State v. Stone

784 N.W.2d 367, 2010 Minn. LEXIS 343, 2010 WL 2609430
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedJune 30, 2010
DocketA08-769
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 784 N.W.2d 367 (State v. Stone) 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. Stone, 784 N.W.2d 367, 2010 Minn. LEXIS 343, 2010 WL 2609430 (Mich. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION

ANDERSON, G. BARRY, Justice.

Appellant Shane Scott Stone was indicted in Cass County District Court for one count of first-degree burglary under Minn. Stat. § 609.582, subd. 1(c) (2008), and one count of aiding and abetting first-degree aggravated robbery in violation of Minn.Stat. § 609.245, subd. 1 (2008), and Minn. Stat. § 609.05 (2008). The State alleged that Stone aided and abetted Maynard Go-odbear in robbing D.B. A Cass County jury acquitted Stone of the burglary charge, but found him guilty of aiding and abetting first-degree aggravated robbery. He was sentenced to 108 months of imprisonment, and the court of appeals affirmed the conviction. We granted Stone’s petition for further review, and we now affirm.

D.B. lives in a house with A.J., his longtime girlfriend, their two minor children, and A.J.’s father, G.J. Shortly after midnight on April 23, 2007, D.B. heard loud knocking on the door of his house, followed by a request to use the telephone. In response, D.B. yelled that there was no telephone in the house, but the pounding increased and the door to the house began to give way. D.B. ran to wake G.J. while A.J. struggled to hold the door closed. When D.B. and G.J. returned, two shots were fired into the house; one shot struck G.J.

Immediately afterwards, the door caved in and two men entered the home. One man carried a gun and wore a bandana that covered his face, while the other, unmasked, man wore a stocking cap and carried a small, portable taser. The armed and masked man yelled at D.B. to *369 “give it up.” The unmasked man stood in the hallway with A.J. and G.J. A.J. then went into her bedroom and called the police. Meanwhile, the masked man led D.B. outside to D.B.’s car at gunpoint, where D.B. retrieved $450 in cash from the glove compartment. The masked man demanded more money from D.B., but D.B. turned out his pockets to show that he did not have any more money. The unmasked man also came outside and demanded that D.B. give them more money. When D.B. repeated that he did not have any more, the unmasked man shot him with the taser and the two men ran off into the woods.

When the police arrived in response to A.J.’s call, D.B. and A.J. identified the unmasked man, who they both knew by name, as Shane Scott Stone. G.J. made an audio-recorded statement to police, during which he described the details of the night’s events. G.J. said in his statement that he got a good look at the unmasked man and provided a description that matched D.B.’s and A.J.’s identification of Stone. Approximately four hours later, the police discovered Stone hiding in underbrush less than one mile away from the home of D.B. and A.J. Within roughly one week, D.B., A.J., and G.J. identified Stone’s picture in separate photo line-ups. Stone was charged with first-degree burglary in violation of Minn.Stat. § 609.582, subd. 1(c) (2008), and aiding and abetting first-degree aggravated robbery in violation of Minn.Stat. § 609.245, subd. 1 (2008), and Minn.Stat. § 609.05 (2008). Stone pleaded not guilty to both charges.

D.B., A.J., and G.J. testified at Stone’s jury trial. Both D.B. and A.J. again identified Stone as the unmasked intruder. G.J. described where he was when the banging on the door first began, when he came to the living room, what he did in the living room, how and when he was shot, and the actions he took after he was shot. G.J., however, was unable to recognize Stone in court. G.J. provided a detailed description of the intruder, but when asked if he got a good look at the unmasked intruder’s face, he said, “No, he just appeared briefly and left.” When asked about whether he had identified someone during a photo line-up, G.J. initially stated that he had not. But, G.J. recalled picking out a photograph after his memory was refreshed by looking at a document that he saw during the photo line-up. After G.J. testified that he did not get a good look at the assailant, the State attempted to refresh G.J.’s recollection by showing G.J. statements that he made during his police interview. The State subsequently asked G.J. if reviewing the statements refreshed his recollection as to whether G.J. had gotten a good look at the face of the unmasked man, to which G.J. responded, “I can’t say for sure right now.”

G.J. also had difficulty remembering details of the physical description of the unmasked intruder that he provided to the police, even after he was shown portions of a transcript of his audio-recorded statement. Following defense cross-examination, the State asked G.J. if he felt he had “sufficient recollection to testify fully and accurately about what happened that night” to which G.J. responded, “That’s all I remember right now.” G.J. agreed, however, that his audio-recorded statement to the police was “an accurate reproduction of the questions [that he was] asked and the answers that [he gave].” Over defense objection, the district court allowed the State to play the original audio recording of G.J.’s police interview as a recorded recollection under Minn. R. Evid. 803(5). The court relied on testimony about G.J.’s alcoholism, the State’s failed attempts to refresh his recollection, and G.J.’s testimony that he had an insufficient recollection of the events.

*370 After an initial deadlock, the jury acquitted Stone of burglary but found him guilty of aiding and abetting first-degree aggravated robbery. Stone raised five issues before the court of appeals: (1) whether the district court abused its discretion by admitting the contents of the audio recording of G.J.’s police interview as a recorded recollection under Minn. R. Evid. 803(5); (2) whether the district court abused its discretion by permitting the State to impeach Stone with evidence of his prior convictions; (3) whether the district court abused its discretion by not granting a continuance to allow Stone to locate a witness; (4) whether Stone preserved his claim that evidence about motorcycle use was improperly admitted; and (5) whether the evidence was sufficient to support Stone’s conviction. State v. Stone, 767 N.W.2d 735, 738-39 (Minn.App.2009).

The court of appeals affirmed the district court’s rulings on all issues. Id. at 745. Regarding G.J.’s recorded police interview, the court of appeals held that: (1) Minn. R. Evid. 803(5) permits the introduction of a recorded recollection to supplement incomplete memory, and (2) the recorded recollection accurately or correctly reflected G.J.’s prior knowledge. Stone, 767 N.W.2d at 740-41. We granted Stone’s petition for further review of whether the district court erred in admitting the contents of G.J.’s audio-recorded statement as a recorded recollection.

I.

Evidentiary rulings rest within the sound discretion of the district court and we will not disturb those rulings on appeal absent a clear abuse of that discretion. State v. Jackson, 770 N.W.2d 470, 482 (Minn.2009). Even where the district court abuses its discretion, the court’s evi-dentiary ruling will not be reversed unless the error substantially influenced the jury’s verdict. State v. Nunn, 561 N.W.2d 902, 907 (Minn.1997). But the question of whether the district court properly interpreted Minn. R. Evid. 803(5) is a question of law that we review de novo. See Commandeur LLC v. Howard Hartry, Inc.,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
784 N.W.2d 367, 2010 Minn. LEXIS 343, 2010 WL 2609430, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-stone-minn-2010.