Minnesota Supreme Court affirms denial of postconviction relief for accomplice-murder convict whose claims were procedurally barred or failed on the merits.
Outcome: Affirmed for appellee.
Onyelobi v. State
What happened
The facts of the case, in plain language.
During police interrogation, Onyelobi attempted to hide a storage locker key in an exposed electrical outlet.
The murder weapon was found inside the storage locker that Onyelobi had rented.
Throughout her trial, Onyelobi's counsel maintained a consistent strategy of conceding her involvement in the incident while arguing she only intended assault, not murder, and Onyelobi never objected to this strategy.
The storage locker was rented on the day of the murder and visited by Onyelobi in her van less than an hour before the murder and again the following morning.
What the court decided
Maureen Onyelobi was convicted of first-degree murder as an accomplice to the killing of Anthony Fairbanks. After direct appeal affirmed her conviction, Onyelobi sought postconviction relief raising four claims: insufficient probable cause for storage locker search, improper jury instructions, ineffective assistance of trial counsel, and ineffective assistance of appellate counsel. The district court denied the petition without an evidentiary hearing. The Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed, finding the first three claims procedurally barred under the Knaffla doctrine because they could have been raised on direct appeal. The fourth claim—ineffective assistance of appellate counsel—failed on the merits: appellate counsel was not ineffective for declining to raise arguments that lacked merit, as probable cause for the storage search was supported by substantial facts, and Onyelobi had acquiesced to trial counsel's guilt concession by never objecting throughout the trial.
- A postconviction petitioner is barred from raising any claim she knew or should have known of at the time of her direct appeal, including claims whose factual predicate was evident from the trial record. (*278)
- The Knaffla interests-of-justice exception is unavailable for claims actually raised and decided on direct appeal; it applies only to claims the petitioner failed to raise. (*279)
- Claims of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel on direct appeal are not barred by the Knaffla rule in a first postconviction petition because they could not have been brought at any earlier time. (*280)
- When trial counsel maintains a consistent strategy of conceding the defendant's involvement in a lesser offense throughout the entire trial and the defendant never objects, the defendant acquiesces in that concession and may not later claim ineffective assistance based on it. (*282-*283)
- Appellate counsel does not perform deficiently by declining to raise a challenge that lacks merit; where a storage-locker search warrant is supported by substantial probable cause, counsel's decision not to challenge it on appeal is not ineffective assistance. (*281)
How the court reached its decision
The court's reasoning, step by step.
Whether Onyelobi's first three postconviction claims—challenging the storage-locker search, the jury instructions, and trial counsel's effectiveness—are procedurally barred under the Knaffla doctrine. The facts underlying the storage-locker search claim were all available at the time of direct appeal; the jury-instruction claim was actually raised and decided on direct appeal; and trial counsel's alleged errors—failure to challenge the search, concession of assault, and failure to object to unauthenticated jail calls—were apparent from the trial record. Onyelobi's demonstrated ability to file a pro se supplemental brief on direct appeal refuted her claim that appellate counsel prevented her from raising the storage-locker issue, and she identified no additional evidence beyond the record needed to resolve the IAC-trial-counsel claim. All three claims are Knaffla barred; the interests-of-justice exception is unavailable for the jury-instruction claim because it was raised on direct appeal, and is unavailable for the other two because Onyelobi failed to show her omission was excusable.
Whether appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to challenge the probable cause supporting the search warrant for Onyelobi's storage locker. The search warrant affidavit recited six facts: Fairbanks received a call from Onyelobi's number minutes before his murder; she sold him heroin; a hotel-room search found narcotics and paraphernalia; she attempted to hide a storage-locker key in a police interrogation-room outlet; she had rented a storage unit less than one mile from the hotel; and a drug-detection dog alerted at the unit's seams. These facts collectively provided a common-sense inference that the locker contained evidence of crime. Because the storage-locker probable-cause challenge lacked merit, appellate counsel could legitimately conclude it would not prevail and was not ineffective for omitting it.
Whether appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to challenge trial counsel's concession that Onyelobi was guilty of assault. From pretrial motions through closing argument, trial counsel consistently maintained that Onyelobi participated in what she understood would be a threat rather than a murder; Onyelobi never objected at any stage. Her counter-argument—that she could not appreciate the impact of the concession given the jury instructions—was a repackaged challenge to the instructions already rejected on direct appeal. Because Onyelobi acquiesced in trial counsel's strategy, the underlying IAC-trial-counsel claim would have failed, and appellate counsel was not ineffective for declining to raise it.
Key quotes from the opinion
Notable passages from the opinion, in the court's own words.
Cases the court relied on
Earlier decisions the court cited as authority for its ruling.
Full opinion
The complete text of the court's opinion as published.
Opinion of the Court
Maureen Ndidiamaka Onyelobi was convicted of first-degree murder as an accomplice. On direct appeal, we affirmed her conviction. State v. Onyelobi (Onyelobi I ),
FACTS
Onyelobi was convicted of the murder of Anthony Fairbanks, under an accomplice *276theory of liability.
About a month before the murder, Fairbanks and Wilson were indicted as co-defendants for conspiracy to distribute heroin and possession with intent to distribute heroin. Wilson was arrested and placed in custody, but Fairbanks was not immediately apprehended.
On the day of Fairbanks' murder, Wilson called Onyelobi from jail and asked if she and Johnson had "take[n] care" of Fairbanks. When Onyelobi told Wilson that they had not, Wilson replied that "[i]f they catch that dude, I'm gone for the rest of my life." Onyelobi reassured Wilson that she and Johnson would "take care of it tonight" and that they had not yet done so because "[h]e always with somebody." When Onyelobi passed the phone to Johnson, Wilson warned him that "I go to court Monday, man" and that he needed Johnson to "be on top of that ... ASAP."
Later that day, around 9:30 p.m., Fairbanks arrived at his mother's apartment building. He informed his sister that he was leaving to purchase heroin from Onyelobi, and his mother heard him on the phone telling someone "[y]eah, Bro, I'm comin' right now, and I'm alone. I'm not coming with anybody. I'm by myself." Fairbanks left his mother's apartment around 9:50 p.m. and started walking southbound toward the location where his body was later discovered.
Shortly before 10:00 p.m., a witness in a housing development about two blocks from Fairbanks' mother's apartment heard three gunshots. The witness looked out of a window and saw a body lying on the side of the road as well as a running van stopped nearby. The witness could not see how many people were inside the van, and 5 to 10 seconds later it drove off to the north. The witness called 911, and police arrived shortly thereafter. Upon arrival, police discovered that Fairbanks was dead after having been shot in the head four times from a close distance.
During the investigation into the murder, Onyelobi became a person of interest. Police interviewed Fairbanks' mother and learned of the 9:50 p.m. phone call. After obtaining Fairbanks' cell records, police discovered that the phone call was from 651-208-* * * * (the 208 number). Fairbanks's sister told police that the 208 number belonged to Onyelobi and that she and Fairbanks would call this number to purchase heroin. In addition, police learned that Onyelobi was Wilson's girlfriend, that Wilson was in custody for crimes allegedly committed with Fairbanks, and that a van registered in Onyelobi's name matched the description of the van seen leaving the scene of the crime.
Given this information, police decided to locate Onyelobi and bring her in for questioning. By using cellular data connected to the 208 phone number and obtaining hotel records, police determined that Onyelobi was staying at a Red Roof Inn in Plymouth. Officers knocked on the door of Onyelobi's hotel room and Johnson answered. From the door, officers observed contraband. Officers entered the room, froze the scene, and waited for a search warrant. Onyelobi, while not present at first, arrived about 30 minutes later. Police eventually obtained a search warrant, *277searched the room, and arrested Onyelobi for possession of a controlled substance.
After her arrest, Onyelobi was taken to the police station where she was read a Miranda warning and questioned by police. She admitted to her relationship with Wilson but denied being involved in Fairbanks' death. At some point, the officers questioning Onyelobi left the interrogation room. They continued to observe Onyelobi through a surveillance camera and watched her attempt to hide an object in an exposed electrical outlet. The officers reentered the interrogation room and discovered that the item was a small key.
Police recognized the key as belonging to a storage locker. After searching the area around the Red Roof Inn, police located a storage facility less than one mile from the hotel. Then, after calling the facility and confirming that Onyelobi had rented a storage unit there, police had a drug-detection dog sniff the seams of Onyelobi's storage unit. The dog alerted, indicating to officers that controlled substances were inside. Using this information, police sought and obtained a search warrant for the storage locker. Inside the storage locker, police found the murder weapon.
In addition, police obtained records and surveillance videos from the storage-unit facility. These items showed that Onyelobi had rented the storage unit on the day of the murder and visited it in the van less than an hour before the murder and again the following morning.
A Hennepin County grand jury indicted Onyelobi for first-degree murder under an accomplice-liability theory. The case proceeded to trial, and a jury found Onyelobi guilty of first-degree murder as an accomplice.
Onyelobi appealed her conviction to our court, raising several arguments for review. Her direct-appeal arguments included her contention that the district court erroneously instructed the jury on accomplice liability. In addition, Onyelobi raised four issues in a pro se supplemental brief. We determined that all of Onyelobi's arguments lacked merit and affirmed Onyelobi's conviction. Onyelobi I ,
On August 17, 2018, Onyelobi filed the present petition for postconviction relief. In it, she argues that her conviction should be set aside, or, in the alternative, that she should be granted a new trial. Onyelobi asserts four claims: (1) police lacked probable cause to search her storage locker; (2) the jury instructions were improper; (3) she received ineffective assistance of trial counsel; and (4) she received ineffective assistance of appellate counsel. The district court denied Onyelobi's petition without a hearing, reasoning that Onyelobi's first three arguments were procedurally barred and that her ineffective-assistance-of-appellate-counsel claim lacked merit. Onyelobi appeals.
ANALYSIS
A person convicted of a crime who claims that her conviction was obtained in violation of her constitutional or statutory rights may file a petition for postconviction relief under
I.
The district court determined that Onyelobi's first three claims were procedurally *278barred. We examine these claims first. In State v. Knaffla , we held that once a petitioner has directly appealed her criminal conviction, "all matters raised therein, and all claims known but not raised, will not be considered upon a subsequent petition for postconviction relief."
Taking each of Onyelobi's first three claims in turn, it is clear that our rule from Knaffla bars review. First, Onyelobi argues that the police lacked probable cause to search her storage locker, and, therefore, evidence obtained as a result of that search should not have been presented to the grand jury or at trial. But all of the facts relevant to the search of Onyelobi's storage locker were available at the time of her direct appeal. Accordingly, Onyelobi knew or should have known of this claim and should have raised it on direct appeal. See Leake v. State ,
Second, Onyelobi argues that the district court erroneously instructed the jury on accomplice liability. Specifically, Onyelobi claims that the instructions improperly asked the jury to determine whether Onyelobi aided and abetted the commission of "a crime" rather than whether she aided and abetted first-degree murder. According to Onyelobi, this error "allowed the jury to determine [that she] was guilty of first-degree murder if she was involved in aiding and abetting any crime." But Onyelobi already raised this claim on direct appeal. See Onyelobi I ,
Third, Onyelobi claims that she received ineffective assistance of trial counsel. She argues that trial counsel was ineffective for three reasons: (1) he failed to challenge the admissibility of evidence obtained from the storage locker; (2) he conceded that she was guilty of assault without her consent; and (3) he failed to contest the admissibility of jail calls for which the prosecution had not authenticated Onyelobi's voice. This claim is also Knaffla barred. At the *279time of direct appeal, Onyelobi knew or should have known that trial counsel had not challenged the storage-locker search, had conceded that she was guilty of assault, and had not objected to the admission of the jail calls. Because Onyelobi knew or should have known of trial counsel's alleged errors, her ineffective-assistance-of-trial-counsel claim is barred. See McKenzie v. State ,
Although Onyelobi should have raised these claims on direct appeal, she argues that an exception to the Knaffla bar applies and that we should review her claims nonetheless.
Onyelobi's jury-instruction claim does not qualify for an exception. It is well-established that "the Knaffla exceptions only apply to claims that a defendant failed to raise on direct appeal." Brocks v. State ,
Onyelobi's other two claims fail to satisfy the exception because Onyelobi has not shown that her failure to raise these claims was excusable. See Wright ,
In addition, Onyelobi argues that she did not deliberately fail to raise her ineffective-assistance-of-trial-counsel claim because it could not have been decided based on the trial record. It is true that "a claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel is not barred by Knaffla if it cannot be determined from the district court record and requires additional evidence, such as that involving attorney-client communications." Torres v. State ,
In sum, the district court did not abuse its discretion by holding that Onyelobi's first three claims were Knaffla barred and that no exception to that bar applies.
II.
We turn now to Onyelobi's fourth claim. Specifically, Onyelobi argues that she received ineffective assistance of appellate counsel on her direct appeal. In making this claim, Onyelobi raises several of the arguments addressed above for a second time. Specifically, Onyelobi argues that her appellate counsel was ineffective because he did not challenge the ineffectiveness of trial counsel. In turn, Onyelobi argues that trial counsel was ineffective because he did not attack the validity of the storage-locker search and conceded that Onyelobi was guilty of assault. According to Onyelobi, these claims would have been successful if raised on direct appeal, and, therefore, the failure of her appellate lawyer to raise these arguments was ineffective assistance of appellate counsel.
Unlike claims for ineffective assistance of trial counsel, "[c]laims of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel on direct appeal are not barred by the Knaffla rule in a first postconviction appeal because they could not have been brought at any earlier time."
A.
First, Onyelobi asserts that counsel was ineffective for not challenging the *281search of her locker because the warrant authorizing the search was not supported by probable cause. She argues that the only information police had to justify the search of her storage locker was the presence of a key on her person when she was arrested. According to Onyelobi, this fact alone "does not give rise to enough suspicion to just[ify] the issuance of a search warrant."
Probable cause exists when there is a "fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place." Illinois v. Gates ,
Here, the judge issuing the search warrant had a substantial factual basis for concluding that either contraband or evidence related to Fairbanks' murder would be found in Onyelobi's storage unit. The search warrant affidavit recited the following facts: (1) Fairbanks received a phone call from a number associated with Onyelobi minutes before he was murdered; (2) Onyelobi sold Fairbanks and his family heroin; (3) a search warrant of Onyelobi's hotel room uncovered narcotics and paraphernalia associated with the sale of narcotics; (4) when left alone in an interrogation room, Onyelobi tried to hide a key to a storage locker in an exposed electrical outlet; (5) Onyelobi rented a storage locker less than 1 mile from her hotel; and (6) a drug-detection dog sniffed the seams of Onyelobi's storage unit and indicated that controlled substances were inside. These facts are unquestionably enough to provide a "common-sense" inference that Onyelobi's storage locker contained evidence of a crime. And the information connecting Onyelobi to Fairbanks' murder and the sale of narcotics created a fair probability that the items sought would be in the storage locker. Accordingly, Onyelobi's challenge to the storage-locker warrant is without merit and she was not prejudiced by appellate counsel's failure to make the same challenge on direct appeal.
*282B.
For her last argument, Onyelobi claims that her appellate counsel was ineffective because he failed to challenge trial counsel's improper concession that she was guilty of assault. While defendants must generally prove that the receipt of ineffective assistance of counsel actually prejudiced them, "there are some Sixth Amendment right to counsel violations in which prejudice to the defendant will be presumed." Dukes v. State ,
To determine whether a defendant consented to counsel's admission, however, there need not be a "personal, on-the-record consent."
The record shows that trial counsel's strategy throughout the entire case was to concede that Onyelobi was involved in the incident, but to argue that she was only aware that Johnson intended to threaten Fairbanks, not kill him. First, trial counsel made a pre-trial request that the jury be instructed on the lesser-included offense of assault based on his theory that Onyelobi was not the shooter and that she did not know that Johnson's "intent was to do anything other than threaten with a gun." Then, in opening statements, trial counsel argued that the only reasonable inference the jury would be able to draw from the State's evidence is that Onyelobi understood "what was going to happen was going to be a threat, and that that threat was perhaps going to be done with a gun-clearly a crime-but not the crime that the State has charged my client with." Again, during cross examination of a witness, trial counsel asked if the witness would agree that "oftentimes the girlfriends, based on your training and experience, are not fully informed as to what's going on," alluding to his strategy. Last, in closing arguments, trial counsel reiterated his theory one final time, stating that a "fair reasoning of the evidence is that Ms. Onyelobi understood that this was going to be a threat, a threat with a gun, clearly a crime, but that there was no intent to murder." At no point during any of these concessions did Onyelobi object. Thus, under our case law, *283Onyelobi acquiesced to trial counsel's strategy and cannot now challenge these concessions as ineffective assistance of counsel. See Prtine ,
Instead of arguing that she somehow objected to trial counsel's concessions, Onyelobi asserts that she could not have acquiesced because she did not realize the impact of the admission. According to Onyelobi, because she did not know that the jury would be instructed on "an expansive liability theory," she did not know that counsel's admission of assault was essentially an admission of first-degree murder. This argument fails, however, as an attempt to relitigate the validity of the jury instructions that we have already considered and rejected. See Rhodes v. State ,
In sum, Onyelobi's claims are procedurally barred from consideration as standalone claims and fail on the merits when considered as underlying arguments in an ineffective-assistance-of-appellate-counsel claim. Based on our analysis, we hold that the district court did not err in denying Onyelobi's petition without an evidentiary hearing.
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the decision of the district court.
Affirmed.
The facts surrounding the murder and subsequent investigation are set out in more detail in our opinion on Onyelobi's direct appeal. See Onyelobi I ,
As part of her challenge to the grand jury indictment, Onyelobi also claims that a police officer testified before the grand jury that a warrant had been obtained to locate Onyelobi at the Red Roof Inn using her cell phone. According to Onyelobi, no warrant was ever produced by police in this case, which "is a strong indication [that] this never took place or that if it did take place, it occurred without proper judicial approval." This claim is also Knaffla barred because Onyelobi knew or should have known of it at the time of direct appeal but did not raise it. See Leake ,
We have yet to decide whether our common-law exceptions to the Knaffla bar survived the 2005 amendments to the postconviction statute. See, e.g. , Davis v. State ,
The State argues, however, that Onyelobi's ineffective-assistance-of-appellate-counsel claim should be Knaffla barred. According to the State, Onyelobi knew that her appellate counsel was not challenging the effectiveness of trial counsel at the time of her direct appeal, but failed to include this issue in her pro se brief. Because we conclude that Onyelobi's ineffective-assistance-of-appellate-counsel claim fails on the merits, we need not decide whether Knaffla should bar review.
In her brief on appeal, Onyelobi's challenge to the storage-locker search seems to have shifted from the challenge raised in her petition. In addition to her attacks on the search warrant, Onyelobi also argues that the police's pre-warrant conduct tainted the subsequent warrant. Even assuming that Onyelobi is refining her argument, rather than raising new arguments on appeal, see Jacobson v. $55,900 in U.S. Currency ,
First, Onyelobi claims that "prior to obtaining a warrant authorizing the search of the storage locker, [police], illegally, gained access prematurely to such storage locker by inserting a key that was purportedly found after the interrogation of Ms. Onyelobi." But Onyelobi does not include any citation to the record indicating that this conduct took place, nor does she allege that there is any factual support outside of the record for her contention. Further, Onyelobi does not cite any authority indicating that inserting a key is an unlawful search in and of itself. Because this claim involves no "more than argumentative assertions without factual support," it fails. Leake ,
Second, Onyelobi asserts that the dog sniff of the outside of her storage locker was an unlawful search under our decision in State v. Carter ,
Continue your research
- Cases applying the Knaffla bar to ineffective assistance of trial counsel claims in Minnesota postconviction proceedings
- Post-Prtine decisions applying or limiting the acquiescence doctrine to trial counsel guilt concessions
- Secondary sources on the scope of the Knaffla interests-of-justice exception after the 2005 amendments to the Minnesota postconviction statute
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.