State v. Radke

821 N.W.2d 316, 2012 WL 3965142, 2012 Minn. LEXIS 460
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedSeptember 12, 2012
DocketNos. A09-0834, A11-2007
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 821 N.W.2d 316 (State v. Radke) 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. Radke, 821 N.W.2d 316, 2012 WL 3965142, 2012 Minn. LEXIS 460 (Mich. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION

PAGE, Justice.

Appellant Steven Bernard Radke was arrested and charged with first-degree premeditated murder, in violation of Minn. Stat. § 609.185(a)(1) (2010), for causing the June 20, 2007, death of Darrell Buesgens. At trial, Radke admitted shooting Bues-gens, but claimed that he did so in self-defense and without premeditation. The jury, rejecting Radke’s self-defense claim, found Radke guilty of first-degree premeditated murder, and the district court sentenced Radke to life in prison without the possibility of release. Radke thereafter filed a petition for postconviction relief, which the postconviction court denied. In this consolidated direct appeal and appeal from the denial of postconviction relief, Radke argues that: (1) his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to introduce evidence of Buesgens’ reputation for violence and past acts of violence; (2) the State committed reversible error when it withheld exculpatory evidence; (3) the jury instructions impermissibly shifted the burden to Radke to prove self-defense; (4) the district court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on heat-of-passion manslaughter; (5) the State improperly used a suppressed statement by Radke, admitted solely for purposes of impeachment, as substantive evidence of guilt; (6) the State committed misconduct during closing argument; and (7) the cumulative effect of the above errors denied Radke a fair trial. Because we conclude that each of these claims is either without merit or did not result in prejudice to Radke, we affirm both Rad-ke’s conviction and the postconviction court’s denial of postconviction relief.

I.

The record indicates that Radke shot and killed Buesgens in the yard of Bues-gens’ home on June 20, 2007. Buesgens’ daughter, M.B., was married to Radke and was present at the time of the shooting. Because of problems in their marriage, M.B. and the three children from Radke’s and M.B.’s blended family had moved out of the marital home and had been staying at Buesgens’ home with her mother and father since February 2007. Testifying in his own defense at trial, Radke claimed that he and M.B. had talked about M.B. moving back to the marital home, but Bu-esgens was upset by the idea. According to Radke, on June 20, M.B. asked Radke to come to her parents’ house to help her move back to the marital home. M.B. needed help because she was afraid that Buesgens would try to stop her. Radke testified that he was afraid of Buesgens and was reluctant to go to Buesgens’ house because Buesgens was bigger and stronger than Radke, was experienced with firearms, and had threatened Radke several times in the past, telling Radke to leave M.B. alone and move out of town or he “would be sorry.” Buesgens had also said that he was going to get Radke eventually; that he “would come at night, stealth, and pound nails into [Radke and his] kids’ head[s] with a hammer.” Radke was also [321]*321afraid because, on the morning of June 20, Buesgens had blocked him in at a gas station, came up to him, pointed his finger at him, and told him that M.B. was not going to come back and that Buesgens was going to kill him and kill his kids.

Radke contends that, at some point, he became afraid for M.B. and the kids and decided to go over to Buesgens’ house. Rather than drive his car, he drove to the Buesgens’ property on his ATV, which he parked in the woods so that Buesgens would not see the ATV if he returned home. Radke took a loaded rifle with him because he knew Buesgens had guns and was afraid that Buesgens might try to kill him. Radke testified that he did not intend to use the rifle, except to brandish it, if necessary, to get Buesgens to back down. According to Radke, he loaded the rifle because he was scared, and because an unloaded gun “wouldn’t do [him] much good.”

Radke testified that when he arrived at Buesgens’ house, he found M.B. standing outside smoking and he told her “let’s go, let’s get out of here.” But soon thereafter, Radke heard Buesgens’ truck approaching, and M.B. told him to go and hide. Radke ran down a hill on the side of the house and hid about 50 feet from where Bues-gens and M.B. ended up talking. Radke testified that, as he lay on the ground scared, he thought about running away, but from his vantage point, he could only see the top of Buesgens’ head and could not see if Buesgens was armed.

Radke said that he did not stand up and announce to Buesgens that it was him or attempt to reason with Buesgens, because he panicked and “didn’t think of that.” Radke also said that he could not have run because there was no surrounding cover and Buesgens would not have missed him with his shotgun from only 20 feet away. While he laid there, Radke shifted his position and his rifle accidentally discharged. Radke again thought about running, but did not. He continued to lay there scared. A minute or two later, Rad-ke heard a noise to his right and saw Buesgens standing at the top of the hill with a shotgun, looking around and panning toward Radke’s location. Radke testified that he thought Buesgens was going to shoot him, that he had no way out, and that “either I pull the trigger or I die.” Radke therefore picked up his rifle and moved it toward Buesgens, who turned his head and began swinging his shotgun around toward Radke’s location. Then Radke fired his rifle causing Buesgens to take a step back. According to Radke, Buesgens then “went to draw down” on Radke again. As this was taking place, Radke said to Buesgens that “it don’t have to be this way,” to which Buesgens responded, “you are a dead son of a bitch.” Then, as Buesgens was “trying to — laboring to bring the gun back on [Radke],” Radke looked through the scope of his rifle and shot Buesgens a second time.

M.B.’s version of events was starkly different. She testified that when she talked to Radke on the phone the morning of June 20, he complained that it was unfair that she and the kids were staying at her parents’ house. Radke also said that he was out in the woods, that he was going to drink to the point of alcohol poisoning, and that M.B. should come out and stay with him. M.B. told Radke that he could be a coward if he wanted, but that she was not coming out to help him. M.B. also told Radke that she had filed for divorce1 and was never coming back, and then hung up. [322]*322She denied asking Radke to come over to the Buesgens’ house to help her leave.

M.B. further testified that she and Bues-gens were smoking and talking outside the Buesgens’ house while one of the kids was playing in a nearby sandbox and the others were finishing their lunch inside when they heard a gunshot, which “sounded pretty close.” Buesgens told M.B. to go inside and Buesgens went to get his gun. Buesgens then went back outside, and M.B. heard “pop, pop.” She heard Bues-gens yelling her name and when she looked out the door, she saw Buesgens crawling on his hands and knees, his face bloody. Another shot was fired and Bues-gens dropped. M.B. was calling 911 when Radke entered the house. She said that Radke was waving his gun around and asked if she had called the police. Radke proceeded to rip the phones out of the wall and told M.B. to pack some things because they were going to Mexico. As Radke was unloading the guns and placing them in the trunk of M.B.’s car, the police arrived and ordered them both to the ground.

When the police arrived, they found toiletries, diapers, a basket full of clothing, and a file folder in the trunk of M.B.’s car. Officers also found the answering machine for the Buesgens’ home phone line unplugged and two phones out in the grass.

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Bluebook (online)
821 N.W.2d 316, 2012 WL 3965142, 2012 Minn. LEXIS 460, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-radke-minn-2012.