State v. Grover

402 N.W.2d 163, 1987 Minn. App. LEXIS 4132
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedMarch 10, 1987
DocketC6-86-484
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 402 N.W.2d 163 (State v. Grover) 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. Grover, 402 N.W.2d 163, 1987 Minn. App. LEXIS 4132 (Mich. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

OPINION

FORSBERG, Judge.

Gary Eugene Grover appeals from a judgment of conviction on charges of ter-roristic threats, Minn.Stat. § 609.713, subd. 1 (1984). Appellant contends that he is entitled to a new trial because he was denied effective assistance of counsel. We affirm.

FACTS

On September 17, 1985, appellant and his brother, Gregory, were arrested in Winona, Minnesota as a result of an incident at the Winona Lake Park Lodge. Gregory Grover was charged with assault and held in the Winona County Law Enforcement Center (LEC). Appellant was charged with disorderly conduct and interfering with police procedure, and was released on his own recognizance. After entering a plea of not guilty on September 20, appellant was given a notice for trial which stated simply “same trial date as other Grover.” A police lieutenant informed appellant that this probably meant September 27th.

On September 26th, Gregory Grover appeared in court and was informed that the charges against him had been dismissed. After his release, Gregory informed appellant that everything from the September 17th incident had been dropped.

On the morning of September 27th, while appellant was at work, two sheriff’s deputies came to his home to execute a warrant for his arrest for nonpayment of child support. The deputies informed Linda Grover, appellant’s wife, that they would not arrest *165 appellant if she posted bail and assured them that appellant would appear in court on Monday. Linda immediately posted the bail at the Winona LEC. While at the LEC, Linda Grover inquired as to whether there were any pending charges against appellant, and was told that there was nothing pending against him from the September 17th incident.

On the afternoon of September 27th, three police officers in three squad cars came to appellant’s home with a warrant for his arrest for failure to appear in court on charges stemming from the September 17th incident.

Appellant claimed that he tried to explain to the officers that there was nothing pending against him, but that they would not listen, and immediately began to attack him with their flashlights and batons. The officers claimed that upon their arrival appellant refused to cooperate and immediately began threatening them. The officers testified that when they asked appellant to come with them to the LEC to straighten everything out, he adamantly refused, and told them that if they touched him he would “blow them away.” The three officers wrestled with appellant, trying to handcuff him and get him into the squad car. One of the officers used a choke hold on appellant and another had him by the hair. Appellant admitted that during this time he told the police more than once that he was going to kill them.

The officers eventually got appellant into a squad car and to the LEC. At the LEC, appellant began experiencing problems breathing so he was taken to the Winona Hospital. Appellant was eventually taken to St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester via ambulance. There appellant was examined and returned to the Winona LEC.

During the time appellant was being booked and brought to and from the hospitals, he repeatedly threatened the arresting officers. He threatened to get them, kill them, and “blow them away.” He told them he’d get even with them and intimated that he would harm their wives and children.

Appellant was subsequently charged with terroristic threats and the court appointed James Schultz as his attorney. Schultz did not contest the validity of the warrant for appellant’s arrest for nonappearance, nor the validity of the arrest. At trial, Schultz told the jury that appellant did not deny that he had threatened the officers. Appellant explained that his behavior was his confused and frustrated reaction to what he believed was an unprovoked and undeserved assault on himself and his pregnant wife by police officers. After a two-day jury trial, appellant was found guilty of terroristic threats. Appellant was given a stay of imposition and placed on supervised probation for five years.

ISSUE

Was appellant denied effective assistance of counsel?

ANALYSIS

Appellant contends that he was denied his constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel, claiming that his court appointed attorney was inadequately prepared for trial, never asked for an eviden-tiary hearing or otherwise contested the validity of appellant’s arrest, and failed to obtain appellant’s authorization before admitting facts crucial to the prosecution’s case. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), sets out a stringent test for reversing a conviction on grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel. Strickland provides that not only must defendant show that counsel’s performance was deficient, but also that the deficient performance prejudiced the defense. Id. at 687, 104 S.Ct. at 2064. That is, the defendant must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. Id. at 694, 104 S.Ct. at 2068. Further, because of the difficulties inherent in making the evaluation, a court must indulge a strong presumption that counsel’s conduct falls within “the wide range of reasonable profes *166 sional assistance; that is, the defendant must overcome the presumption that, under the circumstances, the challenged action ‘might be considered sound trial strategy.’ ” Id. at 689, 104 S.Ct. at 2066.

Appellant first objects to Schultz’s failure to question several witnesses, his failure to obtain statements from the witnesses he did question until one day before trial, and, further, to his failure to discuss the case with appellant and his wife more than briefly. When, what, and how much investigation to conduct is often a strategic decision and, as long as reasonable, will not be the basis for finding ineffective assistance. Id. Here, it is apparent from the trial transcript that Schultz’s investigation was adequate enough to allow for effective cross-examination of the State’s witnesses and direct examination of appellant’s witnesses. Perhaps it was Schultz’s impression that this case did not require exhaustive investigation.

Appellant next contends that the warrant issued for his arrest on September 27th was invalid and appellant’s arrest unlawful, claiming that the notice to appear which gave the date of appellant’s subsequent court appearance as: “same as other Grover,” was constitutionally inadequate.

It is apparent from the facts adduced at trial that there was indeed a misunderstanding about the status of appellant’s case communicated to appellant, leaving him with the inaccurate impression that there were no charges pending against him. Schultz, however, never requested an evidentiary hearing to contest the validity of the warrant or the admissibility of subsequent statements made to police.

Appellant asserts this failure to request an evidentiary hearing, failure to introduce the notice itself into evidence, and failure to call the jailer who purportedly informed Mrs.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
402 N.W.2d 163, 1987 Minn. App. LEXIS 4132, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-grover-minnctapp-1987.