Title: State v. Mussehl

State: minnesota

Issuer: Minnesota Supreme Court

Document:

408 N.W.2d 844 (1987) STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Charles Paul MUSSEHL, Petitioner, Appellant. No. C7-86-350. Supreme Court of Minnesota. July 10, 1987. *845 Barry V. Voss, Minneapolis, for appellant. Robert A. Stanich, Atty. Gen., St. Paul, for respondent. Considered and decided by the court en banc without oral argument. COYNE, Justice. We granted the petition of defendant Charles Paul Mussehl for review of a decision of the court of appeals that affirmed his convictions of two counts of assault in the first degree, burglary, and the possession of a firearm by a felon. State v. Mussehl, 396 N.W.2d 865 (Minn.App.1986). The appeal raises issues relating to whether the prosecutor improperly discouraged witnesses from talking with a defense investigator and whether the prosecutor acted improperly in not taking notes when interviewing witnesses and in not disclosing the substance of those conversations to the defense. Although we believe that the court of appeals properly affirmed defendant's convictions, we do not completely agree with its analysis of these issues. Defendant's convictions were based on an incident that is recounted in detail in the court of appeals' opinion. 396 N.W.2d at 867. Defendant lived in the townhouse next to that of one of the victims, Jamie Van Guilder. When defendant entered her house without permission, she ran across the street to her neighbors, Brad Naylor and Gail Ripperger. Defendant followed, said it was his house, and started returning to Van Guilder's house, where Van Guilder's children were still inside. Naylor tried to stop defendant and defendant stabbed him, injuring him seriously. When Van Guilder tried to stop defendant, defendant stabbed her, injuring her seriously. Defendant then fled in a car. Police found defendant's loaded .45 caliber pistol in Van Guilder's bathroom. 1. Defendant's first contention relates to the issue whether the prosecutor improperly discouraged witnesses from talking with a defense investigator. Several months before trial the county attorney, Robert Kelly, through an assistant, William Klumpp, Jr., sent a letter to 12 witnesses. The letter said, in part: After defense counsel expressed concern about the letter at a pretrial hearing, Klumpp sent another letter, which said, in part: Subsequently, defense counsel moved to dismiss all of the charges or to remove the prosecutor because the prosecutor had denied defense counsel access to the witnesses. The trial court expressed the view that the first letter was improper but that the second letter had corrected the matter. The trial court also attached significance to the fact that prosecution witnesses actually contacted by the defense investigator were apparently willing to talk with the defense investigator. The court of appeals, unlike the trial court, found no fault with either of the two letters. 396 N.W.2d at 868-69. It agreed with the trial court that defendant failed to show that the letters had hampered the defense investigation. Id. In State v. Rud, 359 N.W.2d 573, 578 n. 1 (1984), while holding in part that the rules do not provide for discovery depositions in criminal cases, we stated: Minn.R.Crim.P. 9.03, subd. 1 states: The comment to the rule states that the rule "follows substantially the language of A.B.A. Standards, Discovery and Procedure Before Trial, 4.1 (Approved Draft 1970) protecting interference with discovery." That section, both in the 1970 and in the current version, provides that the section is not intended to add to or subtract from what is provided in the relevant standards applicable to prosecutors and defense counsel. The current version of A.B.A. Standards, the Prosecution Function, 3.1(c) (1979) [also known as A.B.A. Standard 3-3.1(c)][1] provides: The corresponding comment states: Defendant in this case is not entitled to any relief. As both the trial court and the court of appeals held, he failed to show that the prosecutor's letters prejudicially impeded his investigation of the case. However, we disapprove of both of the letters sent by the prosecutor. It seems to us that witnesses might conclude after reading either or both of the letters that the prosecutor is discouraging them from talking with any defense investigator. Moreover, the first letter disparages defense counsel and investigators and their function, while the second letter suggests that only the prosecutor serves justice. In the future, prosecutors are advised to follow the approach of Minn.R.Crim.P. 9.03, subd. 1, as explained in greater detail in the applicable A.B.A. Standard and comment, which are set out above. 2. The other issue that defendant raises is whether the prosecutor acted improperly in not taking notes when interviewing *848 witnesses and in not disclosing the substance of those interviews to the defense. This issue arises because of our decision in State v. Galvan, 374 N.W.2d 269 (Minn.1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. ___, 106 S. Ct. 1496, 89 L. Ed. 2d 897 (1986), which held that a prosecutor's notes of an interview with a witness on the state's witness list are not work product and are discoverable under Minn.R.Crim.P. 9.01, subd. 1(1)(a), to the extent they do not disclose the thoughts or opinions of the prosecutor. The court of appeals, as well as the trial court, concluded that there was no purposeful effort by the prosecutor to circumvent Galvan and to avoid discovery, and we are satisfied that this defendant was not prejudiced by the prosecutor's conduct. Affirmed. [1] The corresponding standard for defense counsel is Standard 4-4.3(c).