State v. Rasinski

464 N.W.2d 517, 1990 WL 211555
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedFebruary 6, 1991
DocketC4-90-1010
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 464 N.W.2d 517 (State v. Rasinski) 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. Rasinski, 464 N.W.2d 517, 1990 WL 211555 (Mich. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinions

OPINION

HUSPENI, Judge.

Appellant Gerald Charles Rasinski challenges his conviction and sentence for two counts of criminal vehicular operation resulting in death. He assigns a number of errors including evidentiary rulings, sufficiency of the evidence, the sentence of the court, and the court’s denial of his demand to execute his stayed sentence. We affirm as modified.

FACTS

Early on the morning of July 4, 1989, appellant’s van collided with a vehicle driven by Brett Callan while traveling eastbound on Highway 8 in Chisago County. Mr. Callan and his passenger, Wayne Faris, were killed in the accident. At the time of the collision, appellant’s vehicle was traveling eastbound in the westbound lane of traffic.

Earlier on the evening of July 3, 1989, appellant finished work at 8:30 p.m., and purchased a case of beer in an Elk River liquor store. After placing the beer in a cooler in the back of his van, appellant drove to Lake Orono where he testified he drank two beers, which were provided by others already at the lake. He ate nothing while at the lake, left at approximately 10:30 p.m., and headed to Anoka.

On the way to Anoka, appellant stopped to ask his friend, Randy Steen, whether he would like to go to a party. Steen agreed and he, together with two other friends, followed appellant home and joined him in the van. While appellant drove to the party, the passengers drank beer. Appellant admits having a third beer when the van stopped at a friend’s home.

After resuming the journey and failing to locate the party in Blaine, appellant asked the passengers whether they wanted to go to Wisconsin to go fishing. The men initially agreed, but Steen changed his mind and asked to return to his car. Appellant stopped at a convenience store and consumed another beer while waiting for his friends to purchase “some munchies.” Appellant returned to Elk River, dropped off the passengers and headed back toward Wisconsin at approximately midnight. According to appellant’s testimony, he drank four beers between 8:30 p.m. and midnight without eating anything.

Appellant provided the following verbatim account of the accident:

[520]*520A. I remember seeing lights in front of me.
Q. Where?
A. In my lane in front of me up ahead.
Q. What did you do then?
A. I moved to the right, but there were headlights in front of me in the right, and then there was a car sliding sideways coming in front of me and I slammed on my brakes.
Q. Where were you when you slammed on your brakes?
A. I was in the other lane.
Q. Which lane?
A. The right lane.
Q. The right lane or the left lane?
A. The right lane.
Q. That would be your own lane?
A. I was in the west lane.
Q. Westbound lane?
A. Yeah.
Q. What were you over there for?
A. I was trying to avoid a car coming at me in my lane.

(Emphasis added.)

Officers at the scene testified that appellant had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath and red and watery eyes. At the hospital, following the reading of the implied consent advisory, appellant’s blood was drawn. The hospital tested the blood and determined that it had a blood alcohol content of .16; the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension found a blood alcohol content of .13.

Shortly after the accident, Steen gave a statement to the police in which he stated that appellant told him he may have fallen asleep at the wheel. On cross-examination at trial, however, he testified he could not remember exactly what appellant said.

The highway patrol created a video re-enactment of the accident using sketches and measurements made by Trooper Hurd. Trooper Scott McAllen directed the production of the videotape. The short tape has two sections: the first section shows ve-hides colliding at 55 m.p.h.;1 the second section shows the accident in slow motion.

As a sanction for non-disclosure of her as a witness, the court refused to allow appellant’s mother to testify. On rebuttal, the court allowed Trooper McAllen to challenge appellant’s statements that he swerved into the westbound lane a split second before the collision.

Before imposing sentence, the court reviewed the presentence investigation report and victim impact statements, heard the statement of Keith Davis, a licensed clinical social worker called by appellant regarding appellant’s alcohol problem, and listened to statements made by each member of the two victims’ families. The court then imposed two consecutive eighteen month sentences. The court stayed the sentences and placed the defendant on probation for ten years (five years for each count sentenced). The court imposed numerous conditions of probation including 24 months in the county jail, no use of a motor vehicle, a psychological and alcohol evaluation, and writing a letter of apology to the victims’ families. The district court denied appellant’s motion to execute his sentence.

ISSUES

1. Did the court err in its evidentiary rulings?

2. Was the evidence sufficient to convict appellant of criminal vehicular operation?

3. Did the trial court commit reversible error in sentencing?

4. Is appellant entitled to refuse probation and demand execution of his sentence?

ANALYSIS

I.

Did the trial court err in its evidentiary rulings?

This court will affirm trial court evidentiary rulings absent a clear abuse of discretion, State v. Whiteside, 400 N.W.2d [521]*521140, 144 (Minn.App.1987), pet. for rev. denied (Minn. Mar. 18, 1987) and will reverse a discovery sanction only for a clear abuse of such discretion. State v. Lindsey, 284 N.W.2d 368, 373 (Minn.1979).

A. Videotape simulation

Appellant challenges the admission of a videotape simulation of the accident which the Minnesota Highway Patrol produced.2 However, appellant did not object to the admission of the videotape at trial. Although this court may review plain error not objected to at trial, State v. Malaski, 330 N.W.2d 447, 451 (Minn.1983), we conclude that the admission of the videotape was not such an error; the admission did not violate a well-established constitutional right or evidentiary rule. State v. Gullekson, 383 N.W.2d 338, 341 (Minn.App.1986), pet. for rev. denied (Minn. May 16, 1986). First, contrary to appellant’s argument, the tape was relevant. It had the “tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable * * * than it would be without the evidence.” Minn.R.Evid. 401. In this case, that consequential fact was how the accident occurred.

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Related

Pageau v. State
820 N.W.2d 271 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 2012)
State v. Stewart
643 N.W.2d 281 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 2002)
State v. Rasinski
472 N.W.2d 645 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1991)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
464 N.W.2d 517, 1990 WL 211555, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-rasinski-minnctapp-1991.