Danielle at Dana Reid-hammer’s home, where she was living with her husband, Arthur Greybull. The officers told Danielle she was not under arrest, but asked her to go to the police station with them for questioning. She agreed.

[¶ 8] Nearly 12 minutes into the videotaped questioning at the police station, Danielle was read the Miranda rights, and she said she understood them. She was then questioned for nearly 75 minutes. Danielle denied a detective’s accusation that she had stabbed Charlene, saying: “I didn’t see her. I didn’t do nothing to the bitch. I don’t even know her.” The detective repeated the accusation, and Danielle replied: “You can’t make me say nothing. I didn’t do nothing. I didn’t do nothing to her. I didn’t do a ... thing to the bitch. I didn’t even know her.”

[¶ 9] Another detective joined the questioning, and Danielle told him Charlene had come at her, but would not elaborate. During the exchange with the second detective, Danielle asked, “Do I have to get a lawyer? Do I need to get a lawyer_” The detective replied, “that’s up to you.” The questioning resumed without further attention to Danielle’s inquiry. Eventually, Danielle confessed to stabbing Charlene, but claimed she did so in self-defense.

[¶ 10] On April 15, 1996, Danielle was charged under NDCC 12.1-16-02 with a class B felony of manslaughter. During her arraignment on June 24, 1996, Danielle was informed of the maximum and minimum sentences, ten years and four years, for a class B felony. In mid-March 1997, the State served and filed a request under NDCC 12.1 — 32—09(l)(e) for Danielle to be sentenced, if convicted, as a special dangerous offender for having used a dangerous weapon, a knife, in committing the offense under NDCC 12.1-32-09(2)(b). The effect of the designation as a special dangerous offender was to increase Danielle’s potential maximum sentence to 20 years, if convicted.

[¶ 11] Danielle pled not guflty to manslaughter, and moved to suppress “all statements made to law enforcement officials at and after the time” she was questioned at the police station on grounds the police violated her “right to remain silent and the right to have an attorney during questioning.” Her motion was denied, and a jury trial was held. On April 16,1997, the jury convicted Danielle of manslaughter.

[¶ 12] After a presentenee investigation, the trial court found Danielle to be a dangerous special offender and sentenced her to the maximum of 20 years in prison. Under NDCC 12.1-32-09.1, Danielle must serve at least eighty-five percent of this sentence before she will be “eligible for release from confinement on any basis,”

[¶ 13] Danielle appealed.

[163]*163 I. Suppression Denial

[¶ 14] We explained our standard of reviewing an order denying or granting suppression of evidence in State v. Sabinash, 1998 ND 32, ¶ 8, 574 N.W.2d 827:

We enunciated our standard of review of a court’s disposition of a suppression motion in State v. Bjornson, 531 N.W.2d 315, 317 (N.D.1995):
The trial court’s disposition of a motion to suppress will not be reversed if, after conflicts in the testimony are resolved in favor of affirmance, there is sufficient competent evidence fairly capable of supporting the trial court’s findings, and the decision is not contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence. State v. Zimmerman, 529 N.W.2d 171 (N.D.1995); City of Fargo v. Thompson, 520 N.W.2d 578 (N.D.1994). That standard of review recognizes the importance of the trial court’s opportunity to observe the witnesses and assess their credibility, and we “accord great deference to its decision in suppression matters.” State v. Brown, 509 N.W.2d 69, 71 (N.D.1993).

We conclude the evidence here supported the trial court’s denial of Danielle’s motion to suppress.

[¶ 15] Danielle argues the trial court erred in denying suppression of her statements to the police. Danielle concedes she understood and waived the Miranda rights read to her before her questioning at the police station. See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 473-74, 474, n. 44, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966)(“If the individual indicates in any manner, at any time prior to or during questioning, that he wishes to remain silent, the interrogation must cease.

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Bluebook (online)
1998 ND 102, 579 N.W.2d 161, 1998 N.D. LEXIS 109, 1998 WL 251845, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-greybull-nd-1998.