State v. Morrow

834 N.W.2d 715, 2013 WL 4008201, 2013 Minn. LEXIS 367
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedAugust 7, 2013
DocketNo. A12-0079
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 834 N.W.2d 715 (State v. Morrow) 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. Morrow, 834 N.W.2d 715, 2013 WL 4008201, 2013 Minn. LEXIS 367 (Mich. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION

ANDERSON, G. BARRY, Justice.

Appellant Aaron Morrow appeals his convictions that arise out of an incident in which he repeatedly fired a semiautomatic AK-47 rifle at Joseph Rivera and two of Rivera’s friends. A Ramsey County grand jury indicted him with nine counts, including one count of first-degree premeditated murder and two counts of attempted first-degree premeditated murder. Following a jury trial, Morrow was found guilty as charged. The district court sentenced Morrow to life in prison without the possibility of release for the first-degree premeditated murder conviction and to two consecutive 180-month sentences for the [719]*719convictions of attempted first-degree premeditated murder. On direct appeal, Morrow claims that the district court erred when it: (1) denied his pretrial motion to dismiss the indictment; (2) admitted his taped statement to police; (3) admitted a photograph of Rivera as a child; (4) denied his motion for a mistrial; and (5) denied his request for surrebuttal closing argument. He also raises several other claims in his pro se brief. We affirm.

Morrow had a father-son type relationship with R.W. On September 26, 2010, R.W. and his friend A.P. went to a party in St. Paul. Rivera and his two friends, D.C. and G.C., were also at the party. After several hours of partying, R.W. noticed that his cell phone was missing, which led him to verbally confront D.C. Before the confrontation, R.W. left the building and, using A.P.’s phone, called Morrow for a ride. R.W. told Morrow that he thought someone took his phone. Morrow drove to the party to pick up R.W. and witnessed the confrontation between R.W. and D.C. Morrow and R.W. then left the party and drove to Morrow’s house, where Morrow retrieved a semiautomatic AK-47 rifle. The two men then drove back to the party, parking approximately one half-block away. Shortly after Rivera emerged from the party with his two friends, Morrow fired 15 shots in their direction. Rivera died at the scene, suffering approximately 7 gunshot wounds. D.C. was shot in the leg, and G.C. escaped uninjured. Morrow and R.W. fled the scene, and Morrow later hid the gun in a relative’s garage.

Morrow was later arrested, and Sergeant Scott Payne of the St. Paul Police conducted a taped, Mirandized interview with Morrow. During the interview, Morrow said, “If ... I cooperated one hundred percent. Will you allow me to call my father and tell him why I’m up here?” Payne indicated that he would. Morrow then made a number of inculpatory statements. After the interview, Morrow called his father.

The State elected to present the evidence gathered by police to a Ramsey County grand jury. The prosecutor sent a letter to Morrow’s counsel inviting Morrow to testify before the grand jury. Morrow’s counsel informed the State that Morrow wished to testify if no plea agreement was reached. The State then sent a letter to Morrow’s counsel stating that it would not call Morrow and would instead present the grand jury with a summary of Morrow’s statements to police investigators.

Sergeant Payne provided the grand jury with a summary of Morrow’s statements to police. The grand jury also heard testimony from D.C., G.C.,1 and R.W.2 The grand [720]*720jury issued an indictment on January 19, 2011, charging Morrow with nine counts: one count of first-degree premeditated murder, Minn.Stat. § 609.185(a)(1) (2012); two counts of attempted first-degree premeditated murder, Minn.Stat. §§ 609.17 (2012), 609.185(a)(1); one count of drive-by shooting first-degree murder, Minn.Stat. §§ 609.185(a)(3), 609.66, subd. le (2012); two counts of attempted drive-by shooting first-degree murder, Minn.Stat. §§ 609.17, 609.185(a)(3), 609.66, subd. le; one count of second-degree intentional murder, Minn.Stat. § 609.19, subd. 1(1) (2012); and two counts of attempted second-degree intentional murder, Minn.Stat. §§ 609.17, 609.19, subd. 1(1).

Morrow moved to dismiss the indictment on numerous grounds. The district court denied Morrow’s motion, and Morrow petitioned the court of appeals for discretionary review. The court of appeals denied the petition. Morrow filed a motion to reconsider, and the court of appeals again denied Morrow’s request for relief. Morrow petitioned our court for further review, and we denied the petition.

The case proceeded to trial on all charges. During the jury trial, the district court admitted a photograph of Rivera as a child, which the State presented during D.C.’s testimony regarding his childhood friendship with Rivera. The State’s witnesses testified in a manner that was substantially consistent with their grand jury testimony. On direct examination of Sergeant Payne, the prosecutor asked a question that led Payne to reveal that Morrow was truant and once swore at a high school teacher. Defense counsel made a motion for a mistrial, which the court denied.

Morrow testified on his own behalf and claimed that he acted to defend himself and R.W. Specifically, Morrow testified that he knew R.W. was scared of Rivera and his two friends and that he had witnessed D.C. threaten to “stomp[ ] ... out” R.W. He claimed that he did not drive away because the three men were spread out on the road and he would have had to run them over, and because he felt he would have had to leave R.W. at the scene. Morrow further testified that he had not seen anyone at the party with a weapon and that he fired at “center mass,” which refers to “emergency protocol” used “instead of taking the time to aim.”

The jury found Morrow guilty on all counts charged in the indictment. The district court sentenced Morrow to life in prison without the possibility of release for the first-degree premeditated murder of Rivera and to two consecutive 180-month sentences for the convictions of attempted first-degree premeditated murder of D.C. [721]*721and G.C. This direct appeal followed. We consider each of Morrow’s claims in turn.

I.

Morrow first claims the district court erred in denying his motion to dismiss the indictment, which was based on an assertion that the State knowingly engaged in misconduct that substantially influenced the grand jury’s decision to indict him. More specifically, he argues the State violated his purported right to testify before a grand jury, failed to present exculpatory evidence, failed to properly respond to the grand jurors’ questions, and offered testimony that mischaracterized his statements to police. In response to Morrow’s arguments, the State contends that Morrow had no right to testify before the grand jury, that the prosecutor did not commit misconduct in presenting the case to the grand jury, and that even if misconduct occurred, it did not require dismissal of the indictment. We conclude that the State has the more persuasive arguments.

“[A] presumption of regularity attaches to a grand jury indictment, and it is a rare case where an indictment is invalidated.” State v. Penkaty, 708 N.W.2d 185, 196 (Minn.2006). A “criminal defendant bears a heavy burden when seeking to overturn an indictment,” especially when “the challenge is brought after [the defendant] has been found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt following a fair trial.” State v. Scruggs, 421 N.W.2d 707, 717 (Minn.1988).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
834 N.W.2d 715, 2013 WL 4008201, 2013 Minn. LEXIS 367, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-morrow-minn-2013.