State v. Grunau

141 N.W.2d 815, 273 Minn. 315, 1966 Minn. LEXIS 832
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedMarch 18, 1966
Docket39573
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 141 N.W.2d 815 (State v. Grunau) 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. Grunau, 141 N.W.2d 815, 273 Minn. 315, 1966 Minn. LEXIS 832 (Mich. 1966).

Opinion

Knutson, Chief Justice.

Defendant.was convicted by a jury of the crime of assault in the second degree. He appeals from an order of the district court denying a new trial or judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and from the judgment of conviction.

During the early morning of August 31, 1963, one of the state’s witnesses, James Wilson, upon returning to his home, noticed a man sitting in a parked car nearby. He went into his house, and later came out to meet a friend. He then noticed a second man get out of the car and walk between some houses and proceed to climb over a fence surrounding the Kline Oldsmobile establishment. He testified that this man was carrying an L-shaped bar and had a gun stuck in his belt. Wilson went to a nearby restaurant and called the police. He gave the police the license number of the car — 5G 7171. He returned to his home and, about 15 minutes after making the first call, he called the police again and informed them that the car had moved from the front of his house to the comer of Pascal and Sherburne, about half a block away.

After the second call, two police cars arrived at the scene and Wilson told them that the automobile had just left, traveling south on Pascal, *318 with the trunk partially open. Officers Drassal and Doran, who were in one car, proceeded to look for this automobile. The other car was occupied by Detectives Freischel and Opheim.

Drassal and Doran came upon the car near Snelling and University Avenues, and stopped it after it had turned the corner onto Sherburne Avenue. As had been described by Wilson, the car bore license number 5G 7171, and its trunk was partially open. The driver of the car was identified as Donald Moe, who was questioned and then placed in the squad car. The officers observed cartons of cookies and candies, various tools, a carton containing a billfold, a locking mechanism similar to those used on safes, and a box containing some live ammunition in the trunk. Moe told the officers he had borrowed the car from defendant, Richard John Grunau; that he had left Grunau at the State Fairgrounds earlier in the evening and was on his way to pick him up. Apparently Moe did not realize that the trunk of the car was open.

Detectives Freischel and Opheim learned by radio of the apprehension of Moe and arrived on the scene. They observed miscellaneous items in the partially open trunk and then closed it without making a thorough search. They ordered that the car be towed to the public safety garage. Then they returned to the Kline establishment. Freischel began to investigate the premises. He observed that a small service door was ajar. When he stepped through this door he saw a man in the center of the service department and ordered him to stop. Instead of doing so, the man ducked behind an automobile. Freischel fired three shots at him as the man went toward the east end of the building. When the man reached a service door at the end of the building, he fired rapidly four times at Freischel. He then ran out of the Kline establishment and north on Pascal. Freischel went to his police car and radioed for assistance.

Officers Doran and Drassal responded to Freischel’s radio communication. As they drove through an alley between Asbury and Simpson they observed a man run across the alley approximately 15 to 20 feet in front of them, running north on Simpson, and disappear between some buildings. Officer Doran, the driver of the car, yelled out of the window for the man to stop, and fired two shots at him. He testified he saw a three-quarter profile of the man’s face for a second, and identified de *319 fendant, Richard John Grunau, at the trial as the man he had seen run in front of the squad car. He described the man as wearing a blue long-sleeved shirt and light tan trousers. Officer Drassal, who was a passenger in the front seat of the same automobile, could not identify the man who ran in front of the car.

Freischel stated that the man he had encountered in the Kline establishment, with whom he had exchanged shots, was 5 feet 8 or 9 inches in height and stocky, with brown hair in a crew cut. The man who ran in front of the car occupied by Officers Drassal and Doran was not apprehended at that time.

Upon reentering Kline’s, Freischel found an automobile facing a large door used as entrance and exit. In the car there were a television set and a number of radios and other articles that had apparently been placed there with the object in mind of removing the car and these articles upon completion of a burglary. The combination locks of two safes had been knocked off. No fingerprints were found on the safes, the tools used to knock off the locks, the automobile, or the items found in it.

Moe was taken to the police station and later the same morning Officers Drassal and Doran and Detective Freischel went to the public safety garage, broke open the trunk of the automobile without a search warrant, and removed from the trunk a box of live ammunition; a billfold found in a box; a locking mechanism; various tools, including a crowbar, several hammers, a wire cutter, chisel, center punch, cold chisel, and screwdriver; and some gloves. All of these items were received in evidence over the objection of the defendant that they were irrelevant and immaterial. Defendant also moved to suppress these items on the ground that they were obtained through an illegal search and seizure. This motion was denied by the trial court.

Prior to the trial, James Wilson had identified the defendant from some “mug shots” as a likeness of the person he had seen climbing the fence. He also picked defendant out of a lineup consisting of four persons, one of whom he knew and the other two of whom were not the same size as the defendant.

During the trial Wilson testified that he had refreshed his recollection concerning the events surrounding the night of the offense. He stated *320 that he had given an oral statement to the police, and that he had had an opportunity to talk to the county attorney, at which time he reviewed that statement. Defendant’s counsel then moved for an order of the court compelling the state to turn over to him any statement given by Wilson relevant to the facts of this case. The court denied defendant’s motion. Officer Doran testified that he had made a written report concerning the circumstances surrounding his investigation, and that he had reviewed this report before testifying in a prior prosecution against Donald Moe. He admitted that his review of the report enabled him to call to mind certain facts he had forgotten. Defense counsel demanded that he be permitted to inspect this report, which demand was denied by the trial court.

Detective Freischel testified that he reviewed quite a number of police reports prior to the trial of Donald Moe in refreshing his recollection. The court also denied defendant’s motion that these be turned over to defendant.

Defendant then obtained a subpoena duces tecum requiring production of practically all of the records of the police department concerning the charges brought against defendant. On motion of the state the court quashed this subpoena except as to certain radio reports made as the result of transmissions by the police officers of what was transpiring at the time.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Shipka v. Helvig
405 N.W.2d 248 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1987)
State v. Hathaway
379 N.W.2d 498 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1985)
Matter of Welfare of Rwb
376 N.W.2d 263 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1985)
State v. Webber
292 N.W.2d 5 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1980)
Commonwealth v. Rasnake
7 Va. Cir. 521 (Norfolk County Circuit Court, 1978)
State v. Kirkwood
249 N.W.2d 890 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1977)
State v. Love
221 N.W.2d 131 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1974)
State v. King
208 N.W.2d 287 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1973)
State v. Jones
196 N.W.2d 606 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1972)
State v. Bishop
183 N.W.2d 536 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1971)
State v. Hall
176 N.W.2d 254 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1970)
State v. Mastrian
171 N.W.2d 695 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1969)
State v. Eads
166 N.W.2d 766 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1969)
State v. Valstad
165 N.W.2d 19 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1969)
State v. McConoughey
163 N.W.2d 568 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1968)
State v. Stewig
161 N.W.2d 673 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1968)
State v. Thieme
160 N.W.2d 396 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1968)
State v. Thiele
155 N.W.2d 397 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1968)
State v. Forichette
156 N.W.2d 93 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1968)
State v. Dahlstrom
150 N.W.2d 53 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1967)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
141 N.W.2d 815, 273 Minn. 315, 1966 Minn. LEXIS 832, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-grunau-minn-1966.