State v. Lee
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State v. Lee
Opinion of the Court
The issue presented here is whether a defendant has the right to inspect a crime scene that is in the control of a third party. Appellant/cross-respondent Blair Bruce Lee was convicted of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and domestic assault by strangulation. Lee argues that the denial of his motions to inspect the crime scene violated Minn. R. Crim. P. 9.01 and his constitutional rights to due process and effective assistance of counsel. The court of appeals held that Lee had a right under Minn. R. Crim. P. 9.01, subds. 1-1a, to inspect the crime scene, but that Lee was not entitled to a new trial because the denial of his motions to inspect was harmless. We hold that Minn. R. Crim. P. 9.01, subds. 1-1a, does not authorize an inspection of a crime scene in the control of a third party. We further hold that even if Lee had a constitutional right to inspect a *435crime scene in the control of a third party, any error in denying that right was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. We therefore affirm.
FACTS
Lee lived with his wife, S.M.L., and their children in a single-family house. As a result of a violent confrontation between Lee and S.M.L., Lee was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct,
Before trial, Lee moved to amend the pretrial conditions of release and domestic abuse no-contact order (DANCO) to allow his counsel and investigator to enter his former residence to inspect and photograph the crime scene.
Lee sought a writ of prohibition from the court of appeals. In an order by a special term panel, the court of appeals held that the order denying Lee's motion was contrary to State v. Michael Gary Lee (Michael Gary Lee ),
Following the denial of the writ of prohibition, Lee renewed his motion in the district court for access to the crime scene. Lee argued that he needed to inspect the crime scene in order to "undercut the credibility" of S.M.L. by showing "where objects are and walls are" and showing "spaces" and "dimensions" inside the home. Lee further argued that the court of appeals determined that the district court's original denial of the motion was contrary to law. The district court denied Lee's renewed motion.
At the jury trial, S.M.L. testified that Lee's assault began in the bedroom where he repeatedly poured water on her and then moved to the living room where he pinned her to the ground. He bit her breasts over her shirt and pulled her pants down. Lee forcibly pushed multiple fingers into S.M.L.'s anus as she struggled to free *436herself. He also sought to penetrate her vagina with his fingers but was unable to do so because she was struggling. S.M.L. began to scream, and Lee covered her mouth with his other hand. S.M.L. tried to call out for the landlord, whose house was next door, but Lee pushed a towel onto her face. She testified that he said "die, die" while he held the towel, and she began to have trouble breathing.
Lee abruptly got off of S.M.L. and stood up. When S.M.L. stood up, Lee began hitting her in the chest and ribs and continued to punch her until her cell phone fell out of her pocket. Lee grabbed the cell phone and ran out of the house. S.M.L. eventually went back to bed after Lee left in his truck. She woke to Lee shining a light into her face and holding a cup of water in his hand. S.M.L. asked him where her phone was, and he said it was not on him, so she went outside to look for it. Lee followed her outside and told her he could kill her there, and no one would know. S.M.L. began to run and waited outside as Lee went back inside. She stayed outside until she heard her 2-year-old awake and Lee leave the house. Lee eventually returned and fell asleep on the couch.
The prosecutor asked S.M.L. to draw a picture of the layout of the home and went through the diagram with S.M.L., asking her to explain the drawing in detail to the jury. The prosecutor then asked S.M.L. to explain where everyone was in relation to the diagram on the day of the assault. At several points, using the diagram, the prosecutor asked S.M.L. to demonstrate where she was and where Lee was. On cross-examination, defense counsel asked S.M.L. about the layout of her house and pieces of furniture and other items inside it. Much of defense counsel's cross-examination emphasized that S.M.L. had not let the defense view the inside of her home, so the defense could not corroborate her story or compare her injuries to what Lee said happened.
S.M.L. testified that on the morning after the assault, which was a Saturday, she took her children to the library. She used a library phone to call her mother, who came to pick them up. That evening, S.M.L. and the children went to an emergency shelter for victims of domestic violence. On Monday, S.M.L. contacted the police, who referred her to the emergency room for a sexual assault exam.
The sexual assault nurse who examined S.M.L. testified that S.M.L. told her what had happened. S.M.L. had a swollen lip and "two little open areas" where she bit her lip; neck pain; an abrasion on her right mid-back; bruises on her chest, neck, arms, and legs; a pattern injury on her shoulder; and a broken finger. During a genital exam, the nurse found a one-centimeter, curved red line at the area behind where the labia come together. She testified that this injury was consistent with "a finger being pressed hard up against that area, because that tissue is really pretty fragile," though she acknowledged she could not definitively say that was the cause. The nurse also found a hematoma in S.M.L.'s anal canal. She testified that the hematoma was consistent with the assault that S.M.L. had described, although it also could be the result of a chronic bowel disease, such as Crohn's disease, or a history of constipation. The nurse took swabs and kept the clothing S.M.L. was wearing at the time of the assault.
Forensic scientists for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension testified that they examined the sexual assault kit, including several swabs, a DNA sample, and S.M.L.'s t-shirt and underwear. Testing on the t-shirt revealed amylase, which indicates possible presence of saliva, and a DNA profile to which both Lee and S.M.L.
*437could be contributors that excluded 99.97% of the population.
The jury also heard that Lee had an assault conviction from 2015; during that assault, he head-butted S.M.L. and broke her nose. S.M.L. also testified that Lee made her listen to the recording of the report she made to the police for the 2015 assault and that he would laugh and say, "There's more where that came from." On another occasion, Lee hit S.M.L. with a child gate, breaking her hand. Lee also threatened to hurt S.M.L. and told her that if he ever got in trouble, he would publicly accuse her of sexually or physically abusing their children.
Lee testified that S.M.L. was the aggressor. He said that he did not come home until the early hours of the morning, and he sat on the couch and turned on the television and PlayStation. In response to an inquiry from S.M.L. as to where he had been, Lee told her it was none of her business. She turned off the television and stood in front of him. Lee had difficulty getting off the couch because he suffers from a herniated disk. He tried to get up, but S.M.L. pushed him back down. He rolled off the couch and started toward the kitchen. S.M.L. jumped in front of him. She blocked his path and began to chest-bump him. As Lee backed into a corner, S.M.L. followed him, taunting that if he hit her, "people will believe me over you."
When Lee got around her, he testified, he walked back toward the living room. S.M.L. kicked him in the lower back, and he fell to the ground. She jumped on top of him and hit the hutch with her knees as she did so. S.M.L. clawed at Lee's face, and Lee attempted to grab her arms. He pushed her in the chest, and her back hit the hutch. S.M.L. put Lee in a headlock and scratched at him every time he turned his head. He was making noise, so she grabbed his testicles and told him to shut up.
According to Lee, at this point their 2-year-old woke up, and S.M.L. stood up and went to the bedroom to soothe the child. Lee "army crawled" to the bathroom and tried to close the door. S.M.L. came back, grabbed the door, and Lee slammed the door on her finger as he shut the door. Lee remained in the bathroom until he heard S.M.L. nursing the baby. He went to the living room and fell asleep on the couch. S.M.L. and the children left the next morning.
Lee also testified that S.M.L. often suffered from constipation and that he advised her to take Metamucil.
After the defense rested, the State recalled S.M.L. She said that she had never suffered from "bouts of constipation" and had never taken Metamucil. She also testified that Lee did not have a walker in the house, nor had she observed him using a walker. He did have a cane, which she saw him use on one occasion. Defense counsel questioned S.M.L. several times about whether she had let anyone from the defense inside her home to look for these items.
The jury found Lee guilty of criminal sexual conduct and domestic assault by strangulation. The district court convicted Lee of both offenses and imposed the presumptive sentence for each.
The court of appeals affirmed Lee's convictions. State v. Blair Bruce Lee (Blair Bruce Lee) , No. A17-0534,
*438First, the court of appeals determined that the analysis of the district court order by the special term panel, in the context of the writ of prohibition, "plainly established the law of this case" with respect to whether Lee had a right to inspect the crime scene under Minn. R. Crim. P. 9.01. Blair Bruce Lee ,
We granted Lee's petition for review.
ANALYSIS
This case presents two issues. First, whether Minn. R. Crim. P. 9.01, subds. 1-1a, requires the State to permit a defense inspection of a crime scene that is in the control of a third party. Second, whether it violates a defendant's constitutional rights under the United States and Minnesota Constitutions to due process and effective assistance of counsel to refuse a defense request to inspect a crime scene that is in the control of a third party. We address each issue in turn.
I.
The district court " 'has wide discretion to issue discovery orders and, absent clear abuse of that discretion, normally its order with respect thereto will not be disturbed.' " Sehlstrom v. Sehlstrom ,
Lee contends that Minn. R. Crim. P. 9.01 requires that the defense be permitted to inspect any place that relates to the case, whether or not it is within the prosecution's possession or control. Lee argues that the plain language of the rule-namely, subdivisions 1(3)(e) and 1a-supports this proposition. Lee asks us to adopt the rule the court of appeals applied in Michael Gary Lee ,
The State counters that the plain language of Rule 9.01 does not authorize a *439district court to require third parties to open their homes to a defense investigation. The State argues that, because the crime scene here was not within the prosecutor's possession or control, the State did not have the authority to allow access to it under Rule 9.01, subdivision 1, and had only a disclosure duty under Rule 9.01, subdivision 1(3)(e). The use of the word "allow" within the rule, the State argues, establishes that the State must have some authority over the place to which it is allowing access. The State contends that Michael Gary Lee is distinguishable from this case but also recommends that we overrule Michael Gary Lee .
A prosecutor is required to disclose and allow the inspection of certain matters without a court order. See Minn. R. Crim. P. 9.01, subds. 1-1a. A "prosecutor must, at the defendant's request ..., allow access at any reasonable time to all matters within the prosecutor's possession or control that relate to the case" and make certain disclosures, including "the location of buildings and places" that "relate to the case."
In interpreting the rules of criminal procedure, "we look first to the plain language of the rule and its purpose." Dahlin , 753 N.W.2d at 305. If the language is plain and unambiguous, we follow the plain language of the rule. State v. Petersen ,
It is clear that the obligation to disclose the location of buildings and places under Minn. R. Crim. P. 9.01, subd. 1(3)(e), includes all buildings and places that relate to the case, not just those within the prosecution's possession or control. Subdivision 1 states that the prosecutor must "allow access at any reasonable time to all matters within the prosecutor's possession or control that relate to the case ... and make the following disclosures" (emphasis added). Subdivision 1(3)(e), which addresses "the location of buildings and places" that "relate to the case," is one of those disclosures. A plain reading of this subdivision shows that the phrase "within the prosecutor's possession or control" applies only to the duty to allow access in the first clause, not to the disclosure duties of the second clause.
Although the rule creates an obligation for the prosecutor to disclose the location of the crime scene, it does not follow that the State must permit the defense to inspect a crime scene that is not within the prosecution's possession or control. Lee argues that Minn. R. Crim. P. 9.01, subd. 1a(2), gives the defendant the right to inspect a crime scene in the control of a third party. But the use of "allow" in the rule makes it clear that the State cannot be required to do something that is not within its power. See
The court of appeals, relying on its precedent, held in a special term order that the defendant is entitled to an inspection of a crime scene even if that crime scene is a private residence. See Michael Gary Lee ,
We hold that Minn. R. Crim. P. 9.01, subds. 1-1a, does not require the State to allow a defendant to inspect a crime scene that is in the control of a third party. Because S.M.L., and not the prosecutor, controlled access to her home, which in this case was also the crime scene, the district court did not abuse its discretion by denying Lee's motions to inspect the crime scene.
II.
Lee also argues that his rights to due process and effective assistance of counsel under both the United States and Minnesota Constitutions were violated by the denial of his motion to inspect the crime scene controlled by a third party. Lee contends that he had a constitutional right to inspect the crime scene because his counsel needed to understand the layout of the place where the alleged crime occurred, including spaces, dimensions, and where objects were located, in order to fully cross-examine S.M.L. and undercut her credibility. Lee also argues that his counsel needed to inspect the crime scene in order to photograph his walker and S.M.L.'s Metamucil, which would have supported his explanation of how the events occurred.
We need not decide whether Lee has the constitutional inspection rights that he asserts here. Even if we assume without deciding that Lee had these constitutional rights, any error in denying his motions to inspect the property was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.
"When an error implicates a constitutional right, we will award a new trial unless the error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt." State v. Davis ,
Here, there was very strong evidence of Lee's guilt. S.M.L. presented coherent, detailed testimony, little of which depended on the layout of the home. The nurse examiner testified that all of S.M.L.'s injuries were consistent with the assault that S.M.L. said occurred. The forensic evidence also strongly supported Lee's conviction and supported S.M.L.'s claim that Lee bit her breasts through her shirt. And *441the jury heard evidence about other acts of violence that Lee committed against S.M.L., which bolstered S.M.L.'s credibility by placing her actions in the context of the relationship between Lee and S.M.L. Defense counsel had the opportunity to cross-examine S.M.L. about her refusal to permit inspection of the crime scene. Therefore, taking the evidence as a whole, a reasonable jury, beyond a reasonable doubt, would have reached the same verdict even if defense counsel had been permitted to inspect and photograph the home. See State v. McAllister ,
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the decision of the court of appeals.
Affirmed.
Concurring, Hudson, Thissen, JJ.
CONCURRENCE
There was no investigation of the crime scene-S.M.L.'s home-by either the prosecution or the defense, or by police officers, because S.M.L. reported the assault at a police station, and the police chose not to inspect the scene. The defendant's request to inspect the crime scene was made long after the disputed events at the crime scene took place.
Lee did not testify that S.M.L. actually ingested Metamucil.
We also granted the State's cross-petition for review on the issue of whether the special-term panel's analysis of the district court order in the context of the writ of prohibition established the law of this case with respect to whether Lee had a right to inspect the crime scene under Minn. R. Crim. P. 9.01. We may, however, review a decision of the court of appeals interpreting the law, "even if the court of appeals applied the law-of-the-case doctrine." State v. Dahlin ,
Concurring Opinion
I respectfully concur with the opinion of the court that any error in this case was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Although the harmless-error analysis is dispositive, the court addresses the substance of Lee's argument regarding Minn. R. Crim. P. 9.01, but not the substance of his argument regarding a defendant's right to due process under Article I, Section 7 of the Minnesota Constitution. Because both arguments present important statewide issues of first impression, there is no principled reason for the court to address only one of the arguments.
In my view, a defendant has a qualified due process right under the Minnesota Constitution to inspect a crime scene in a third party's control. Article I, Section 7 of the Minnesota Constitution requires that "every criminal defendant has the right to be treated with fundamental fairness and 'afforded a meaningful opportunity to present a complete defense.' " State v. Richards ,
Applying these important constitutional principles to the issue at hand, I would hold that, if a defendant makes a prima facie showing that an inspection of the crime scene will lead to relevant evidence, the right to due process in Article I, Section 7 of the Minnesota Constitution requires that the court order pretrial access to the crime scene subject to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions. This qualified due-process right strikes a balance between a defendant's constitutional right "to put before a jury evidence that might influence the determination of guilt" and the property rights of a victim or other third-party. Byrd v. United States , --- U.S. ----,
My analysis is consistent with our past practices. We have previously struck a balance between the privacy interests of others and the rights of a criminal defendant, and can do so again here. See State v. Paradee ,
My analysis is also consistent with the approach taken by several other states. The supreme courts in those states have required a prima facie showing by a defendant before allowing inspection of a crime scene controlled by a third party. For example, in State v. Tetu ,
*443In this case, the district court should have provided Lee an opportunity to establish a prima facie showing of relevance and materiality. Upon such a showing, the district court should have ordered a pretrial inspection of the crime scene, subject to time, place, and manner restrictions that protected the rights of S.M.L. Such restrictions might have included a requirement that the inspection be scheduled on a day and time of S.M.L.'s choosing, a requirement that a police officer be present, a limitation on who conducts the inspection (defense counsel or a defense-hired investigator, without the defendant), or a limitation on the length of the inspection (observing the layout of the house could have been completed in as little as 15 minutes). If Lee violated any of the imposed restrictions, the district court could have imposed the sanctions authorized by Minn. R. Crim. P. 9.03, subd. 8, which include contempt of court. However, because the district court's failure to follow these procedures was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt for the reasons laid out by the court in Part II of its opinion, I respectfully concur.
When an alleged error is harmless, we often do not address the party's substantive arguments. See, e.g. , State v. Moore ,
Concurring Opinion
I join in the concurrence of Justice Hudson.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE of Minnesota, Respondent/Cross-Appellant v. Blair Bruce LEE, Appellant/Cross-Respondent.
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published