State v. PTACEK

766 N.W.2d 355, 2009 Minn. App. LEXIS 104, 2009 WL 1586791
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedJune 9, 2009
DocketA08-0814
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 766 N.W.2d 355 (State v. PTACEK) 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. PTACEK, 766 N.W.2d 355, 2009 Minn. App. LEXIS 104, 2009 WL 1586791 (Mich. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

OPINION

PETERSON, Judge.

In this appeal from convictions of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in violation of Minn.Stat. § 609.342, subd. 1(b), (g) (2004), appellant argues that the district court erred by refusing to allow his expert witness to testify regarding the effects of an alcoholic blackout and by incorrectly instructing the jury on the definition of sexual penetration. We affirm.

FACTS

Appellant Allan John Ptacek is T.L.’s uncle. On April 7, 2006, T.L. was at appellant’s house. At around 10:30 or 11:00 p.m., appellant offered a beer to T.L., who was fifteen years old at the time. At some point during the night, appellant turned on a pornographic movie. According to T.L., appellant “was drinking more and more, and he was starting to stumble a little bit.” When the movie started, T.L. went to the bathroom. Appellant entered the bathroom and tried to convince T.L. to allow appellant to perform oral sex on T.L. T.L. repeatedly told appellant “no” and then left the bathroom.

T.L. went to the bathroom again later that night. Appellant entered the bathroom and again began pressuring T.L. to allow appellant to perform oral sex on T.L. Appellant pressured T.L. for about 20 to 30 minutes until T.L. could not handle the pressure and gave in. Appellant then removed T.L.’s pants and licked his penis a couple of times. T.L. told appellant to stop, and appellant stopped. Appellant then told T.L. that if he told anybody, he would not be allowed back to see his cousin. According to T.L., appellant had consumed about 12 beers at the time of the incident.

Appellant was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct in violation of MinmStat. § 609.342, subd. 1(b), (g) (2004); and furnishing alcohol to a minor in violation of Minn.Stat. § 340A.503, subd. 2(1) (2004). Appellant provided notice that he *357 intended to raise intoxication as a defense and call Mark W. Olson, a chemical-dependency counselor, as an expert. In a hearing on pretrial motions, appellant’s attorney stated that based on Olson’s work experience as a counselor and personal experience as an alcoholic, he intended to have Olson testify regarding “alcoholic blackouts, how they occur, [and] what can happen during an alcoholic blackout.” Appellant’s attorney argued that based on the facts of the case, Olson would testify about whether appellant was in an alcoholic blackout at the time of the incident, which would go to the issue of whether appellant could formulate intent.

The court allowed Olson to present offer-of-proof testimony before it decided whether to allow his testimony at trial. After hearing this testimony, the district court did not allow Olson to testify about the effects of an alcoholic blackout or whether appellant was in a blackout but allowed him to testify about what blackouts are and the factors that cause them.

At trial, the parties stipulated that (1) appellant put his tongue on T.L.’s penis; (2) T.L. had not reached his sixteenth birthday; (3) appellant has a significant relationship with T.L. because he is his uncle; and (4) the act occurred on April 7, 2006, in Steele County. Appellant testified that he had no memory of the events.

When instructing the jury on the elements of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, the district court stated, “Fellatio constitutes sexual penetration if there is any contact between the penis of one person and the mouth, tongue or lips of another person.” Appellant objected to this instruction. The jury found appellant guilty as charged. This appeal followed.

ISSUES

1. Did the district court abuse its discretion when it did not allow expert testimony about the effects of an alcoholic blackout and whether appellant was in an alcoholic blackout?

2. Did the district court correctly state the law when it instructed the jury on the definition of sexual penetration?

ANALYSIS

I.

Appellant argues that the district court erred by refusing to allow his expert witness to testify regarding the blackout effects of alcohol. “The admission of expert testimony is within the broad discretion accorded a [district] court, and rulings regarding materiality, foundation, remoteness, relevancy, or the cumulative nature of the evidence may be reversed only if the [district] court clearly abused its discretion.” State v. Ritt, 599 N.W.2d 802, 810 (Minn.1999) (quotation and citation omitted).

The primary issue at trial was whether appellant’s intoxication rendered him unable to form intent:

An act committed while in a state of voluntary intoxication is not less criminal by reason thereof, but when a particular intent or other state of mind is a necessary element to constitute a particular crime, the fact of intoxication may be taken into consideration in determining such intent or state of mind.

Minn.Stat. § 609.075 (2004). “If scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise.” Minn. R. Evid. 702. Appellant argues that the jury was not aware of the effects of alcohol and, therefore, the district court should have *358 allowed Olson to testify regarding “his opinion that an en bloc blackout results in the individual operating in an ‘unconscious state,’ and that an individual experiencing an en bloc blackout cannot formulate specific intent.”

The district court’s rationale for not allowing Olson’s testimony was that the relevant issue was not whether appellant could recall the events of the night but whether appellant was capable of forming intent, and Olson’s testimony would be elicited to show that appellant lacked the capacity to form intent, which is impermissible under Minnesota law. The district court also determined that Olson’s testimony was speculative and not based on hard science and that the existence of a blackout state was a credibility determination for the jury. The court allowed Olson to testify generally regarding the two types of blackouts — en bloc and fragmentary — and the factors that cause them but did not allow him to testify as to his opinion of whether appellant was in an en bloc blackout at the time of the sexual assault, the ability of a person in a blackout to know whether what he is doing is right or wrong, and whether a person’s brain is functioning at a conscious level while in a blackout.

The general rule established by the supreme court “is that expert psychiatric testimony on whether a defendant was capable of forming the requisite mens rea for the crime charged is admissible only in the second phase of a bifurcated trial when the defendant pleads not guilty by reason of insanity.” State v. Griese, 565 N.W.2d 419, 425 (Minn.1997). “[J]urors must look to ‘what a defendant says and does’ to determine whether a defendant acted with the requisite intent.” Id. (quoting State v. Provost, 490 N.W.2d 93

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
766 N.W.2d 355, 2009 Minn. App. LEXIS 104, 2009 WL 1586791, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-ptacek-minnctapp-2009.