State v. Lindsey

632 N.W.2d 652, 2001 Minn. LEXIS 549, 2001 WL 952719
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedAugust 23, 2001
DocketC0-00-1167
StatusPublished
Cited by65 cases

This text of 632 N.W.2d 652 (State v. Lindsey) 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. Lindsey, 632 N.W.2d 652, 2001 Minn. LEXIS 549, 2001 WL 952719 (Mich. 2001).

Opinion

OPINION

PAGE, Justice.

A jury found appellant Charles Lindsey guilty of first- and second-degree murder for the shooting death of Craig Clark, and guilty of attempted first- and second-degree murder for the shooting of Randy Lusby. No direct appeal was filed, but in March 2000 Lindsey filed a pro se petition for postconviction relief, claiming: (1) he was denied his right to a public trial; (2) the trial court erred when instructing the jury on eyewitness identification; (3) the trial court erred by refusing to redact an audiotaped interrogation before playing it to the jury; and (4) the trial court’s restitution order should be vacated. Lindsey also raised prosecutorial misconduct, ineffective assistance of trial counsel, and police use of impermissibly suggestive identification procedures as issues. The postconviction court' denied relief without holding an evidentiary hearing. In this court, in addition to the issues raised before the postconviction court, Lindsey argues that two of his convictions must be vacated under Minn.Stat. § 609.04, subd. 1(1) (2000). We affirm in part and remand for a determination of whether restitution to the murder victim’s girlfriend was proper.

On December 30, 1993, Lindsey arrived at a St. Paul bar at about 12:30 a.m. accompanied by his brother, Freeman Lindsey, Freeman’s girlfriend, Renie Bernier, and her uncle, Keith Richardson. When Freeman began arguing with the bartender, the bartender threatened to call the police and ordered the group to leave. Before leaving, Freeman picked up a stool and threw it over the bar.

When the group reached their car, Freeman realized that Lindsey was not with them and told Richardson to go back and get him. Richardson testified that, when he opened the door upon returning to the bar, he saw Lindsey talking to a man standing nearby, and saw Lindsey point the gun and fire. After the shooting, Richardson and Lindsey returned to the car. Bernier testified that, as they drove away, Lindsey said, “I think I killed someone in the bar,” and that he had shot two people, one of them in the face or head. Freeman similarly testified that Lindsey said that he shot two people, one of them in the face, neck, or head. Richardson testified that Lindsey said, “I shot one of them marks in the face and I shot the other one in the head,” and that both Lindsey and Freeman then “giggled a little bit.” Richardson also testified that he then told Bernier that Lindsey and Freeman were crazy and asked her to take him home. Shortly after he was dropped off, Richardson called the police and reported what had happened.

The police arrested Lindsey at his mother’s house at approximately 6:30 a.m. on December 30, 1993. At police headquarters, Sgt. Richard Freichels of the St. Paul Police Department conducted an audio-taped interview of Lindsey. Freichels testified that, as he was bringing Lindsey to jail after the interview, Freichels told Lindsey that the man Lindsey shot was probably going to die and that Lindsey would go to prison for murder. According to Freichels, Lindsey responded, “my un *657 cle killed a few people; he only went to jail for eight years,” and then laughed. Lindsey was charged with first- and second-degree murder under Minn.Stat. §§ 609.185, subd. 1, and 609.19, subd. 1(1) (2000), and first- and second-degree attempted murder under Minn.Stat. §§ 609.17 (2000), 609.185, subd. 1, and 609.19, subd. 1(1).

At trial, Lindsey was identified as the shooter by Richardson, Lusby, the bartender’s sister, and a customer who also identified Lindsey as the shooter during a photo lineup. Over Lindsey’s objection, the audiotape of the police interrogation was played to the jury during Freichels’ testimony. Lindsey, testifying at trial in his defense, denied shooting either Lusby or Clark and, at one point, implicated Richardson as the shooter.

During the direct examination of one witness, the court interrupted and asked counsel for both parties to approach the bench for an off-the-record discussion out of the jury’s hearing. Following this discussion, the court stated:

Let me observe that some additional spectators have entered the courtroom and I need to call attention to the adults with them that minors under the age of seventeen are not permitted in the courtroom during a criminal trial. I have to ask them to leave the courtroom.

After a brief pause, the court said, “The record may indicate that they have now left the courtroom.” Apparently two children left the courtroom during the pause. Although initially the court did not provide any basis for excluding the children, it subsequently indicated that they were “under the age described [as being] proscribed by the statute.” The parties agree that the court was referring to Minn.Stat. § 631.04 (1992). 1 Lindsey made no objection on the record to the exclusion of the children and the record does not reflect whether he objected during the off-the-record discussion. There is no indication of the identity of the children and their relation, if any, to Lindsey. Nor does the record indicate that anyone else was excluded from the courtroom at that or any other time during the trial.

On May 7, 1994, the jury returned verdicts of guilty on all four charges. The trial court sentenced Lindsey to consecutive terms of life in prison for the first-degree murder conviction and 240 months for the attempted first-degree murder conviction. No direct appeal was ever filed, but Lindsey did file a petition for postcon-viction relief. The postconviction court denied the petition without holding an evi-dentiary hearing. This appeal followed.

I.

We will not reverse a postconviction court’s decision absent an abuse of discretion, and will consider only whether sufficient evidence supports the postcon-viction court’s conclusions. Woodruff v. State, 608 N.W.2d 881, 884 (Minn.2000). We first consider the issues Lindsey raises *658 through counsel and then turn to the additional issues Lindsey raises pro se.

II.

During oral argument, we raised the question whether the statute on which the trial court relied to exclude minor spectators, Minn.Stat. § 631.04, encroaches on this court’s authority to regulate matters of trial procedure in violation of the doctrine of separation of powers. See State v. Olson, 482 N.W.2d 212, 215 (Minn.1992). Because the parties had not briefed this issue, the court ordered supplemental briefs addressing (1) whether section 631.04 violates the separation of powers doctrine and, (2) if so, what relief is appropriate.

“[D]ue respect for coequal branches of government requires this court to exercise great restraint in considering the constitutionality of statutes particularly when the consideration involves what is a legislative function and what is a judicial function.” State v. Johnson, 514 N.W.2d 551, 554 (Minn.1994). This court has “primary responsibility under the separation of powers doctrine for the regulation of evidentiary matters and matters of trial and appellate procedure.” Olson, 482 N.W.2d at 215. The legislature, in turn, determines matters of substantive law. Johnson,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
632 N.W.2d 652, 2001 Minn. LEXIS 549, 2001 WL 952719, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lindsey-minn-2001.