State v. Okegbenro

409 N.W.2d 1, 1987 Minn. App. LEXIS 4511
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedJune 30, 1987
DocketC1-86-1591
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 409 N.W.2d 1 (State v. Okegbenro) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals 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. Okegbenro, 409 N.W.2d 1, 1987 Minn. App. LEXIS 4511 (Mich. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

OPINION

RANDALL, Judge.

This appeal is from a judgment of conviction of two counts of first degree criminal sexual conduct. Appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence, as well as evi-dentiary rulings. Appellant claims, and the State agrees, that one of the convictions *2 and accompanying sentence must be vacated under Minn.Stat. § 609.04 (1986). We affirm in part, and vacate one of the convictions and its sentence.

FACTS

Appellant Taofik Okegbenro picked up M.M. in downtown St. Paul sometime after 1:00 a.m. on January 25, 1986. M.M. testified she asked for a ride to her boyfriend’s house on University Avenue in St. Paul. Appellant, instead, took the freeway all the way to south Minneapolis. There he stopped at an apartment building for about five minutes, leaving M.M. in the car with the keys in the ignition. He then drove to a deserted street where intercourse occurred in the car.

Appellant testified consensual intercourse occurred in exchange for money. He stated M.M. was hitchhiking, wearing clothes suggesting she was a prostitute, that she asked him for a “date” before they reached the freeway, and agreed to go to Minneapolis with him so he could borrow the rest of the agreed on price. His friend was not home, but appellant testified M.M. agreed to take $10 if he would pay her the rest the following day. He stated intercourse occurred in the back seat, without any threats. He then drove her to a 7-Eleven store in St. Paul, where she wrote her phone number down for him. He called the following day to arrange payment or another “date,” but she was not home.

M.M. testified she remained in the car when appellant stopped at the apartment building because it was cold and dark outside, and because she did not know where she was. She testified intercourse occurred in the front seat and that she submitted only after appellant pressed a knife to her back. She admitted there was talk of sex for money, but testified it occurred just before the attack. She testified she thought he was joking and she asked only because she was curious. When appellant drove her back to St. Paul, she gave him her phone number because “I wanted to have him caught.”

At the 7-Eleven store, M.M. called her mother. She then called the police to report the sexual assault. She gave police the license number of appellant’s car, along with a description of the car and a description of the suspect. She was taken to St. Paul-Ramsey Hospital for a sexual assault exam, which was positive for sperm. The emergency room nurse and physician each testified M.M. was crying and distraught. No physical injuries, including cuts or bruises, were noted. The following day, M.M. and her mother noted two superficial scratches on her shoulder blade.

Two days after the incident, St. Paul police issued a “Stop and Identify” bulletin based on the license number and vehicle and suspect descriptions. M.M. had not identified any suspects from a photo lineup.

The police stopped appellant’s car in response to the bulletin. One of the digits of the license number was different, but the vehicle matched the description and the officer also felt appellant, who was driving, matched the suspect description. The officer ran license and warrant checks, obtained appellant’s name, and let him proceed. This information was relayed to Minneapolis police, who showed M.M. a new photo lineup, including appellant’s picture, which she identified as the suspect.

Appellant was arrested the following day. He was given a Miranda warning, and told what he was being arrested for, including the circumstances of the offense, and where it occurred. At some point, he stated he did not want to talk. The officer at trial testified appellant first responded, “no, not there,” when told the rape occurred in Minneapolis. At the Rasmussen hearing, the officer stated this exchange occurred the following day and that appellant volunteered nothing when arrested.

The officer again sought to question appellant at the jail the following day. The officer read appellant the Miranda warning. Appellant agreed to talk, and stated he had not been anywhere near the scene that night. First, he stated he had been working, then that he was still living in a halfway house. He then declined to answer further questions. At trial, a police *3 officer mentioned appellant’s choosing to say nothing further.

ISSUES

1. Did the trial court err by failing to suppress appellant’s name and other information acquired after a stop of appellant’s car?

2. Did the trial court err by allowing evidence of appellant’s invoking his right to remain silent following a Miranda warning?

3. Was the evidence sufficient to sustain appellant’s conviction?

ANALYSIS

I.

Investigatory stop

Appellant contends the police illegally stopped him on January 27, 1986, two days after the offense, based on the description and license number of the car involved in the assault, and the description of the perpetrator. The State concedes appellant was neither behaving suspiciously nor driving erratically at the time of the stop.

Appellant was not arrested, but was subjected to a brief Terry investigatory stop. Police may make an investigatory stop for a completed offense based on a bulletin or other information if the bulletin was issued on the basis of articulable facts supporting a reasonable suspicion. United States v. Hensley, 469 U.S. 221, 105 S.Ct. 675, 83 L.Ed.2d 604 (1985). The St. Paul police had enough facts to support a reasonable suspicion.

M.M. gave police an extensive description of the offense and furnished a description of vehicle, license number and offender. Cf. Blaisdell v. Commissioner of Public Safety, 381 N.W.2d 849, 850 (Minn.1986) (gas station clerk gave no license number, no suspect description, and no details of two month old theft). It is immaterial that appellant was not engaged in suspicious activity when stopped. See Hensley, 469 U.S. at 229, 105 S.Ct. at 681 (police may make an investigatory stop for a completed offense). The suspicion attached to the vehicle was not affected by the difference in one letter in the license number. See State v. Ferraro, 290 N.W.2d 177, 179 (Minn.1980) (police were justified in stopping van with license number which, except for one digit, was the same as vehicle license number reported following theft).

II.

Post-Miranda statements and silence

Appellant contends the State should not have been permitted to introduce police testimony that he exercised his right to remain silent. He also argues that police violated his right to remain silent by resuming questioning on the day following his arrest.

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409 N.W.2d 1, 1987 Minn. App. LEXIS 4511, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-okegbenro-minnctapp-1987.