State v. Yant

376 N.W.2d 487, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 4673
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedNovember 12, 1985
DocketC5-84-2206
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 376 N.W.2d 487 (State v. Yant) 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. Yant, 376 N.W.2d 487, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 4673 (Mich. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinions

OPINION

FOLEY, Judge.

George Yant appeals from the trial court’s denial of his motion for a mistrial or new trial because of jury misconduct, failure to instruct on fifth-degree assault and alleged incompetence of counsel. Appellant does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain conviction. Appellant was convicted and sentenced on two counts of second-degree assault. There were two victims of the assault which occurred simultaneously as part of the same incident. Appellant also seeks review of his sentence. We affirm the convictions and remand for resentencing.

FACTS

On October 11, 1984, George Yant was found guilty of two counts of second-degree assault for his actions in removing two trespassing deer hunters from his farm property. On November 2, 1984, appellant, through his counsel, moved for a mistrial or for a new trial because jurors reportedly fell asleep during his trial and he was deprived of a fair trial. In addition, appellant moved pro se for a new trial on other grounds, including ineffective assistance of counsel.

The trial court denied these motions and appellant was sentenced according to the mandatory minimum to serve concurrent [489]*489sentences of three and five years, respectively. Yant appeals from his convictions and sentence.

ISSUES

1. Did appellant waive his right to object to sleeping jurors?

2. Was appellant denied effective assistance of counsel?

3. Did the trial court err by not submitting fifth-degree assault as a lesser-included offense of second-degree assault?

4. Did the trial court properly impose a five-year sentence on Count II?

ANALYSIS

1. Sleeping Jurors

This court considered the impact of a sleeping juror on a defendant’s right to a fair trial in State v. Henderson, 355 N.W.2d 484 (Minn.Ct.App.1984). Henderson states the rule with regard to sleeping jurors:

While our courts have not specifically addressed the sleeping juror problem, in other jury misconduct cases a defendant must show actual misconduct and that the misconduct resulted in prejudice. See, e.g., State v. Peterson, 262 N.W.2d 706, 707 (Minn.1978); State v. Kyles, 257 N.W.2d 378, 381 (Minn.1977).

Id. at 486 (emphasis added).

Here, as in Henderson, appellant fails to demonstrate that he was prejudiced. Appellant and his counsel were apprised of the fact of sleeping jurors early in trial. The following discussion occurred in chambers, in appellant’s presence:

THE COURT: The sleeper I’ve been concerned with — I don’t know his name, it’s the guy next to [S.], [S.] had his eyes closed a little yesterday and he’s had them closed a little bit today, I would not be able to truthfully say that he’s been sleeping because some people close their eyes. I told Dottie [bailiff] to tell him to quit that because he didn’t nod, but the other guy was out cold as you could see. It is my own personal opinion that we’ve arrested the problem soon enough to prevent any serious prejudice to either side, but that’s only my personal opinion. What is your position, Mr. [Keyes]?
MR. KEYES [prosecutor]: Your Honor, for the record, it’s Tom Keyes, I have not observed that juror quite as closely as you have, I don’t think, he has appeared to have his eyes closed for a substantial length of time. I guess my observation of Mr. [S.] would be similar to yours, that his — his eyes were closed even during the opening statement that I made, I don’t think he was—
THE COURT: I noticed the same thing, I told Dottie, though, to tell him. I also didn’t tell you, I told her to tell Mrs. [A.] and get the other guy and do this. MR. KIEF [defense counsel]: Who are we talking about, [R.L.]?
⅜ ⅝ sfc ⅜ ⅝ ⅜
THE COURT: All right, you recognize him, they scuffled around, he was the guy that was definitely out cold, you know, when the mouth opens and it goes down and the eyes are shut, if you don’t hear them, you can still tell.
MR. KIEF: You people got better views of the entire jury than I have.
THE COURT: Definitely, and that’s a bad disadvantage when you don’t have it. Well, in any event, it’s on the record, if you want anything further done, I’m not a bit chicken about this stuff, this is important stuff and it’s an important case. It’s a case where you’ve alleged the minimum sentence statute, and so the man is in danger of going to prison, he as well as the officers, including the one that was testifying when he dropped off, deserve the best. I hit the microphone pretty hard when we resumed and he woke up with a good start. I think we’ve done all we can do and I haven’t found any reason to feel that we should at this time dismiss either, but I await your suggestions.
THE COURT: Well, suffice to say that if you people were to request a switch, [490]*490fíne, I don’t like to do it because I think we’ll finish this case comfortably tomorrow, but I’m still not—
MR. KIEF: I won’t express any opinion until I talk with my client on that. My instincts are to say not to make any switches or to request any switches. THE COURT: You say your inclination is not to.
MR. KIEF: Not to.
THE COURT: Well, at this point do that and we’ll see what kind of—
MR. KEYES: I’d like to watch them a little more.
THE COURT: (Continuing) — effect it might have to have Dottie do it and she’s a good bailiff, she’ll take care of things. Okay, that’s all.

During a later in-chambers discussion, the court again noted:

THE COURT: I want you people to be responsible for checking on our two sleepers, [S.] and whoever the other guy is, they’re nodding again, I told Dottie to go see them, I don’t know what else I can do, they did pretty well this morning.

Neither party made any requests throughout the trial relative to the jury. Apparently, appellant’s counsel decided not to have jurors questioned or replaced because he did not believe his client was prejudiced, or he chose, as a trial tactic, to ignore what the court brought to his attention so that error could be claimed if the outcome of the trial were unfavorable.

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State v. Yant
376 N.W.2d 487 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1985)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
376 N.W.2d 487, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 4673, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-yant-minnctapp-1985.