State v. Moose

266 N.W.2d 521, 1978 Minn. LEXIS 1319
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedMay 12, 1978
Docket47009
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 266 N.W.2d 521 (State v. Moose) 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. Moose, 266 N.W.2d 521, 1978 Minn. LEXIS 1319 (Mich. 1978).

Opinion

PETERSON, Justice.

Defendant was convicted by a jury in Hennepin County District Court of two counts of aggravated robbery and one count of aggravated assault and was sentenced under Minn.St. 609.11 to 3 to 20 years’ imprisonment. 1 On appeal defendant raises three issues concerning, first, his pretrial photographic identification; second, his attempt to obtain his brother’s testimony at *523 trial; and third, his sentencing under § 609.11, which provides minimum terms where firearms or dangerous weapons are in the defendant’s possession. We affirm the conviction and remand for resentencing.

On the evening of September 28, 1975, defendant, Rolland A. Moose, and several other persons drove to Stasiu’s Bar in Minneapolis. One of the group was Patricia Macial, who had known defendant approximately 6 months. She testified that during the drive to the bar she saw a handgun in defendant’s possession. After arriving at the bar, she observed defendant playing foosball and sitting at a table until about midnight.

Just before 1 a. m. that evening, Raymond Lind entered Stasiu’s Bar, ordered a drink, and walked into the men’s restroom. While Lind was standing at the urinal, defendant entered the restroom and approached Lind from the side. Defendant said, “Say,” and Lind replied, “Yes,” and looked at him. Defendant pulled a revolver from his jacket, put it to Lind’s side, and said, “I want your money.” Lind testified:

“ * * * At this time he pushed me to the corner where the commode is and at this time I was looking at him and he says, 'Don’t look at me.’ And I looked at him again. He brought the revolver up to my neck. At this time I was looking at him, the revolver was loaded and he says, ‘Don’t look at me again.’ He hit me on the side of the head, and at this time he put it up to my head. He had it cocked. He says, ‘Don’t look at me.’ At this time he got my wallet, and he says, ‘Get down on your knees.’ So I got down on my knees. He says, ‘Have I got all your money?’ I says, ‘Yes.’ ”

Defendant then hit Lind on the top of the head and told him not to move for 10 minutes. Lind testified that at that moment another man (whom he later learned was named Bruce Mount) entered the restroom.

As Mount entered the restroom, someone pointed a gun at his face and told him to get up against the wall. Mount testified that he could not identify his assailant but that he had long black hair and wore a dark coat. Mount saw Lind lying on the floor, and while Mount was standing facing the wall, the assailant took Mount’s wallet and went through his pockets. While Mount was standing against the wall, Carl Carlson entered the restroom.

Carl Carlson testified that as he entered the restroom and approached the urinal he was grabbed by a man he could identify only as an Indian male with long black hair. The assailant swung him around and struck him with his pistol on the head. As he raised his arm to protect himself, the assailant again hit him on the head. He then heard his assailant say, “I am going to try to get out of here one way or the other.”

The bartender, Clifford Carlson (Carl Carlson’s son), and a customer, Thaddeus Swider, saw defendant walk from the restroom followed a few seconds later by a bleeding Carl Carlson. Swider observed defendant “tucking a gun in his pants pocket.” Upon seeing his bloodied father, Clifford Carlson called to Swider to stop defendant. Swider pursued defendant until defendant reached the front of the bar. At that point, defendant turned around and pointed his gun toward the bar. This caused Swider and Robert Smoter, another customer who had joined in pursuit, to jump to the side or back off. Apparently defendant then left the bar. ,

The day after the incident and again on October 23, Lind was shown photographs of 19 Indian males, and both times he identified defendant as the person who robbed him. On October 28 or 29, Clifford Carlson and Swider were separately shown the same photographs and each picked defendant as the person who had preceded Carl Carlson from the restroom and who had drawn a gun on them at the doorway. Patricia Durkot, a waitress at the bar, also examined the photographs and identified defendant as a person she had seen in the bar prior to the robbery. On November 2, Robert Smoter examined the photographs and was “90% sure” that the photograph of defendant depicted the man who had pulled the gun at the barroom doorway. These identifications led to defendant’s arrest.

*524 1. We consider first defendant’s argument that the pretrial photographic identification violated his right to due process of law. The legal standard for determining whether a pretrial photographic identification comports with due process requirements is well settled:

“Convictions based on eyewitnesses’ identification at trial following a pretrial identification by photographs must each be considered on its own facts and will be set aside only if such pretrial photographic identification procedure ‘was so imper-missibly suggestive as to give rise to a very substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification.’ Simmons v. United States, 390 U.S. 377, 384, 88 S.Ct. 967, 971, 19 L.Ed.2d 1247, 1253 (1968).” State v. Winston, 300 Minn. 314, 317, 219 N.W.2d 617, 619 (1974).

The photographic lineup in this case consisted of photographs of 19 Indian males, including defendant, who looked to be between the ages of 18 and 30. Of the 19 men, 14 had hair as long or longer than defendant’s. The remaining five had hair shorter than defendant’s. Of the five men with short hair, one man was wearing glasses. Of the 14 men with long hair, defendant was the only man wearing glasses. All of the 19 were similarly dressed.

Defendant argues that the identification procedure denied him due process because defendant’s photographs were the only ones depicting a man with both long hair and glasses. The problem with this argument is that it proceeds by combining separate identifying features — eyeglasses and long hair. In any photographic identification procedure, each person depicted will be the only person who satisfies some combination of identifying features. But this does not mean the procedure will be either impermissibly suggestive or likely to give rise to irreparable misidentification. On the facts of the present case, we have no difficulty in holding that the pretrial photographic identification did not deny defendant due process.

2. The second issue raised by defendant concerns his attempt to obtain his brother’s testimony at trial. During a pause in the presentation of the state’s case, a conference in chambers was held during which defendant stated he did not wish to take the stand in his own defense but desired his brother, Steven Moose, to testify on his behalf. Apparently Steven was in the area the evening of the robberies and to some degree resembled his brother, the defendant. No decision concerning defendant’s request was made at the time; however, a subpoena was issued in Steven’s name and Attorney Donald Larson was appointed to represent him.

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Bluebook (online)
266 N.W.2d 521, 1978 Minn. LEXIS 1319, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-moose-minn-1978.