State v. Kvale

302 N.W.2d 650, 1981 Minn. LEXIS 1204
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedFebruary 20, 1981
Docket51382
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 302 N.W.2d 650 (State v. Kvale) 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. Kvale, 302 N.W.2d 650, 1981 Minn. LEXIS 1204 (Mich. 1981).

Opinions

SHERAN, Chief Justice.

Defendant was found guilty by a district court jury of a charge of aggravated robbery, Minn.Stat. § 609.245 (1980), and the trial court stayed imposition of sentence and placed defendant on probation for five years, with the first year to be served in jail. On this appeal from judgment of conviction defendant contends that the evidence of his guilt of aggravated robbery was legally insufficient, that the trial court erred in denying a motion to prohibit use of a prior aggravated robbery conviction if defendant testified, and that the trial court erred in refusing a requested modification of the standard CRIMJIG instructions on the definition and elements of aggravated robbery. We affirm.

Defendant, accompanied by two acquaintances, one male and one female, spent the evening of November 19, 1979, inside a south Minneapolis neighborhood bar drinking beer and playing pool. Shortly after the bar closed and as defendant was preparing to drive away, he backed his car into the victim’s car, causing bumper damage to the victim’s car. Defendant and the victim, who had also been in the bar that night, disagreed over whether the damage to the bumper was pre-existing. Finally, defendant, who apparently was inebriated and did not want the police called, paid the victim $10 in complete settlement of the damages. The victim waited until after the defendant and his companions left and then he drove home. As he drove down the alley behind his house and prepared to park his car, he saw defendant and his companions, with their car lights off, drive behind him. Defendant and his companions got out, ran up to the victim, who remained in his car, and began “raving” that they had not damaged the bumper, and demanded that the victim return the $10. One of defendant’s companions pounded on the victim’s car window so hard that the car shook. Feeling that he had no choice and fearing for his safety, the victim reached into his pocket and removed all his bills, specifically the $10 that defendant had paid him and the $7 or $8 that he had had before defendant had paid him. Defendant immediately grabbed it all and handed it to the woman who was with him. The victim, who was “scared to death,” asked them to take defendant’s money and leave. Defendant told the woman to take the $10 and give back the rest to the victim, but she replied, “Don’t give him any money,” and in fact none was given back. Defendant then began ordering the victim to “say I didn’t hurt your car.” When the victim, who was still seated in his car, said that he could not say that because it was not true, defendant became more furious and hit him on the head. Defendant then grabbed the victim’s hair and held his head with one hand and, using some object which the victim did not see, cut the victim’s throat.

When the blood started to flow, the victim, concluding that he was in serious trouble and had to take action rather than acquiesce in what was happening, forced himself free and ran for help. Defendant and the others then drove away fast.

Defendant was located because the bartender of the bar had memorized his license number. Both the victim and the bartender positively identified defendant. Defendant’s two accomplices were never identified or located by the police.

1. Defendant’s main contention, that the evidence of his guilt of aggravated [652]*652robbery was legally insufficient, deals not with identity but with whether aggravated robbery or even robbery was proven. Specifically, defendant argues that there was not even sufficient evidence that this was a robbery, because the state did not prove either that defendant knew he was not entitled to the money or that force was used to facilitate the taking. Defendant contends that the evidence established only a taking which did not amount to a robbery, followed by an unrelated assault, which did not facilitate the taking.

Minn.Stat. § 609.24 (1980) defines simple robbery as follows:

Whoever, knowing he is not entitled thereto, takes personal property from the person or in the presence of another and uses or threatens the imminent use of force against any person to overcome his resistance or powers of resistance to, or to compel acquiescence in, the taking or carrying away of the property is guilty of robbery and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than ten years or to payment of a fine of not more than $10,-000, or both.

Minn.Stat. § 609.245 (1980) provides:

Whoever, while committing a robbery, is armed with a dangerous weapon or inflicts bodily harm upon another is guilty of aggravated robbery and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 20 years or to payment of a fine of not more than $20,000, or both.

It is clear to us that defendant, once having voluntarily settled with the victim and given him the $10, was not entitled to use self-help to get the money back from the victim. Whether defendant knew he was not entitled to take the $10 back is not as clear but, at the very least, that was a jury question. It cannot be said as a matter of law that defendant did not know he was not entitled to the $10. Beyond this, defendant did not just take $10; rather, he took all the money the victim had. And while it is true that he told the woman with him to give all but the $10 back to the victim, he did not do anything to insure that she did after she indicated she did not want to. Instead, when she said no, he began to physically attack the victim. This act, under the circumstances, destroyed the possibility that the victim would get any of the money back and facilitated the carrying away of all of the money, not just the $10.

Defendant’s argument that the evidence did not show the use of force or fear to facilitate the taking cannot be accepted. The evidence showed that defendant and his companions intentionally created in the victim a reasonable apprehension of imminent violence which compelled his acquiescence in the taking of his money from his person. This case is therefore distinguishable in this respect from State v. Moore, 295 N.W.2d 101 (Minn.1980).

In arguing that his infliction of bodily harm on the victim was unconnected with the taking, defendant is basically arguing that before one can be convicted of either robbery by using actual force or aggravated robbery involving infliction of bodily harm the force or injury must precede or be simultaneous with the taking. In making this argument, defendant points to the Advisory Committee Comment to Minn.Stat. § 609.24 (1980). The comment states that the statute defining robbery prior to 1963 had specified that use of force in escaping would not constitute robbery and that this language was deleted in the new statute because it was “considered unnecessary.” Defendant reads this comment to mean that the force or injury must precede or accompany the act of taking and that it is not enough if the force or injury facilitates the carrying away of the property.

We believe that defendant misreads the comment. Prior to 1963, the statute defining robbery had stated that one of the elements of robbery was use of force or fear to obtain or retain possession of property. The statute went on to say that if the force was used “merely as a means of escape,” that would not constitute robbery. What the Advisory Committee Comment meant was that it was not necessary to reiterate that the use of force in escaping only was insufficient to constitute robbery because it is clear from the statute that one [653]

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

Related

Joshua Ward v. United States
936 F.3d 914 (Ninth Circuit, 2019)
State v. Townsend
925 N.W.2d 280 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 2019)
United States v. Randall Jennings
860 F.3d 450 (Seventh Circuit, 2017)
State of Minnesota v. Noor Muhina Salim
Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 2017
State of Minnesota v. Michael Anthony Davis
Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 2017
State v. McClenton
781 N.W.2d 181 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 2010)
United States v. Garcia-Caraveo
586 F.3d 1230 (Tenth Circuit, 2009)
State v. Brown
597 N.W.2d 299 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1999)
State v. Burrell
506 N.W.2d 34 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1993)
State v. Meech
400 N.W.2d 166 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1987)
State v. Ford
381 N.W.2d 30 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1986)
State v. Edwards
380 N.W.2d 503 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1986)
State v. Propotnik
355 N.W.2d 195 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1984)
State v. Rose
353 N.W.2d 565 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1984)
State v. Nunn
351 N.W.2d 16 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1984)
State v. Charlton
338 N.W.2d 26 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1983)
State v. Oquist
327 N.W.2d 587 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1982)
State v. Gorham
306 N.W.2d 123 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1981)
State v. Kvale
302 N.W.2d 650 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1981)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
302 N.W.2d 650, 1981 Minn. LEXIS 1204, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-kvale-minn-1981.