STATE OF MINNESOTA

IN SUPREME COURT

A12-0173

A13-0996

Hennepin County

State of Minnesota,

Respondent,

vs.

Mahdi Hassan Ali,

Appellant.

Gildea, C.J.

Concurring in part and dissenting in part, Page, J.

Concurring in part and dissenting in part, Stras, J.

Filed: October 8, 2014

Office of Appellate Courts

________________________

Lori Swanson, Attorney General, Saint Paul, Minnesota; and

Michael O. Freeman, Hennepin County Attorney, Jean Burdorf, Assistant County 

Attorney, Minneapolis, Minnesota, for respondent.

Cathryn Middlebrook, Chief Appellate Public Defender, Lydia Villalva Lijó, Assistant 

State Public Defender, Saint Paul, Minnesota, for appellant. 

________________________

S Y L L A B U S

1. Because the foundation requirements of Minn. R. Evid. 901 and 902 were 

not satisfied, the court did not abuse its discretion when it refused to admit a birth 

certificate into evidence at a postconviction evidentiary hearing.

2. Because opinion testimony relating to surveillance videos was helpful to 

the jury, the court did not abuse its discretion in admitting this testimony.

1
3. Although the mandatory imposition of a sentence of life without the 

possibility of release for a juvenile convicted of first-degree premeditated murder violates

the rule announced in Miller v. Alabama, ___ U.S. ___, 132 S. Ct. 2455 (2012), the 

district court has the inherent judicial authority to hold a Miller hearing on remand.

4. The discretionary imposition of consecutive sentences of life with the 

possibility of release does not violate the Miller rule or Minn. Const. art. I, § 5, and the 

district court did not abuse its discretion in imposing consecutive sentences in a case in 

which multiple victims were murdered. 

5. Appellant’s pro se arguments are without merit.

Affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded.

O P I N I O N

GILDEA, Chief Justice. 

Appellant Mahdi Hassan Ali (“Mahdi”)

1 was convicted of one count of firstdegree premeditated murder and two counts of first-degree felony murder for shooting 

and killing three men during a robbery of the Seward Market in Minneapolis on 

January 6, 2010.2

 We consolidated Mahdi’s direct appeal and his postconviction appeal. 

On appeal, Mahdi raises a series of arguments. First, he challenges the postconviction 

1 Because several of the men involved in the events have the last name Ali, we will 

refer to them all with their first names. 

2 Mahdi was also convicted of two counts of second-degree murder under Minn. 

Stat. § 609.19, subd. 1(1) (2012) and a count of first-degree felony murder under Minn. 

Stat. § 609.185(a)(3) (2012), but he was not sentenced on these counts pursuant to Minn. 

Stat. § 609.035, subd. 1 (2012).

2

 
court’s denial of postconviction relief. Second, Mahdi argues that the district court erred 

by allowing opinion testimony relating to surveillance videos that tended to identify him 

as the gunman. Third, Mahdi argues that the mandatory imposition of a sentence of life 

without the possibility of release (LWOR) violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition 

on cruel and unusual punishment under Miller v. Alabama, ___ U.S. ___, 132 S. Ct. 2455 

(2012). Fourth, he argues that the district court’s discretionary imposition of consecutive 

sentences violated the rule announced in Miller and Article I, Section 5 of the Minnesota 

Constitution, and that the district court abused its discretion by imposing consecutive 

sentences. Fifth, Mahdi raises a number of other claims in a pro se supplemental brief. 

Because we conclude that the postconviction court did not err, the district court did not 

err in its evidentiary rulings or in imposing consecutive sentences, and Mahdi’s pro se 

arguments lack merit, we affirm on these issues. But because we hold that the mandatory 

LWOR sentence on the first-degree premeditated murder conviction is unconstitutional 

under Miller, we vacate that sentence and remand for resentencing on the first-degree

premeditated murder conviction following a Miller hearing.

This case arises from an incident that took place on a January night in 2010. At 

7:44 p.m., on January 6, two masked men walked into the Seward Market on East 

Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis. The first man, who had covered his face with a blue 

bandana, held a black semiautomatic pistol in his right hand. His accomplice, a taller 

man whose black-and-white striped shirt poked out from under his winter coat, entered 

behind him. When the men entered, Osman Elmi, an employee of the market, and 

Mohamed Warfa, a relative of Elmi’s, were sitting behind the store’s counter. The man 

3
with the gun thrust it in Elmi’s face and both Elmi and Warfa put their hands in the air. 

The man with the gun then pulled Warfa to the ground.

The accomplice went to the back of the store to control a woman who was 

shopping and an elderly man who had been helping her. When Elmi and Warfa yelled to 

the woman and the elderly man in the back to call the police, the accomplice demanded 

in Somali that the man and woman give him their cell phones. The woman lied and said 

she did not have a cell phone with her. She pleaded with him in Somali, saying “please 

don’t kill us, please, I have children at home, I’m a mother, don’t kill us.” The 

accomplice then hit the elderly man.

Surveillance footage shows that customer Anwar Mohammed then entered the 

market. As soon as Mohammed entered and saw the robbery in progress, the man with 

the gun shot him two times, including once in the head. The accomplice started to yell in 

Somali, “Don’t kill” or “No killing!” After shooting Mohammed, the man with the gun 

ran out of the store. Warfa followed him a short distance before returning to the store. 

The shooter then reappeared and shot Warfa at least twice. Warfa fell, his body holding 

the door of the market open and the second robber jumped over him and ran out the door.

Elmi, who was still inside the store, fumbled for his cell phone after the two robbers left. 

Before he could complete the call, the shooter returned and chased Elmi through the 

store. A rack of snacks tipped over and spilled as the two men raced around a corner, 

before the shooter shot Elmi three times in the back. Surveillance video shows the 

shooter leaving the store for good at 7:45 p.m., just over a minute after he entered. All

three victims died within minutes of being shot.

4
As soon as the shooting started and the second robber started to flee, the woman 

and the elderly man in the back of the store ran and hid in the store’s freezer. The woman 

called 911. She told the 911 operator that there was a robbery at the market, that she had 

heard gunshots, and that she was in the freezer at the store. She said, “I’m so scared, I’m 

so scared. I have six children, I don’t want to die.” Two Minneapolis police officers 

responded to the call. As they drove up to the store, they saw two bodies lying in the 

entryway of the store. When the officers got out of their squad car, they searched the 

store for the robbers and found a third victim inside. They also found the woman and the 

elderly man in the freezer, hiding.

A citizen tipster contacted the police department later that night with potentially 

relevant information. The tipster told police that when he was visiting a friend two weeks 

earlier at the Seward Towers West apartment building across the street from the market, 

he ran into a “kid” he knew from the community center. The kid, the tipster said, was 

talking about committing a robbery and said he wanted to “look into” the Seward Market 

because it was also a hawala, or money-wiring center, and would presumably have a lot 

of cash on hand. Although the tipster did not know the kid’s name, he told police that he 

often saw the kid around the apartment building and that the kid drove a black Caprice 

with a broken window that was parked on the second floor of the building’s parking 

ramp. Minneapolis police sergeants Ann Kjos and Luis Porras, who were assigned to 

investigate the murders, went to Seward Towers West the night of the murders and found 

a black Caprice with a broken window. They found out that the parking spot was 

5
assigned to apartment 1310, where a woman named Sainab Osman lived with her teenage 

grandson, Mahdi Ali.

Two days after the murders, on January 8, police received information from 

another citizen tipster, a high school student. The student said that the day after the 

murders, a fellow student named Abdisalan Ali (“Abdisalan”) told him that he had been 

present during the Seward Market murders. The student said Abdisalan claimed to have 

gone into the store with “a kid named Mahdi,” that Mahdi had a gun, that Abdisalan was 

at the back of the store with some customers when he heard a gunshot, and that Abdisalan

ran out of the store and had to jump over a body on the floor in front of the doorway.

Police arrested Abdisalan just over two hours after the student tipster came to 

them, believing that Abdisalan was the man who participated in the robbery by 

controlling the two customers in the back of the store. Although Abdisalan was initially 

not forthcoming, he eventually told police that on the day of the murders, he and his 

cousin, Ahmed Ali (“Ahmed”), spent time with Ahmed’s friend, Mahdi Ali.

3

 Mahdi 

picked them up from school in a red Crown Victoria, Abdisalan said, and over the course 

of the next few hours the three teens went to the Minneapolis impound lot and a 

SuperAmerica before Mahdi dropped Abdisalan off at home around 6:30 or 7:00 p.m.

Based on that information, police found surveillance video from several stores the 

three teens visited that afternoon. In the videos from the SuperAmerica, police saw a red 

Crown Victoria pull up to a gas pump. Someone got out of the passenger seat of the car 

3 Ahmed Ali and Abdisalan Ali are cousins, but neither of them is related to Mahdi 

Ali. 

6

 
and entered the store. Once he entered, police could see a black-and-white striped shirt 

poking out from underneath his jacket. When he turned and looked at one of the 

surveillance cameras, police immediately noticed that it was not Abdisalan in the blackand-white shirt. After police saw the video, they believed that the person in the 

SuperAmerica video was not Abdisalan but was the unidentified accomplice at the back 

of the Seward Market when the shootings happened. The police then asked Abdisalan 

more questions about his cousin, Ahmed.

Later that night, police also arrested Mahdi. After the police read him his Miranda

rights,4 Mahdi denied knowing anything about the murders at the Seward Market. As 

police slowly confronted him with evidence of his activities with Abdisalan and Ahmed 

over the day, Mahdi admitted to going to the gas station and the impound lot with 

Abdisalan and Ahmed, but he never admitted to playing a role in the murders. Police 

also searched Mahdi’s apartment that night, and found blue jeans in his closet with blood,

from one of the victims, on the cuff.

After police talked to Abdisalan and ruled him out as a suspect, his cousin, 

Ahmed, turned himself in to police. Once he had an attorney and worked out a deal with 

the State,5 Ahmed admitted his role in the murders and verified that he was trying to 

control the customers in the back of the store when Mahdi started shooting.

4 Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966). 

5 Ahmed eventually pleaded guilty and was convicted of three counts of attempting 

to commit aggravated robbery in the first-degree under Minn. Stat. § 609.245, subd. 1 

(2012). He was sentenced to three consecutive 6-year sentences.

7

 
From the three men’s statements to police, surveillance videos, and witness 

testimony, police were able to construct a picture of what happened on the afternoon of 

the murders. On January 6, Mahdi picked Ahmed and Abdisalan up from school in a red 

Crown Victoria that Mahdi was borrowing from an acquaintance. They went to a gas 

station so Mahdi could buy something, and then Mahdi dropped the cousins back off at 

school because Mahdi had to drive the owner of the car to work. Mahdi returned for the 

cousins 10 to 15 minutes later. The three teenagers then drove to the Wilson’s Leather 

coat factory outlet in North Minneapolis, where Abdisalan stole a faux suede Sean John 

jacket with fur around the collar. He threw the jacket he was wearing before—a big, dark 

coat with a hood on it—in the car, and put on his new jacket. 

Mahdi drove all three of them to the Minneapolis impound lot to retrieve his car, 

but they left after Mahdi discovered he did not have enough money. After another trip to 

a gas station, they went to the Dahabshiil money transfer business near the corner of East 

Franklin Avenue and Nicollet Avenue South. Mahdi, who had since put on the old coat 

that Abdisalan had left in the car, planned to rob the business, although Ahmed later 

testified that he objected to the plan. Mahdi and Ahmed went into the money transfer 

business but eventually left without robbing it. Abdisalan then asked Mahdi and Ahmed 

to drop him off at home, and they did so.

Mahdi and Ahmed drove back to the neighborhood where Mahdi lived, near the 

Seward Market. Ahmed later testified that Mahdi started talking about doing “a mission 

or something.” Mahdi said he knew a place that had “a lot of money,” and that if they 

robbed it, Mahdi could get enough money to get his car out of the impound lot and then 

8
he would give the car to Ahmed. Ahmed testified that he resisted this plan at first, 

because he had “never done anything like that before,” so he “wasn’t really down with it 

in the beginning,” but he eventually agreed. Ahmed testified that Mahdi gave him a 

black ski mask that covered everything but his eyes, while Mahdi used a light blue 

bandana to cover his face. Before they entered, Mahdi told Ahmed that his job was to 

“hold anybody that’s in the back,” and “keep them in a place where he can see them.” 

Ahmed testified that when they got back in the car after the shootings, he asked Mahdi 

why he shot those people. He said Mahdi said, “they knew,” meaning that they knew 

who he was.

On February 4, 2010, a grand jury indicted Mahdi on three counts of premeditated 

murder in the first degree under Minn. Stat. §§ 609.185(a)(1), 609.11, 609.106, 

subd. 2(1), 609.05 (2012), for the deaths of Mohammed, Warfa, and Elmi, as well as 

three counts of felony murder in the first degree while committing or attempting to 

commit aggravated robbery under Minn. Stat. §§ 609.185(a)(3), 609.11, 609.05. Because 

the State alleged that Mahdi committed first-degree murder while over the age of 16, 

Mahdi was automatically certified to stand trial as an adult. See Minn. Stat. §§ 260B.007, 

subd. 6(b), 260B.101, subd. 2 (2012). 

On March 9, 2010, Mahdi moved to dismiss the indictment for lack of jurisdiction. 

Although Mahdi consistently stated and listed his birth date as January 1, 1993, and 

obtained a driver’s license before the murders, he said that his real name was Kahlid 

Farah Arrasi and that he was actually 15 at the time of the crime. If Mahdi was 15 at the 

time of the murders, the juvenile court would not automatically lose jurisdiction over 

9
him. Minn. Stat. §§ 260B.007, subd. 6(b), 260B.101, subd. 2. After a 3-day agedetermination hearing, the district court denied Mahdi’s motion to dismiss for lack of 

jurisdiction, finding that “the preponderance of the evidence establishes that the 

Defendant Mahdi Hassan Ali had reached the age of sixteen years before January 6, 

2010.” On appeal, we confirmed that when the defendant’s age determines whether the 

court has jurisdiction, the State has the burden of proving the defendant’s age on the date 

of the offense by a preponderance of the evidence. State v. Ali, 806 N.W.2d 45, 54 

(Minn. 2011). 

Mahdi’s trial took place over two weeks in September 2011. On September 23, 

the jury found Mahdi guilty of one count of first-degree premeditated murder, two counts 

of second-degree murder, and three counts of first-degree felony murder while 

committing or attempting to commit aggravated robbery. On October 31, 2011, the 

district court sentenced Mahdi to two life sentences with the possibility of release after 

30 years for the first-degree felony murders of Mohammed and Warfa, and a mandatory 

LWOR sentence for the first-degree premeditated murder of Elmi. Mahdi appealed his

conviction to this court, but on September 20, 2012, we granted his motion to stay the 

appeal to allow Mahdi to pursue postconviction proceedings.

On October 22, 2012, Mahdi petitioned the postconviction court for an evidentiary 

hearing to renew his challenge to the district court’s jurisdiction, alleging that there was 

“new evidence establishing that petitioner was 15 years old on the offense date and that 

the juvenile court therefore had exclusive jurisdiction of his case.” Specifically, Mahdi 

10
alleged that he had found his birth certificate, which proved that “Khalid Farah Arase was 

born to Sainab Said Osman in the Malindi District Hospital on August 25, 1994.”6

Although the postconviction court granted Mahdi’s request for an evidentiary 

hearing, it refused to admit the birth certificate into evidence because Mahdi had not 

established a proper foundation for it.

7 Without the birth certificate, the court concluded 

that there was no evidence to support Mahdi’s petition and the court denied it. Mahdi 

filed a motion with this court to vacate the stay of his direct appeal and to consolidate it 

with an appeal from the postconviction court’s order. We granted that request.

I.

We turn first to Mahdi’s contention that the postconviction court erred in denying 

his petition for postconviction relief. Mahdi advances three arguments to support his 

argument that the court erred. First, he argues that the postconviction court improperly

excluded his birth certificate as evidence. Second, he argues that the postconviction

court improperly relied on the “law of the case” doctrine to assert that our court had

already held that the district court had subject matter jurisdiction over Mahdi, so the

postconviction court could not reconsider whether it had jurisdiction. Third, he argues

6 During Mahdi’s initial age-determination hearing, DNA evidence was introduced 

confirming that Osman, whom Mahdi had previously believed to be his grandmother, was 

really his mother. 

7 As an alternative ground for excluding the birth certificate, the postconviction 

court found that the birth certificate could have been introduced at the original agedetermination hearing if not for a “lack of diligence” on the part of Mahdi and his family. 

Because we affirm the postconviction court’s ruling that excluded the birth certificate, we 

need not address this alternative ground.

11

 
that even if the law of the case doctrine were to apply, the postconviction court

improperly held that the birth certificate did not fall under the “new evidence”

exception to the law of the case doctrine. 

With respect to Mahdi’s argument that the postconviction court erred when it 

determined that the birth certificate was inadmissible, our review is for an abuse of 

discretion. State v. Brown, 739 N.W.2d 716, 720 (Minn. 2007). The postconviction 

court concluded that the birth certificate was not relevant because Mahdi did not establish 

that the document at issue was actually Mahdi’s birth certificate. While the 

postconviction court couched its evidentiary ruling in terms of relevance, the focus of the 

court’s ruling relates to the evidentiary requirement of foundation. Specifically, the court 

held that the birth certificate was not admissible because Mahdi had not established that 

the document offered was Mahdi’s birth certificate. 

A finding that “the matter in question is what its proponent claims” is a condition 

precedent to the admissibility of evidence in Minnesota. Minn. R. Evid. 901(a). 

Foundation can be established in either of two ways: through extrinsic evidence, as 

contemplated by Minn. R. Evid. 901 (Rule 901); or by a finding that the evidence is 

“self-authenticating” under Minn. R. Evid. 902 (Rule 902). Because, as discussed below, 

Mahdi did not establish adequate foundation for the birth certificate, the postconviction 

court did not abuse its discretion when it determined that the birth certificate was 

inadmissible.

12
A.

Under Rule 901, the authenticity of proffered evidence may be established through 

extrinsic evidence, including “[t]estimony that a matter is what it is claimed to be.” 

Minn. R. Evid. 901(b)(1). To establish that the birth certificate offered by Mahdi was in 

fact his birth certificate, Mahdi presented testimony by his mother, who testified that

when Mahdi was born, he was named Khalid Farah Arase. She also testified that she was 

present when Mahdi’s birth certificate was filled out, that it was laminated in plastic 

when she received it soon after from the issuing authorities, and that she recognized the 

proffered birth certificate as the birth certificate she was given in the hospital following 

Mahdi’s birth. Mahdi also relied on earlier testimony by a social worker that in 2005,

Mahdi told child protection workers that his name was not Mahdi Ali. Mahdi reportedly 

used a number of different names during his interactions with child protection workers, 

including “Khalid Arrasi.”

The postconviction court determined that Mahdi failed to present any credible 

evidence tying him to the proffered birth certificate. The court explained that the 

testimony of Mahdi’s mother was “contradicted by the physical condition of the paper 

document which indicates it must have been laminated long after being issued.” The 

court also questioned her ability to identify the birth certificate when she was unable to 

read or write. Moreover, the court made a specific finding that Mahdi’s mother was “not 

a credible witness.” With regard to Mahdi’s earlier use of the name Khalid Farah Arrasi, 

the court found that the name on the birth certificate was spelled differently and there 

were no “fingerprints, footprints or other biometrics” to tie the birth certificate to Mahdi. 

13
On appeal, Mahdi challenges the postconviction court’s conclusion that he failed 

to present any credible evidence tying him to the birth certificate. Specifically, Mahdi 

argues that there was “ample evidence that the birth certificate was for [Mahdi],” 

including the evidence that Mahdi told child protection workers as early as 2005 that his 

name was not Mahdi Ali. We are not persuaded.

We review a postconviction court’s credibility determinations under the clearly 

erroneous standard. See Tscheu v. State, 829 N.W.2d 400, 403 (Minn. 2013). In order 

for a credibility determination to be clearly erroneous, we must “be left with the definite 

and firm conviction that a mistake has been made.” State v. Evans, 756 N.W.2d 854, 870 

(Minn. 2008) (citation omitted) (internal quotations marks omitted). This standard 

creates a “high threshold.” State v. Williams, 842 N.W.2d 308, 313 (Minn. 2014). 

Based on our review of the record, we conclude that Mahdi has not demonstrated 

that the postconviction court’s finding that he failed to present any credible evidence 

tying him to the proffered birth certificate was clearly erroneous. There is reasonable 

evidence to support the court’s finding, including the physical evidence contradicting the 

testimony of Mahdi’s mother, the different spelling of the name on the birth certificate, 

and the lack of any fingerprints, footprints, or other biometrics tying the birth certificate 

to Mahdi. Consequently, we hold that the postconviction court did not abuse its 

discretion when it determined that the birth certificate was not admissible under 

Rule 901.

14
B.

The fact that Mahdi failed to establish sufficient foundation for the birth certificate 

under Rule 901 is not dispositive of the foundation issue, however, because Rule 902 

allows a court to admit “self-authenticating” documents without any extrinsic evidence of 

authenticity. Domestic public documents are self-authenticating if they bear one of the 

enumerated official seals and a signature purporting to be an attestation or execution. 

Minn. R. Evid. 902(1). Foreign public documents are not self-authenticating unless they 

satisfy an additional requirement, specifically “a final certification as to the genuineness 

of the signature and official position . . . of the executing or attesting person.”8

 Minn. R. 

Evid. 902(3). Rule 902(3) provides a list of persons who may make a final certification

of genuineness, including “a diplomatic or consular official of the foreign country 

assigned or accredited to the United States.” Id. 

The birth certificate offered by Mahdi bore a seal and a signature purporting to be 

an attestation or execution by the Malindi District Registrar.9

 And defense counsel 

submitted an unsigned letter from the Kenyan Embassy in Washington, D.C., stating that 

the birth certificate “bears the Seal of the Registrar of Births and Deaths of the Republic 

8 Rule 902(3)(B) provides an alternative means of satisfying the final certification 

requirement, but that provision is not at issue in this case.

9 As the postconviction court noted, “the seal on the back” of the birth certificate 

did “not certify that the document is a true copy or that the signature on the document 

was made by someone authorized to do so.”

15

 
of Kenya.” The letter did not identify the name or position of the person at the embassy 

who reviewed the birth certificate.

The postconviction court concluded that Mahdi failed to satisfy the final 

certification requirement of Rule 902(3)(A), because the letter was unsigned and did not 

identify the name or position of the person who reviewed the birth certificate.

10 The 

court also noted that the seal on the back of the birth certificate did not certify that the 

signature on the document was made by someone authorized to execute the document. 

On appeal, Mahdi argues that the postconviction court abused its discretion when 

it determined that the birth certificate was not self-certifying. More specifically, he 

contends that he satisfied Rule 902(3) by “present[ing] information to the court of a 

Kenyan birth certificate that was issued by the Registrar of Births and Deaths of the 

Republic of Kenya, as certified by a specific Kenyan Embassy official who reviewed and 

authenticated the document.” Although defense counsel seems to have done her utmost 

to get the embassy to provide the information she needed, the record supports the court’s 

10 Several days after the postconviction evidentiary hearing, defense counsel 

attempted to supplement the record with an affidavit. In defense counsel’s affidavit, she 

averred the following facts. Embassy staff told her that the unsigned certification letter 

was drafted by a man named Dennis Muhambe. Counsel wrote to Muhambe requesting

confirmation of his position and his review of the birth certificate. Several days after the 

postconviction hearing, counsel received a copy of the original certification letter, with a 

business card for Muhambe attached by paper clip. Defense counsel submitted the 

business card to the postconviction court a few days after the hearing. The 

postconviction court did not expressly address, what, if any, effect the business card had 

on its analysis. We need not decide whether the attachment of Muhambe’s business card 

to a copy of the unsigned certification letter was sufficient to establish name or position 

of the person who reviewed the birth certificate for purposes of Rule 902(3), because, in 

any event, the unsigned certification letter failed to attest to the “genuineness” of the 

signature and official position of the Malindi District Registrar.

16

 
determination that Mahdi failed to establish the name and position of the person who 

reviewed the birth certificate at the embassy. Moreover, even if Mahdi had established

the name and position of the person who reviewed the birth certificate, the certification 

letter still fails to satisfy the requirements of Rule 902(3) because it attests to the 

genuineness only of the seal of the Registrar of Births and Deaths of the Republic of 

Kenya, not the genuineness of the signature and official position of the Malindi District 

Registrar.

In sum, the record supports the postconviction court’s determinations that Mahdi 

failed to satisfy the requirements of Rules 901 and 902(3). Consequently, the 

postconviction district court did not abuse its discretion when it determined that the 

proffered birth certificate was inadmissible.11 Without the birth certificate, Mahdi has no 

support for his contention that he is entitled to postconviction relief. Accordingly, we 

hold that the postconviction court did not err in denying Mahdi’s petition. 

II.

We next turn to Mahdi’s argument that the district court abused its discretion by 

allowing two different types of opinion testimony relating to the surveillance videos. 

First, Mahdi argues that the court erred by permitting police to testify that, based on their 

11 As noted above, Mahdi also challenges the postconviction court’s determination 

that the law of the case doctrine prevented it from reconsidering its conclusion as to 

Mahdi’s age, and argues that if the law of the case doctrine applies, the birth certificate is 

“new evidence” that operates as an exception to the law of the case doctrine. Because 

these alternative arguments depend on a determination that the birth certificate was 

admissible, and we have affirmed the postconviction court’s refusal to admit the 

certificate, it is not necessary for us to reach these alternative arguments. 

17

 
review of some of the videos, they eliminated Abdisalan as one of the two assailants who 

entered the Seward Market, and they determined that Ahmed was the shooter’s 

accomplice. Second, he argues the court erred by allowing testimony by the forensic 

experts who digitally clarified the surveillance videos to testify about the similarities 

between clothing, build, skin tone, and shoes of the people in the surveillance videos. In 

both instances, Mahdi contends the testimony was inadmissible because it failed to meet 

the helpful-to-the-trier-of-fact requirements of Minn. R. Evid. 701 (Rule 701) and 702

(Rule 702).

12 We consider the disputed testimony separately.

A.

When police were investigating the Seward Market murders, they relied heavily 

on surveillance footage from a variety of businesses to help build a timeline for the 

robbers’ activities that day. Police used video from the impound lot, a SuperAmerica, a 

money transfer business, a hospital, and importantly, the Seward Market to help construct 

what happened. 

Before trial, Mahdi filed a motion to exclude opinion testimony by law 

enforcement officers “as to [the] identification of the defendant on surveillance video.” 

12 Rule 701 governs opinion testimony by lay witnesses. It provides that “[i]f the

witness is not testifying as an expert, the witness’ testimony in the form of opinion or 

inferences is limited to those opinions or inferences which are (a) rationally based on the 

perception of the witness and (b) helpful to a clear understanding of the witness’ 

testimony or the determination of a fact in issue.” Minn. R. Evid. 701. Rule 702 governs 

opinion testimony by expert witnesses. It provides “[i]f scientific, technical, or other 

specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to 

determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, 

training, or education, may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise.” Minn. 

R. Evid. 702.

18

 
The district court granted Mahdi’s motion in part, ruling that the State could not ask the 

officers if they currently had an opinion as to whether the person in the surveillance 

videos was Mahdi. Nevertheless, the court concluded that “with the appropriate 

foundation” the police officers should be allowed to testify about the conclusions they 

drew during the investigation period after watching the surveillance video for the limited 

purposes of explaining (1) “why the police focused on [Mahdi],” and (2) “why the 

investigation proceeded as it did.” To ensure the limited use of such testimony, the court 

indicated that it would be “willing to give a limiting instruction” to the jury “to draw its 

own conclusion as to whether the person in the video tape is in fact the defendant.”

At Mahdi’s trial, Sergeant Ann Kjos testified that after police saw the 

SuperAmerica video, they identified the man in the video as the shooter’s accomplice: 

Q: Did you have an opinion as to whether the person in the 

video, then in the SuperAmerica that’s just been admitted, 

was involved in the Seward Market shootings?

A: Yes.

Q: What was that opinion?

Def: Objection, Your Honor, 701, 702.

Q: Sergeant, limit your testimony to what you thought at the time 

you viewed the video and what conclusions you drew then 

and then only.

A: At that time when I saw the gentleman from the 

SuperAmerica, I at that time, I believed that he was the 

person that had entered the store, the Seward Market, and had 

gone to the back of the store to control the customers.

19
Sergeant Kjos next said that police eliminated Abdisalan, Ahmed’s cousin, as the 

shooter’s accomplice after viewing video from the impound lot and the SuperAmerica.

Q: Did you eventually take Abdisalan home?

A: I did.

Q: Why did you take him home?

A: After seeing the video from both the SuperAmerica and the

impound lot, I believed at that time that Abdisalan was not 

one of the two people – was not either of the two people that

had entered the Seward Market with the intention of robbing 

them and eventually killing three men.

After defense counsel objected, the district court issued the following jury instruction:

Court: Members of the jury, any statement made by the witness 

regarding the state of mind of other people is to be 

disregarded by you. In addition, the Sergeant’s conclusions 

regarding who’s depicted in various videos are to put the 

investigation of this case into context. You are to draw your 

own conclusions based on all the evidence on who might be 

in any of the videotapes that are in evidence at this time.

On appeal, Mahdi argues that the district court erred by allowing this testimony 

because it is not admissible under Rule 701 or 702, and that the district court’s assertion 

that it would “help the jury understand why police focused on appellant” was not accurate 

considering the course of the investigation. The State, however, argues that Sergeant 

Kjos’s testimony was properly admitted to provide context for the police investigation. 

Evidentiary rulings rest within the sound discretion of the district court, and we will not 

reverse an evidentiary ruling absent a clear abuse of discretion. State v. Medal-Mendoza, 

718 N.W.2d 910, 917 (Minn. 2006). 

20
We have made clear that evidence is generally admissible to give jurors the 

context for an investigation. State v. Griller, 583 N.W.2d 736, 743 (Minn. 1998). In 

Griller, we considered the appeal of a man convicted of murdering someone and then 

burying the victim in his backyard in northeast Minneapolis. Id. at 738-39. We held that 

the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting testimony about a letter sent to 

the Sioux Falls Police Department that started the investigation or the content of police 

interviews with neighbors. Id. at 743. The testimony “provided the jury with the context 

necessary to explain how the investigation against Griller began and why the police were 

excavating [Griller’s] backyard.” Id.; see also State v. Czech, 343 N.W.2d 854, 856

(Minn. 1984) (affirming the admission of evidence of an undercover investigation of the 

defendant because the evidence could show “the context of the conversation; that is, why 

the undercover agents were talking with defendant”).

Mahdi argues that the district court’s rationale that the police testimony “would 

help the jury understand why police focused on appellant,” was “not consistent with the 

facts” because police received the first citizen tip within hours of the shootings that led 

them to Mahdi’s car in the Seward Towers West parking ramp. By the time police saw 

the videos, he argues, they had already identified Mahdi as a suspect “and gathered 

sufficient probable cause to arrest him and obtain a magistrate-approved search warrant.” 

Mahdi’s argument suggests that evidence is admissible to show the context of an 

investigation only when it is evidence that first made police suspect that the defendant 

may have been involved in a crime. But our cases do not draw such a fine distinction on 

how the information must have affected the investigation. 

21
As the State notes, the evidence from police was important context evidence in 

this case considering that Mahdi’s defense was centered on the contention that he had 

been misidentified and someone else shot the three men at the Seward Market. Mahdi’s 

attorney began his opening statement by saying: “Misidentification. That’s what this 

case is about.” He similarly began his closing statement by saying, “Misidentification. 

That’s what I told you this case would be about last Monday, and that’s what we’ve 

seen.” Without police being able to testify as to why they ruled out Abdisalan, a possible

alternate perpetrator, the jury might have wondered why police did not further investigate 

Abdisalan and why police decided to focus the investigation on Mahdi as the possible 

shooter in the Seward Market.

Importantly, the district court gave a limiting instruction to make sure the jury did 

not improperly rely on the evidence. The court reminded the jury that “the Sergeant’s 

conclusions regarding who’s depicted in various videos are to put the investigation of this 

case into context,” and that the jury is supposed to “draw [its] own conclusions based on 

all the evidence on who might be in any of the videotapes that are in evidence at this 

time.” Jurors are presumed to follow limiting instructions with respect to the proper use 

of evidence, and Mahdi has not provided any reason to doubt that the jurors followed the 

instructions here. See State v. Fardan, 773 N.W.2d 303, 320 (Minn. 2009). We hold that 

in the context of the trial, the district court did not abuse its discretion in allowing 

Sergeant Kjos to testify that once she and her partner viewed the surveillance videos, they 

22
eliminated Abdisalan as one of the two assailants who entered the market and determined 

that Ahmed was the accomplice at the Seward Market who did not have a gun.13 

B.

Before trial, Mahdi also filed a motion to exclude the testimony of two forensic 

experts who worked for Target Corporation when police were investigating the murders. 

Target has an accredited crime laboratory. The lab was created to investigate the 

company’s problems with organized retail crime, but it also does pro bono work for local 

law enforcement. Minneapolis police detectives asked the lab to help investigate the 

Seward Market shootings by examining surveillance footage. Mahdi argued that the 

testimony at issue was not admissible as expert testimony under Rule 702 because it was

not “helpful” to the jury. Specifically, Mahdi argued that “the jury is in as good a 

position to look at the photographs and draw conclusions from them as Target Forensics, 

[and so] the testimony of the Target Forensic witnesses would be of little assistance to the 

jury and should not be admitted.”

At a pretrial motion hearing, the district court denied Mahdi’s motion to exclude 

the testimony of the forensic experts. Noting that some of the surveillance videos “were 

13 In the alternative, Mahdi argues that the testimony must be excluded because it is 

not admissible as either lay or expert opinion testimony under Rules 701 and 702. 

Mahdi’s argument fails because he is ignoring the rule of “multiple admissibility,” which 

holds that “although a piece of evidence is inadmissible under one rule for the purpose 

given in offering it, it is nevertheless admissible if relevant and offered for some other 

purpose not forbidden by the rules of evidence.” Black’s Law Dictionary 56 (10th ed. 

2014); see also State v. Wermerskirchen, 497 N.W.2d 235, 239 (Minn. 1993). Even if 

Sergeant Kjos’s testimony was actually inadmissible under Rule 701 or 702, an issue we 

need not decide, it was properly admissible for the purpose of providing context for the 

investigation. 

23

 
digitally manipulated to clarify details in the tape,” the court said it was “necessary that 

the digital evidence technicians testify to say what was done and how it affects the 

accuracy of the image that is portrayed.” The court said it was “appropriate that they 

testify and be able to point out similarities between clothing, build, skin tone, shoes,” and 

that the experts were “also under the obligation to testify that those similarities are not 

caused by the digital clarification process.” The court also noted that if some differences 

in the tapes are “explainable by factors other [than] the items or persons being different 

items,” the experts should be “allowed to explain why.” 

For example, the court said:

[T]he lighting, the aspect ratio, whatever goes into their opinion about why 

it might appear differently. That generally is not within the province of the 

normal juror as to how lighting and other factors on a video tape could 

affect the appearance of items from one video tape to the next.

The court also placed limits on the Target forensic experts’ testimony:

These witnesses may not . . . testify that they are in fact the same clothing 

or the same persons. They can point out similarities. They can say why 

they are similar and whether it was caused by their digital manipulation of 

the evidence or not. They may point out differences and explain why they 

appear to be different. They may not offer opinion that they are in fact the 

same clothing or same person’s [sic] depicted in the various video tapes. 

Target forensic expert Jimmy Schroering testified on September 15, 2011. He told 

the jury that he “performed enhancements to the images that [he] extracted” from videos 

from the impound lot, the SuperAmerica, the Dahabshiil check cashing facility, and the 

Seward Market. He said he compared the shooter in the Seward Market videos to people 

appearing in the videos from the other three locations.

24
Schoering pointed out several similarities between the person identified as Mahdi 

Ali14 in various photos from the impound lot and the Dahabshiil check cashing center, 

including cuffs in the jeans, the color of his shoes, his skin tone, and his “general build.” 

Schoering testified that the person identified as Mahdi Ali in the impound lot video 

“could not be eliminated as being the same as the individual holding the weapon in the 

Seward Market.” But he also said that despite the fact that the person later identified as 

Ahmed Ali had “no significant characteristics other than general skin tone” in common 

with the shooter in the Seward Market video, Ahmed “also could not be eliminated as 

being the same as the individual with the weapon in the Seward Market.” He also 

testified that the person later identified as Mahdi Ali in the video from the Dahabshiil 

check cashing center had “similar build, similar general skin tone . . . shoes, and the 

cuffing on the jeans” in common with the Seward Market shooter. Schoering testified 

that the person identified as Mahdi Ali in the Dahabshiil video “could not be eliminated 

as being the same as the individual holding the weapon in the Seward Market.” 

Schoering also testified at length about how variations in video quality and lighting could 

cause variations in the images that the jury saw. 

The second Target forensic expert to testify was Jacob Steinhour. Steinhour was 

asked to compare pictures of pants that the Minneapolis police recovered at Mahdi Ali’s 

14 In an interview with police, Mahdi identified himself in the video from the 

impound lot. An audio recording from that interview was played for the jury. When he 

testified, Ahmed also identified himself, Mahdi, and Abdisalan in videos from the 

impound lot, the SuperAmerica, the Dahabshiil money transfer center, and the Seward 

Market.

25

 
apartment with the images of pants that were recorded in the various surveillance videos. 

Steinhour pointed out various details in the pants that were apparent in the surveillance 

videos, such as contrast in the fabric on one of the thighs. In the end, Steinhour testified 

that he could not conclude whether the pants matched. 

On appeal, Mahdi argues that the testimony of the Target analysts was 

inadmissible under Rule 702. He does not challenge the portion of the testimony from 

the analysts about how they extracted video and used technology to clarify some of the 

images. Rather, he argues that the district court improperly admitted “testimony 

comparing the gunman to a specific individual in the other videos and comparing the 

cuffed jeans to jeans worn by the gunman and in the other videos.”

Rule 702 provides that “[i]f scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge 

will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a 

witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training or education, may 

testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise.” Expert testimony is “only 

admissible if the testimony will help the trier of fact in evaluating evidence or resolving 

factual issues.” State v. Medal-Mendoza, 718 N.W.2d 910, 917 (Minn. 2006). 

Mahdi cites a variety of federal cases that affirmed the exclusion of similar 

testimony on the basis that it would not be “helpful” to the jury and therefore was not the 

proper subject of expert opinion testimony. See, e.g., United States v. Dorsey, 45 F.3d 

809, 812-15 (4th Cir. 1995) (affirming a trial court’s decision to exclude the testimony of 

two experts who were going to say that the defendant was not the individual depicted in 

bank surveillance photographs because it would not be helpful to the jury); United States 

26
v. Brewer, 783 F.2d 841, 842 (9th Cir. 1986) (affirming a trial court’s decision to exclude 

testimony from an expert that the defendant was not the robber depicted in surveillance 

photographs). But these cases do not categorically hold that the evidence would not 

actually help the jury, only that the trial courts in these cases did not abuse their

discretion in concluding that the evidence would not help the jury. See Dorsey, 45 F.3d 

at 812 (“We find that under an abuse of discretion standard, the district court did not 

err.”); Brewer, 783 F.2d at 842 (“[T]he trial court’s ruling on this evidence was not 

manifestly unreasonable . . . .”).

Here, the district court concluded that the testimony would assist the jury because 

the videos reflected “similarities between clothing, build, skin tone, shoes,” and the 

experts had an “obligation to testify that those similarities are not caused by the digital 

clarification process.” Although some of these similarities are readily apparent from 

watching the surveillance videos, our review of the videos confirms that some of the finer 

details required expertise and were not within the knowledge of an average juror. For 

example, one of the Target analysts testified that by using the camera angle and distance 

from the camera, it is possible to tell that one suspect is taller than the other. The district 

court determined this sort of testimony would help the jury, and we hold that the court 

did not abuse its discretion in reaching that determination.

15 

15 Because we determine that the district court did not abuse its discretion in 

admitting the testimony of the Target forensic experts under Rule 702, we do not need to 

consider Mahdi’s contention that the forensic experts lacked firsthand knowledge and 

therefore that their testimony was inadmissible under Rule 701.

27

 
III.

We turn next to Mahdi’s contention that the mandatory imposition of a sentence of 

life without the possibility of release (LWOR) for his first-degree premeditated murder 

conviction violated the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution because it constitutes 

cruel and unusual punishment. Mahdi’s argument is based on Miller v. Alabama, in 

which the Supreme Court held that, as applied to juveniles, sentencing schemes 

mandating LWOR violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual 

punishment. ___ U.S. ___, 132 S. Ct. 2455, 2460 (2012). The Court did not 

categorically prohibit LWOR sentences but rather required that before imposing such 

sentences, “a judge or jury must have the opportunity to consider mitigating 

circumstances before imposing the harshest possible penalty for juveniles.” Id. at ___, 

132 S. Ct. at 2475. Among the factors to be considered are the juvenile’s “immaturity, 

impetuosity, and failure to appreciate risks and consequences.” Id. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 

2468.

Mahdi’s 2011 conviction for premeditated murder in the first degree under Minn. 

Stat. § 609.185(a)(1) (2012) carries a mandatory LWOR sentence under Minnesota’s 

“heinous crimes” statute.16 See Minn. Stat. § 609.106, subd. 2(1) (2012). Mahdi argues 

that under Miller, the mandatory imposition of a LWOR sentence constitutes cruel and 

unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. See

16 In a footnote, the Supreme Court in Miller cited to Minnesota’s “heinous crimes” 

statute, Minn. Stat. § 609.106, as an example of a statute that, when applied to juveniles, 

impermissibly mandates life without parole without first considering the defendant’s age. 

Miller, ___ U.S. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2473 n.13.

28

 
U.S. Const. amend. VIII. The State concedes that in Mahdi’s case, the mandatory 

imposition of a LWOR sentence violates the Eighth Amendment under Miller. We agree 

with the parties. 

We have held that Miller is a new rule of constitutional criminal procedure. 

Chambers v. State, 831 N.W.2d 311, 326-28 (Minn. 2013). Such rules apply to cases 

pending on direct review at the time the new rule is announced. State v. Osborne, 

715 N.W.2d 436, 441 (Minn. 2006). Because Mahdi’s conviction was not yet final on 

direct review when Miller was decided, Miller applies to Mahdi’s case. See Teague v. 

Lane, 489 U.S. 288, 300-10 (1989). We therefore reverse the mandatory imposition of 

the LWOR sentence imposed on Mahdi for his first-degree premeditated murder 

conviction. 

A.

The parties agree that the sentence was unconstitutional, but they disagree as to 

how to proceed with sentencing on the first-degree premeditated murder conviction. The 

State argues that State v. Chauvin, 723 N.W.2d 20 (Minn. 2006), makes clear that, in the 

absence of legislative action, district courts have the inherent judicial authority to conduct 

a judicial proceeding that is necessary to preserve the constitutionality of a legislative 

sentencing scheme, and therefore we should remand to the district court for resentencing 

following a Miller hearing. Mahdi contends that Miller requires us to declare the 2005 

amendment to Minn. Stat. § 609.106 (adding premeditated murder to the list of offenses 

29
that mandate the imposition of a LWOR sentence)17 unconstitutional, and revive the most 

recent version of the legislature’s sentencing scheme that passes constitutional muster in 

accordance with Fedziuk v. Commissioner of Public Safety, 696 N.W.2d 340 (Minn. 

2005). According to Mahdi, the most recent sentencing scheme to pass constitutional 

muster requires us to resentence him to life with the possibility of release after 30 years. 

See Minn. Stat. §§ 244.05, subd. 4, 609.106, 609.185 (2004).

Whether the remedy in this case is controlled by Chauvin or Fedziuk presents a

question of law that is informed by review of the several principles that help to define a 

district court’s authority in the sentencing arena. First, the Legislature has the power to 

define the punishment for crimes (including the terms of confinement and parole), and 

the courts are the executor of that legislative power. State v. Osterloh, 275 N.W.2d 578, 

580 (Minn. 1978) (citing State ex rel. Ahern v. Young, 273 Minn. 240, 243, 141 N.W.2d 

15, 17 (1966)). Second, the separation of powers doctrine requires that “ ‘[j]udicial 

sentencing must strictly adhere to statutory authorization.’ ” State v. Mitchell, 

577 N.W.2d 481, 493 (Minn. 1998) (quoting State v. Jonason, 292 N.W.2d 730, 733 

(Minn. 1980)). Third, a court has inherent judicial authority to engage in activities that 

are necessary to the performance of judicial functions, but “the judiciary is not to resort to 

inherent authority when doing so would not ‘respect the equally unique authority of’ 

another branch of government.” State v. M.D.T., 831 N.W.2d 276, 280, 282 (Minn. 

2013) (quoting State v. C.A., 304 N.W.2d 353, 359 (Minn. 1981)). Keeping these 

17 See Act of June 2, 2005, ch. 136, art. 2, § 5, 2005 Minn. Laws 901, 922 (codified 

at Minn. Stat. § 609.106, subd. 2(1) (2012)).

30

 
principles in mind, we consider whether Chauvin or Fedziuk controls the remedy in this 

case.

In Chauvin, the State charged the defendant with felony theft by swindle and 

provided him with notice that it intended to seek an enhanced sentence under Minn. Sent.

Guidelines II.D.2b.(1). Chauvin, 723 N.W.2d at 22. After the defendant was charged, 

but before his trial, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Blakeley v. Washington, 542 U.S. 96 

(2004), which rendered unconstitutional the provisions of the Minnesota Sentencing 

Guidelines that allowed for judicial fact-finding of aggravating sentencing factors. See 

Chauvin, 723 N.W.2d at 22. In an effort to comply with the rule announced in Blakely, 

the district court empaneled a Blakely jury after the jury had found the defendant guilty.

Id. at 23. Based on the Blakely jury’s findings of fact, the district court imposed an 

upward durational sentencing departure. Id. 

On appeal, the defendant in Chauvin challenged the district court’s authority to 

empanel a Blakely jury. We concluded that the district court was permitted to empanel a 

sentencing jury because courts have the inherent judicial authority to engage in activities 

that are necessary to the performance of judicial functions and the exercise of that 

authority in the context presented in Chauvin “did not infringe on” legislative or 

executive functions. Chauvin, 723 N.W.2d at 25-27. We explained that it was 

“practically necessary” for the district court to improvise a jury fact-finding mechanism 

because the new rule of criminal procedure announced in Blakely left the district court 

without a constitutional statutory mechanism to impose the aggravated sentence that the 

Legislature intended. Id. at 25. Put differently, the district court could either “completely 

31
ignore the legislative scheme for departing from the presumptive guideline sentence,” or 

“it could do the least amount of damage to the statutory scheme by retaining the 

departure mechanism while at the same time complying with Blakely by using a 

sentencing jury.” Id.

We said the district court was right to choose the second option. We also

explained that impaneling a Blakely jury was a uniquely judicial function because it was a 

procedural matter. Id. We emphasized that “Blakely did not remove the ability of a

judge to impose an aggravated sentence, it only changed the process by which aggravated 

sentences may be imposed.” Id. Finally, we explained that the district court had not 

infringed on the legislative function of creating a sentencing guideline system because 

“there was no new legislation providing for the same or a different procedure” and “[f]ar 

from infringing on a legislative function, the district court was effectuating the legislative 

policy of allowing the opportunity to depart from the presumptive sentence where 

‘substantial and compelling circumstances exist.’ ” Id. at 27 (quoting Minn. Sent. 

Guidelines I.4, II.D.) Consequently, we held in Chauvin that when a sentencing scheme 

set out by the Legislature has been ruled unconstitutional and the Legislature has 

remained silent on how to fix it, district courts have inherent power to adopt judicial 

procedures that can bring the sentencing scheme into compliance with the new rule of 

constitutional criminal procedure while doing “the least amount of damage to the 

statutory scheme.” Id. at 25. 

32
Unlike Chauvin, Fedziuk, 696 N.W.2d 340, did not involve a sentencing scheme 

that failed to comply with a new rule of constitutional criminal procedure.

18 Instead, 

Fedziuk involved two certified questions relating to several amendments to the implied 

consent law. 696 N.W.2d at 342. We held in Fedziuk that the implied consent law, as 

amended in 2003, offended a driver’s constitutional right to procedural due process 

because the administrative review procedures provided by the executive branch, 

“although prompt, [did] not provide a sufficiently meaningful review.” Fedziuk, 

696 N.W.2d at 347. We went on to explain that when a statute is unconstitutional, it is 

“not a law and it is as inoperative as if it had never been enacted.” Id. at 349. 

Nevertheless, “only the latest amendment is severed and any previous version found 

constitutional remains in full force and effect,” because an unconstitutional law, “being 

void and inoperative, cannot repeal or in any way affect an existing one.” Id. We then 

18 In addition to Fedziuk, the dissent of Justice Page cites a number of cases that 

purportedly support the application of the statutory-revival rule in this case, including 

Deegan v. State, 711 N.W.2d 89, 98 (Minn. 2006), State v. One Oldsmobile Two-Door 

Sedan, Model 1946, 227 Minn. 280, 288, 35 N.W.2d 525, 530 (1948), and State v. 

Luscher, 157 Minn. 192, 195, 195 N.W. 914, 916 (1923). Infra at C/D-5 n.3. The 

dissent’s reliance on these cases is misplaced because none of the cases involved a new 

rule of constitutional criminal procedure or a statutory amendment that was constitutional 

in some of its applications. Instead, the cases involved claims that the statutory 

amendment was unconstitutional in all applications. See Deegan, 711 N.W.2d at 98 

(striking down an amendment that allowed the public defender to decline representation 

of an indigent defendant who pleaded guilty and received less than the presumptive 

sentence); One Oldsmobile Two-Door Sedan, 227 Minn. at 284-85, 35 N.W.2d at 528 

(assuming without deciding that the amendment was unconstitutional due to variances 

between the enrolled bill approved by the governor and the bill actually passed by the 

Legislature); Luscher, 157 Minn. at 195, 195 N.W. at 916 (striking down an amendment 

that exempted practicing dentists from newly enacted prohibitions against false 

advertising and fee splitting).

33

 
revived the version of the statute that was in effect immediately prior to the 

unconstitutional amendments. Id.

The remedy we sanctioned in Chauvin provides a better fit for the circumstances 

presented here than the remedy we used in Fedziuk.

19 As in Chauvin, we are faced with a 

sentencing scheme that does not comply with the new rule of constitutional criminal 

procedure announced in Miller and the Legislature has remained silent on how to fix it.

Consequently, we have two options. We could completely ignore the existing legislative 

sentencing scheme, which reflects a policy judgment that first-degree premeditated 

murder warrants a sentence of LWOR. See Minn. Stat. § 609.106, subd. 2. In the 

alternative, we could “do the least amount of damage to the statutory scheme” by 

remanding to the district court for resentencing following a Miller hearing at which the 

19 Fedziuk, on the other hand, does not provide a workable framework. In Fedziuk, 

we held that the implied consent law was facially unconstitutional. See 696 N.W.2d at 

342. We then revived—in its entirety—the most recent previous version of the statute 

that would pass constitutional muster. See id. at 342, 349. Here, however, the statute is 

not facially unconstitutional; in fact, it is constitutional with respect to almost all of those

to whom it applies—adults. The statutory mandate is unconstitutional only as applied to 

juveniles. Because the 2005 amendment to the heinous-crimes statute, Minn. Stat. 

§ 609.106, is not unconstitutional on its face, a Fedziuk solution sweeps too broadly and 

undermines the legislative policy expressed in section 609.106. Citing a Florida Court of 

Appeals case the dissent of Justice Page argues, “Nothing prevents the court from 

reviving the 2004 statute only to the extent it applies to juvenile offenders.” Infra at C/D7 (citing Horsley v. State, 121 So. 3d. 1130, 1132 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2013), rev. granted 

(Fla. Nov. 14, 2013)). The dissent’s argument is unpersuasive because even the Florida 

Court of Appeals is divided as to how to respond to Miller. Compare the Florida Court 

of Appeals fifth district’s decision in Horsley, 121 So. 3d at 1132 (adopting a statutoryrevival approach), with the fourth district’s decision in Dawson v. State, 142 So. 3d 948, 

949 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2014) (rejecting a statutory-revival argument and remanding for 

a Miller sentencing hearing), the third district’s decision in Hernandez v. State, 117 So. 

3d 778, 783-84 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2013) (same), and the first district’s decision in 

Washington v. State, 103 So. 3d 917, 920 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2012) (same).

34

 
court would consider among other factors, Mahdi’s age and his family and home 

environment. We conclude as we did in Chauvin that the second option is the most 

sensible choice. Assessing what, if any, impact a defendant’s age and family 

environment should have on the sentence in a particular case is a uniquely judicial 

function. State v. Misquadace, 644 N.W.2d 65, 68 (Minn. 2002) (the imposition of a 

sentence within the limits prescribed by the Legislature is purely a judicial function);

State v. Heywood, 338 N.W.2d 243, 244 (Minn. 1983) (explaining that a defendant’s age 

and family support are relevant sentencing factors). And remanding for a Miller hearing 

will not infringe on the Legislature’s unique power to define the punishment for crimes 

because there is no legislation post-Miller providing for the same or a different 

procedure.

20 In fact, allowing the district court to hold a Miller hearing will “effectuat[e] 

the legislative policy” to the extent the heinous-crimes statute reflects a legislative 

preference for LWOR sentences for heinous crimes. Chauvin, 723 N.W.2d at 27. This is 

so because in the absence of mitigating circumstances, the Legislature’s prescribed 

sentence of life without the possibility of release remains unaltered. We, therefore,

20 The dissents contend that the approach we follow here is inconsistent with 

Axelberg v. Commissioner of Public Safety, 848 N.W.2d 206 (Minn. 2014). We disagree. 

In Axelberg, we addressed and deferred to the Legislature’s expression of public policy in 

a “complete system of law” on the topic of administrative license revocation for impaired 

drivers. Id. at 211 (citation omitted) (internal quotation marks omitted). In this case, by 

contrast, the Legislature has not yet expressed its policy preference in light of the new 

rule Miller pronounced. As we recognized in Chauvin, the judiciary’s action in 

fashioning a sentencing procedure when the Legislature has not yet acted in response to a 

new rule does not run afoul of the separation of powers concerns we are to consider when 

exercising inherent authority. 723 N.W.2d at 27.

35

 
remand to the district court with instructions to vacate the LWOR sentence and then 

resentence Mahdi on the first-degree premeditated murder conviction following a Miller 

hearing.21

B.

Because we are remanding for a Miller hearing, we turn now to a discussion of 

some of the parameters for such a hearing for Mahdi and any other juveniles who are 

sentenced before the Legislature addresses Miller’s impact on the sentencing scheme in 

the heinous-crimes statute. In Miller, the Court held that “a judge or jury must have the 

opportunity to consider mitigating circumstances before imposing the harshest possible 

penalty for juveniles.” ___ U.S. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2475. The Miller Court suggested 

that mitigating circumstances might include, but are not limited to, the defendant’s 

“chronological age and its hallmark features—among them, immaturity, impetuosity, and 

failure to appreciate risks and consequences. . . . the family and home environment that 

surrounds him—and from which he cannot usually extricate himself—no matter how 

brutal or dysfunctional. . . . [and] the circumstances of the homicide offense, including 

the extent of his participation in the conduct and the way familial and peer pressures may 

have affected him.” Miller, ___ U.S. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2468. These factors, while not 

exclusive, establish a useful starting point. 

21 Because only the mandatory imposition of a LWOR sentence for Mahdi’s firstdegree premeditated murder conviction is unconstitutional, the district court need not 

reconsider the sentences imposed for the first-degree felony murders of Mohamed Warfa 

and Anwar Mohammed.

36

 
In addition, the purpose of a Miller hearing is to provide the sentencer an 

opportunity to consider any mitigating circumstances that would demonstrate that the 

imposition of a sentence of LWOR is not appropriate. To that end, the district court 

should, upon request and with the assistance of counsel, hold an evidentiary hearing at 

which the juvenile may present evidence to establish the existence of any mitigating 

circumstances.

If on remand the district court here concludes that the circumstances established at 

Mahdi’s Miller hearing do not warrant a possibility of release, the court should reimpose 

a sentence of LWOR in accordance with Minn. Stat. § 609.106. If, on the other hand, the 

court concludes that the circumstances established at the Miller hearing warrant a 

possibility of release, the court should impose a sentence of imprisonment for life in 

accordance with Minn. Stat. § 609.185(a), in which case Mahdi will be eligible to seek 

supervised release under Minn. Stat. § 244.05 after he serves a minimum term of

30 years.

IV.

We turn next to Mahdi’s argument that he should be resentenced because his 

entire sentence violates the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Article I, 

Section 5 of the Minnesota Constitution. Mahdi argues that because his consecutive 

sentences are the “practical equivalent” of LWOR, the aggregate sentence is 

37
unconstitutional. Whether a criminal sentence violates the constitution is a question of 

law that we review de novo. State v. Gutierrez, 667 N.W.2d 426, 438 (Minn. 2003).22 

A.

Mahdi argues that although Miller did not address the imposition of lengthy 

aggregate sentences, the district court’s decision to impose consecutive life sentences was 

the equivalent of imposing a sentence that “from the outset denied [him] the possibility of 

ever being released from prison.”23 Therefore, he argues, the “entire sentence was the 

practical equivalent of the type of sentence that Miller held violated the Eighth 

Amendment[.]” The State, however, contends that Miller does not address the imposition 

of discretionary consecutive sentences, and that the district court had an opportunity to 

consider mitigating circumstances before imposing Mahdi’s sentence. We agree with the 

State. 

22 The State first argues that Mahdi forfeited this argument by not raising it below. 

We disagree. Ordinarily, we will not decide issues that were not raised before the district 

court, even when criminal defendants raise constitutional claims for the first time on 

appeal. See State v. Busse, 644 N.W.2d 79, 89 (Minn. 2002). But in State v. Osborne, 

we concluded that the defendant did not forfeit consideration of his Blakely claim by 

failing to raise it in the district court because the Blakely rule was announced after his 

sentencing hearing. 715 N.W.2d 436, 442 (Minn. 2006). Like the defendant in Osborne, 

we conclude that Mahdi did not forfeit consideration of his Miller claim by failing to 

raise it in the district court because the Miller rule was announced after Mahdi’s

sentencing hearing.

23 Because we have vacated Mahdi’s LWOR sentence and remanded for 

resentencing, we consider only the constitutionality of the consecutive imposition of the 

two sentences mandating life with the possibility of release after 30 years for the firstdegree felony murders of Mohamed Warfa and Anwar Mohammed, under Minn. Stat. 

§§ 609.185(a)(3), 244.05, subd. 4(b).

38

 
Mahdi’s argument fails to recognize that the mandatory imposition of an LWOR 

sentence was the crucial factor in Miller. Miller, ___ U.S. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2466. In

Miller, the Court said that the fact that the sentences are mandatory “prevent[s] the 

sentencer from taking account of these central considerations.” Id. Removing youth 

from the balance prohibits a sentencing authority “from assessing whether the law’s 

harshest term of imprisonment proportionately punishes a juvenile offender.” Id. at ___, 

132 S. Ct. at 2466. The Court specifically did not foreclose the punishment of LWOR for 

juveniles, but required that such sentences not be imposed without taking the defendants’ 

youth into consideration. Id. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2469 (“Although we do not foreclose a 

sentencer’s ability to make that judgment in homicide cases, we require it to take into 

account how children are different, and how those differences counsel against irrevocably 

sentencing them to a lifetime in prison.”). 

The decision to impose concurrent or consecutive sentences falls within the 

discretion of the district court. Minn. Stat. § 609.15 (2012); see State v. Warren, 

592 N.W.2d 440, 451 (Minn. 1999) (“Sentencing is within the discretion of the trial court 

absent an abuse of discretion.”); Minn. Sent. Guidelines 2.F.2.a.(1)(ii) (providing that it is 

permissible for district court judges to sentence those convicted of first-degree murder to 

consecutive sentences). In Mahdi’s case, the district court exercised its discretion to 

sentence Mahdi to consecutive life sentences, after considering all the aggravating and 

mitigating circumstances specific to his crimes. Because the imposition of consecutive 

sentences was not mandatory, but was discretionary, Mahdi’s reliance on Miller is 

misplaced. We therefore hold that the district court’s imposition of consecutive 

39
sentences for the two first-degree felony murder convictions is not cruel and unusual 

punishment under the U.S. Constitution. 

B.

Mahdi also argues that the imposition of consecutive life sentences violates 

Article I, Section 5 of the Minnesota Constitution. We disagree.

The Minnesota Constitution contains a provision that is almost identical to the 

Eighth Amendment, but it prohibits “cruel or unusual” punishments instead of “cruel and

unusual” punishments. Compare Minn. Const. art. I, § 5 (emphasis added), with 

U.S. Const. amend. VIII (emphasis added). We have held that this difference in wording 

is “not trivial” because the “ ‘United States Supreme Court has upheld punishments that, 

although they may be cruel, are not unusual.’ ” State v. Vang, 847 N.W.2d 248, 263

(Minn. 2014) (quoting State v. Mitchell, 577 N.W.2d 481, 488 (Minn. 1998)). In 

determining whether a particular sentence is cruel or unusual under the Minnesota 

Constitution, courts should separately examine whether the sentence is cruel and whether 

it is unusual. State v. Juarez, 837 N.W.2d 473, 482 (Minn. 2013). Someone challenging 

a sentence as cruel or unusual bears the “heavy burden . . . of showing that our culture 

and laws emphatically and well nigh universally reject the sentence.” State v. Chambers, 

589 N.W.2d 466, 479 (Minn. 1999) (citation omitted) (internal quotation marks omitted). 

To determine whether a sentence is cruel, a court should compare the gravity of 

the offense to the severity of the sentence. See Mitchell, 577 N.W.2d at 489 (noting that 

this step of the analysis is consistent with the first step of the case-by-case analysis for the 

Eighth Amendment). Mahdi has made no showing that the imposition of consecutive 

40
sentences was disproportionate considering the gravity of the offenses the jury found that 

he committed. Therefore, Mahdi has not shown that the sentence is “cruel” under 

Article I, Section 5 of the Minnesota Constitution. 

To determine whether a sentence is unusual, a court should compare the 

defendant’s sentence with sentences received by other offenders convicted of the same or 

similar offenses both inside and outside of Minnesota. See Juarez, 837 N.W.2d at 482. 

Here, too, Mahdi’s claim fails. We have repeatedly affirmed consecutive life sentences 

for juveniles for the kinds of crimes that Mahdi committed. See, e.g., State v. Flowers, 

788 N.W.2d 120, 122 (Minn. 2010) (affirming two consecutive life sentences for a 

16-year-old who murdered two people while trying to rob a house); State v. Warren, 

592 N.W.2d 440, 452 (Minn. 1999) (holding that a district court abused its discretion in 

imposing concurrent sentences on a defendant who shot and killed three victims); State v.

Ouk, 516 N.W.2d 180, 186 (Minn. 1994) (affirming consecutive sentences for a 15-yearold who shot and killed two people at close range); State v. Brom, 463 N.W.2d 758, 765

(Minn. 1990) (affirming consecutive life sentences for a 16-year-old who murdered his 

parents and siblings with an ax). Mahdi has also made no showing that such sentences 

are “unusual” in other states. Therefore, we hold that the district court’s imposition of 

consecutive life sentences did not violate Article I, Section 5 of the Minnesota 

Constitution. 

C.

Mahdi next argues that the district court abused its discretion in imposing 

consecutive sentences. First, he argues that the court failed to recognize that “juveniles 

41
differ from adults for sentencing purposes and are less deserving of the harshest 

punishments because they have diminished culpability and heightened prospects for 

reform.” Second, he argues that the district court abused its discretion because it imposed 

consecutive sentences with the express purpose of preventing Mahdi from ever being 

released from prison. The State, on the other hand, argues that the court’s discretionary 

imposition of consecutive life sentences for Mahdi’s convictions for multiple murders is 

not excessive, noting that Mahdi’s case is one of those “uncommon or rare crimes for 

which the most severe punishment should be reserved.” 

A district court’s decision to impose consecutive sentences is reviewed for an 

abuse of discretion. State v. McLaughlin, 725 N.W.2d 703, 715 (Minn. 2007). We will 

interfere with a district court’s sentencing discretion only when the sentence is

disproportionate to the offense or it unfairly exaggerates the criminality of the 

defendant’s conduct. State v. Fardan, 773 N.W.2d 303, 322 (Minn. 2009). In cases with 

multiple victims, consecutive sentences are rarely, if ever, disproportionate to the offense. 

In McLaughlin, for example, we upheld the imposition of two consecutive life sentences 

for a student who shot and killed two of his classmates when he was 15. 725 N.W.2d at 

715-16. McLaughlin argued that the district court abused its discretion by imposing 

consecutive sentences because the court failed to give sufficient weight to several factors 

related to his culpability, including his youth. Id. at 715. In rejecting his challenge, we

noted that “youth” was a factor in numerous cases in which we had upheld comparable 

sentencing, especially those involving “particularly callous murders.” Id. at 716; see also

Warren, 592 N.W.2d at 452 (holding that a district court abused its discretion in 

42
imposing concurrent sentences on a defendant for three murders); Ouk, 516 N.W.2d at

186 (affirming consecutive sentences for a 15-year-old who shot and killed two people at 

close range); Brom, 463 N.W.2d at 765 (affirming consecutive life sentences for a 

16-year-old who murdered his parents and siblings with an ax). 

Like the defendants in McLaughlin, Ouk, Brom, and Warren, Mahdi is convicted 

of “particularly callous murders.” See McLaughlin, 725 N.W.2d at 716. The defense 

acknowledges that because of the age-determination hearing, the district court “had an 

abundance of information about appellant’s unique personal circumstances,” and the 

defense also urged the court at sentencing to consider Mahdi’s youthful characteristics. 

Nonetheless, the court recognized the singular brutality with which Mahdi carried out the 

crimes and made clear that Mahdi should never be released from prison. See Warren, 

592 N.W.2d at 452 (noting that the district court should have considered “severe 

aggravating factors” when determining whether the sentence should be consecutive or 

concurrent). We hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion by imposing 

consecutive sentences on Mahdi.

V.

Mahdi also raises a series of pro se arguments in a supplemental brief. We 

consider each of them in turn.

Mahdi first argues that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. Specifically, 

he argues that his attorney should have requested a change of venue and that he should 

have introduced evidence of an alternative perpetrator. These claims fail because they 

raise matters of trial strategy, which we will not review. Leake v. State, 737 N.W.2d 531, 

43
536 (Minn. 2007). Moreover, even if these two matters did not constitute trial strategy, 

Mahdi has not shown that his counsel’s decision on these two matters was objectively 

unreasonable. State v. Lahue, 585 N.W.2d 785, 789 (Minn. 1998) (citing Strickland v. 

Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687 (1984)) (noting that to prevail on an ineffective assistance 

of counsel claim, an appellant must show that trial counsel’s representation “fell below an 

objective standard of reasonableness, and that a reasonable probability exists that the 

outcome would have been different but for counsel’s errors”). 

Mahdi separately argues that his counsel was ineffective because he did not

challenge the prosecutor’s claims of finding blood on Mahdi’s pants and did not maintain 

Mahdi’s innocence during the opening and closing statements. These claims fail for lack 

of factual support. 

Based on our careful review of the record, we hold that Mahdi has not shown that 

his counsel was ineffective.24 

Mahdi also argues that his Miranda waiver was not knowing, voluntary and 

intelligent. See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966). But we will not decide issues 

that were not raised before the district court, even when criminal defendants raise 

constitutional claims for the first time on appeal. See State v. Busse, 644 N.W.2d 79, 89 

(Minn. 2002). Mahdi did not argue below that his Miranda waiver was insufficient, and 

therefore the record has not been sufficiently developed for the court to consider this 

24 Mahdi also argues that the prosecutor committed misconduct, that the DNA 

experts made mistakes, and that the district court judge was “unfair.” We do not consider 

these arguments because they are simply argumentative assertions without any factual or 

legal support. See State v. Coe, 290 Minn. 537, 538, 188 N.W.2d 421, 422 (1971). 

44

 
claim. See Johnson v. State, 673 N.W.2d 144, 147 (Minn. 2004) (“One purpose of this 

rule is to encourage the development of a factual basis for claims at the district court 

level.”). 

Mahdi next alleges that because he was a juvenile at the time of the crime, he was 

entitled to a certification hearing before being tried as an adult. Because the district court 

found by a preponderance of the evidence that Mahdi was 16 at the time of the murders, 

he is not entitled to a certification hearing. Minn. Stat. §§ 260B.007, subd. 6(b),

260B.101, subd. 2 (2012). Accordingly, this claim is without merit. 

Finally, Mahdi alleges that a juror committed misconduct. Specifically, Mahdi 

alleges that the juror committed misconduct by telling a family member of one of the 

victims where the courthouse restrooms were during the trial, and then not telling the 

district court about the incident when she was asked. Mahdi hired a private investigator 

who spoke with the juror after the trial. In an affidavit, the investigator says that the juror 

told him she was “approaching the jurors’ door to the courtroom when an older woman

wearing a hijab and appearing to be of Somali descent approached her and spoke with her 

briefly.” The juror then told the investigator that, “she didn’t tell the Judge about the 

woman approaching and speaking to her because [she] didn’t feel it was important to tell 

the Judge.”

Mahdi’s claim fails for several reasons. First, the affidavit is not part of the 

district court record and so we do not consider it. See State v. Manley, 664 N.W.2d 275, 

286 (Minn. 2003). Second, even if the affidavit was part of the record, it does not 

establish that the juror committed any misconduct. Her statements to the district court

45
and the statements attributed to her in the affidavit are not inconsistent. The court was 

clearly concerned about any improper contact and asked the juror whether anybody 

present for the trial had talked to her. The court specifically asked the juror about 

spectators in the courtroom and witnesses in the trial, and about whether someone spoke 

to her about the case. Even if a Somali woman approached the juror and asked where the 

bathroom was, as asserted in the affidavit, there is no evidence that this woman was in 

any way associated with the trial or related to a victim. Therefore, Mahdi’s claim fails. 

Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.

46
C O N C U R R E N C E & D I S S E N T

PAGE, Justice (concurring in part, dissenting in part).

The court remands Mahdi’s case for a hearing to comply with the requirements of 

Miller v. Alabama, ___ U.S. ___, 132 S. Ct. 2455 (2012), for the judge or a jury to 

consider whether a life sentence with the possibility of release after 30 years is a more 

appropriate sentence than the mandatory life sentence without the possibility of release 

(LWOR), which he is now serving. The case law on which the court relies to justify its 

decision is inapposite. In my view, the appropriate remedy is to sever the heinous-crimes 

statute as it relates to juveniles and revive the most recent constitutionally valid versions 

of Minn. Stat. §§ 244.05, subd. 4(b), 609.106, subd. 2(1), and 609.185 (2012) for juvenile 

offenders only, and then remand to the district court for imposition of a life sentence with 

the possibility of release after 30 years. The previous versions of these statutes did not 

provide for a departure mechanism for the district court to consider whether, despite the 

defendant’s youth, an LWOR sentence was more appropriate. See Minn. Stat. §§ 244.05, 

subd. 4, 609.106, subd. 2(1), and 609.185 (2004). Reviving these statutes is the 

appropriate remedy because, as an issue of substantive law, fixing the sentence to be 

imposed for first-degree premeditated murder is a legislative function. Under the 

separation of powers, see Minn. Const. art. III, § 1, our court lacks the authority to 

remand Mahdi’s case for a hearing to consider whether a life sentence with the possibility 

of release after 30 years is more appropriate than an LWOR sentence. The court’s 

decision to modify the unconstitutional sentencing scheme now in place and replace it 

C/D-1
with a judicially created scheme usurps the Legislature’s authority to amend its own 

statutes. For that reason, I respectfully dissent from part III of the court’s decision.

I.

The court is correct that Mahdi’s LWOR sentence is unconstitutional under Miller, 

___ U.S. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2460. The court attempts to remedy this constitutional 

violation by remanding to the district court for a hearing to determine whether LWOR or

life imprisonment with the possibility of release after 30 years is the appropriate sentence. 

The court contends that State v. Chauvin supports its conclusion that we have the power 

to fashion such a sentencing hearing. 723 N.W.2d 20 (Minn. 2006). But in Chauvin we 

considered only whether the district court had the authority to impanel a sentencing jury, 

not whether we had authority to amend a statute setting forth the punishment for a 

criminal offense. Id. at 22 (determining that a district court could empanel a sentencing 

jury under Blakely to comply with the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines). We said that 

“impaneling a sentencing jury did not change the punishment available for the underlying 

substantive offense. It merely changed the steps that the court took in arriving at a 

sentence already authorized by the legislature.” Id. at 25. Accordingly, we held that the 

district court had the authority to impanel a sentencing jury. Id. at 27. In contrast, here 

the court “change[s] the punishment available for the underlying substantive offense,” id.

at 25, by judicially amending the sentencing statute to give the district court two options 

in sentencing Mahdi: LWOR or life with the possibility of release after 30 years. But the 

sentencing statutes enacted by the Legislature include only one option: LWOR. See

Minn. Stat. § 609.106, subd. 2(1) (2012) (“The court shall sentence a person to [LWOR] 

C/D-2
[if] the person is convicted of first-degree [premeditated] murder[.]” (emphasis added)). 

Therefore, this case does not fall within the rule established in Chauvin.

1

The court also contends that, as in Chauvin, “allowing the district court to hold a 

Miller hearing will ‘effectuat[e] the legislative policy’ to the extent the heinous-crimes 

statute reflects a legislative preference for LWOR sentences for heinous crimes.” This 

statement assumes that the Legislature’s only policy consideration in mandating LWOR 

sentences for all offenders was its desire to impose the harshest sentence available on 

those convicted of first-degree premeditated murder. But there is reason to believe that 

the Legislature’s policy preferences are more nuanced than the court hypothesizes.2

 It 

1 Indeed, the present case is more similar to our decisions in State v. Shattuck, 

704 N.W.2d 131 (Minn. 2005), and State v. Barker, 705 N.W.2d 768 (Minn. 2005), two 

cases decided post-Blakely involving an unconstitutional statute that allowed the judge, 

rather than the jury, to make findings of fact supporting aggravated sentences. In both of 

those cases, the district court had not convened a sentencing jury before imposing 

aggravated sentences, Barker, 705 N.W.2d at 770-71; Shattuck, 704 N.W.2d at 134-35, 

and in each case, the State asked us to remand to the district court with instructions to 

convene a sentencing jury to determine whether the aggravating sentencing factors

existed. Barker, 705 N.W.2d at 775-76; Shattuck, 704 N.W.2d at 147-48. We declined, 

reasoning that “engaft[ing] sentencing-jury . . . requirements onto the Sentencing 

Guidelines and sentencing statutes would require rewriting them, something our 

severance jurisprudence does not permit.” Shattuck, 704 N.W.2d at 148; accord Barker, 

705 N.W.2d at 775-76. Instead, we “left to the legislature the task of amending the 

Minnesota sentencing scheme to comport with the requirements of Blakely . . . .” Barker, 

705 N.W.2d at 775; see Shattuck, 704 N.W.2d at 147-48.

2 For example, this year the Legislature considered several bills that would have 

made Minnesota’s sentencing of juvenile homicide offenders consistent with Miller. 

Several of these bills would have favored sentencing consistency over longer sentences 

by mandating that juveniles convicted of first-degree premeditated murder be eligible for 

release after 20 years, H.F. 3061, Art. 6, § 1, 88th Minn. Leg. 2014; S.F. 2273, Art. 4, 

§ 1, 88th Minn. Leg. 2014. Other bills would have favored longer sentences by allowing 

the district court to impose LWOR sentences on juvenile homicide offenders if, after a 

C/D-3

 

(Footnote continued on next page.)
may be that the Legislature’s policy preferences had as much to do with ensuring 

sentencing consistency as imposing the harshest sentence available. See Minn. Sent. 

Guidelines 1.A. (“The purpose of the Sentencing Guidelines is to establish rational and 

consistent sentencing standards that reduce sentencing disparity . . . .”). And although the 

court’s decision advances the policy of imposing the harshest sentence available, it 

frustrates the policy of facilitating consistency in sentencing. In any event, it is for the 

Legislature, not this court, to weigh these competing policy interests and to decide the 

appropriate sentence, knowing that a mandatory LWOR sentence cannot be imposed on 

juveniles.

In my view, severing that part of the heinous-crimes statute that is unconstitutional 

and utilizing the statutory-revival remedy we applied in Fedziuk v. Commissioner of 

Public Safety, not the remedy we applied in Chauvin, is the appropriate vehicle to remedy 

Mahdi’s unconstitutional sentence. 696 N.W.2d 340 (Minn. 2005). In accordance with 

Fedziuk, I conclude that the court should remand Mahdi’s case to the district court with 

instructions to apply the most recent constitutionally valid sentencing statute to Mahdi’s 

first-degree premeditated murder conviction. This remedy is preferable to the court’s 

sentencing hearing, the court concludes that an LWOR sentence is appropriate in light of 

the defendant’s culpability and youth. S.F. 982, § 3, 88th Minn. Leg. 2014; H.F. 2540, 

§ 3, 88th Minn. Leg. 2014; H.F. 1217, § 3, 88th Minn. Leg. 2014. There is nothing in the 

record before us, other than the unconstitutional statute itself, giving us any indication as 

to what the legislative policy priorities may have been when the 2005 amendments were 

enacted.

C/D-4

 

(Footnote continued from previous page.)
because it ensures the district court will impose a legislatively authorized sentence and 

allows us to avoid speculating about the Legislature’s policy preferences. 

In Fedziuk, the respondent argued that the 2003 amendments to Minnesota’s 

Implied Consent Law violated her due process rights because they removed the 

requirement for prompt judicial review of a prehearing revocation. Id. at 342. We agreed 

and considered the appropriate remedy for the constitutional violation. Id. at 349. The 

district court had revived the 1980 version of the law to remedy the due process problem. 

Id. The 1980 version of the law provided for no pre-hearing license revocation. Id. The 

Commissioner argued that the district court should have severed only the 2003 

amendments and revived the most recent constitutional version of the law. On appeal, we 

observed that “[w]hen a statute is unconstitutional, it is not a law and it is as inoperative 

as if it had never been enacted.” Id. We noted that an unconstitutional law, being void, 

cannot repeal an existing law. Id. Only the latest amendment is severed, however, and 

any previous constitutional version remains in effect. Id. Accordingly, we revived the 

version of the Implied Consent Law that existed immediately before the unconstitutional 

2003 amendments. Id.3

3 We have applied the statutory-revival rule in other cases as well. See, e.g.,

Deegan v. State, 711 N.W.2d 89, 98 (Minn. 2006) (reviving an older version of a statute 

because the amended statute violated defendants’ right to the assistance of counsel); State 

v. One Oldsmobile Two-Door Sedan, Model 1946, 227 Minn. 280, 288, 35 N.W.2d 525, 

530 (1948) (“An unconstitutional statute, being void and inoperative, cannot repeal or in 

any way affect an existing one.”); State v. Luscher, 157 Minn. 192, 195, 195 N.W. 914, 

916 (1923) (“The statute being void is inoperative for any purpose and made no change 

in the existing law.”); see also Frost v. Corp. Comm’n of Okla., 278 U.S. 515, 527-28 

(1929) (reviving previous version of a statute when amendment was unconstitutional).

C/D-5

 
Applying these principles to this case, I conclude that the appropriate remedy is to 

revive the 2004 version of the statute. See Minn. Stat. § 244.05, subd. 4 (2004) 

(providing that an inmate serving a mandatory life sentence for first-degree premeditated 

murder is eligible for supervised release after serving 30 years). Under Miller, the 

heinous-crimes statute is categorically unconstitutional as to juvenile homicide offenders. 

___ U.S. ___, 132 S. Ct. 2455, 2460 (2012). Therefore, under Fedziuk, the Legislature’s 

2005 attempt to amend this statute to require juvenile defendants convicted of first-degree 

premeditated murder to serve an LWOR sentence was ineffective and “as inoperative as 

if it had never been enacted” with respect to them. See Act of June 2, 2005, ch. 136, 

art. 2, §§ 3-5, 2005 Minn. Laws 901, 922 (codified at Minn. Stat. §§ 244.05, subd. 5, 

609.106, subd. 2(1) (2012)); Miller, ___ U.S. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2460; Fedziuk, 

696 N.W.2d at 349. Consequently, Minn. Stat. § 244.05, subd. 4 (2004), was, in effect, 

never repealed with respect to juveniles and provides a legislatively mandated sentence of 

life imprisonment with the possibility of release after 30 years for juvenile offenders 

convicted of first-degree premeditated murder. See Fedziuk, 696 N.W.2d at 349; see also 

Horsley v. State, 121 So. 3d 1130, 1132 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2013) (reviving previous 

version of a sentencing statute because the current version of a statute was 

unconstitutional under Miller), rev. granted (Fla. Nov. 14, 2013); Rodriguez-Giudicelli v. 

State, 143 So. 3d 947, 948 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2014) (same). Minnesota Statutes 

§ 244.05, subd. 4 (2004), did not permit the district court to consider whether, 

notwithstanding the defendant’s youth, a LWOR was more appropriate. In contrast to 

the court’s application of Chauvin, statutory revival does not require the court to create a 

C/D-6
sentence not authorized by the Legislature. Instead, by reviving the previous version of 

the statute, we simply return to a sentence previously authorized by the Legislature. See 

Horsley, 121 So. 3d at 1132 (“The advantage of relying upon the doctrine of statutory 

revival is that we simply revert to a solution that was duly adopted by the legislature itself 

. . . .”). Similarly, the court would not have to speculate about what the Legislature’s 

policy preferences might be if it simply revived the most recent constitutionally valid 

version of the heinous-crimes statute. See id. (“[T]he doctrine of statutory revival . . . 

avoid[s] the type of ‘legislating from the bench’ that would be required if we were to 

essentially rewrite the existing statute with original language which we feel might better 

meet the policy goals of the current legislature.”).

The court argues that “[b]ecause the 2005 amendment to the heinous-crimes 

statute, Minn. Stat. § 609.106, is not unconstitutional on its face, a Fedziuk solution 

sweeps too broadly and undermines the legislative policy expressed in section 609.106.” 

Practically speaking, it is hard to see how imposing a sentence under the previous version 

of the statute is “unworkable,” particularly when, under the court’s own remedy, the same 

sentence remains a possibility. Moreover, as noted above, the heinous-crimes statute is

facially unconstitutional as to the entire category of juvenile offenders. See Miller, ___ 

U.S. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2469, 2473 n.13. Nothing prevents the court from reviving the 

2004 statute only to the extent it applies to juvenile offenders. See Horsley, 121 So. 3d at 

1132 (reviving previous version of a sentencing statute to hold that the only sentence 

available for a juvenile convicted of capital murder is life imprisonment with the 

C/D-7
possibility of release after 25 years). Therefore, applying Fedziuk is practically 

workable, and doctrinally required.4

By remanding for a hearing and giving the district court the option of imposing a 

sentence of life imprisonment with the possibility of release after 30 years, the court 

abandons our longstanding practice of strictly adhering to the limits imposed by statutory 

text. The court recently reaffirmed our strict adherence to statutory limitations in its 

decision in Axelberg v. Commissioner of Public Safety, 848 N.W.2d 206 (Minn. 2014). 

In that case, Axelberg drove under the influence of alcohol in order to escape serious 

bodily injury at the hands of her abusive husband. Id. at 207. The Commissioner of 

Public Safety revoked Axelberg’s driver’s license. Id. Axelberg sought judicial review. 

Id. At the implied consent hearing, Axelberg attempted to assert the affirmative defense 

of necessity, which allows an individual to escape liability for a wrongful act if the 

person had to do the act to avoid instant and overwhelming harm. Id. at 207 n.2. The 

4 The court’s chosen remedy is also more complicated than the court realizes.

Remand for a hearing will require the sentencer to find facts, and make determinations 

based on those facts, as to whether a sentence of LWOR should be re-imposed on Mahdi. 

Arguably, such a hearing would raise concerns under Blakely depending on how one 

reads the court’s judicially-amended statute. “ ‘Other than the fact of a prior conviction, 

any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum 

must be submitted to a jury, and proved beyond a reasonable doubt,’ ” 542 U.S. at 301 

(quoting Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 490 (2000)), with “statutory maximum” 

defined as the “maximum sentence a judge may impose solely on the basis of the facts 

reflected in the jury verdict or admitted by the defendant,” id. at 303. If the statutory 

maximum of the court’s new statute is life with the possibility of release after 30 years, 

and facts need to be found to impose a sentence of LWOR, then Blakely requires those 

facts to be found by a jury, not the judge. Of course, the applicability of Blakely depends 

on the words of the statute, which is why amendment of the statute must be done by the 

Legislature, not this court.

C/D-8

 
statute at issue in Axelberg, however, strictly limited the issues one could raise in license 

revocation hearings and did not include the necessity defense among them. Id. at 208 & 

n.3. Because the necessity defense was not included within this limitation, we concluded 

that the defense was not available. Id. at 208. In so concluding, we noted that “if the 

Implied Consent Law needs revision in order to make it embody a more sound public 

policy, the Legislature, not the judiciary, must be the reviser.” Id. at 213.

The court attempts to distinguish this case from Axelberg on the basis that here 

“the Legislature has not yet expressed its policy preference in light of the new rule Miller 

pronounced.” This is precisely the point. In the absence of legislative guidance postMiller, the court’s assertion that remand for a hearing will “effectuate the legislative 

policy” is mere conjecture, without basis in the statutory text. As the court explains in 

Axelberg, it is the prerogative of the Legislature, not the judiciary, to determine what 

constitutes sound public policy and to make the statutory revisions necessary to reflect 

that policy determination.

“Those who are bound by our decisions usually believe they can take us at our 

word. Not so today.” Wheaton Coll. v. Burwell, ___ U.S. ___, 134 S. Ct. 2806, 2808 

(2014) (Sotomayor, J., dissenting). Contrary to the court’s rhetoric in Axelberg, the court 

today judicially amends the heinous-crimes statute to allow for a sentence, and 

sentencing procedure, not permitted by the Legislature.

C/D-9
II.

“As sound as the public policy arguments may be, the only way to reach the 

conclusion that [a Miller hearing] is available here is through an act of pure 

judicial will.”

Axelberg v. Comm’r of Pub. Safety, 848 N.W.2d 206, 212 (Minn. 2014).

The court contends that our inherent judicial power gives us the authority to 

remand for a hearing and to permit the district court to impose a life sentence with the 

possibility of release after 30 years. The court is wrong. Our inherent judicial power 

only allows us to provide a remedy in the absence of legislative authorization when it is 

necessary to achieve a unique judicial function. Shattuck, 704 N.W.2d at 147-48. The 

regulation of procedural matters is a unique judicial function. State v. Johnson, 

514 N.W.2d 551, 554 (Minn. 1994).5

 Matters of substantive law, however, are 

exclusively within the province of the Legislature. Id.

The determination of whether to remand to consider if an LWOR sentence or a life 

sentence with the possibility of release after 30 years encroaches upon a legislative 

function, therefore, turns on whether Minnesota’s sentencing scheme is a matter of 

substantive or procedural law. Because our state’s sentencing scheme is a matter of 

substantive law, I conclude that the court lacks the power to authorize a Miller hearing.

We have long held that the Legislature has the sole authority to “fix the limits of 

punishment for criminal acts.” Shattuck, 704 N.W.2d at 148; see also State v. Osterloh, 

5 The court is correct that in Chambers v. State we concluded that the Miller rule is 

procedural for retroactivity purposes. 831 N.W.2d 311, 328 (Minn. 2013). But that 

characterization is only relevant to Miller’s retroactive application, id. at 327-30, not to a 

court’s substantive amendment to the statutory scheme.

C/D-10

 
275 N.W.2d 578, 580 (Minn. 1978) (“Determination of what conduct constitutes a 

criminal offense and the punishment that ought to be imposed . . . is peculiarly a 

legislative and not a judicial function.” (citation omitted) (internal quotation marks 

omitted)); State v. Moilen, 140 Minn. 112, 115, 167 N.W. 345, 346 (Minn. 1918) (“It is 

the exclusive province of the Legislature to declare what acts . . . shall constitute a crime, 

to prohibit the same and impose appropriate penalties for a violation thereof.”). When it 

enacted the current version of the heinous-crimes statute, the Legislature removed the 

district court’s discretion to impose any sentence other than LWOR. Minn. Stat. 

§ 244.05, subd. 4(a) (“An inmate serving a mandatory life sentence [for first-degree 

premeditated murder] must not be given supervised release under this section.”); Minn. 

Stat. § 609.106, subd. 2(1) (“The court shall sentence a person to [LWOR] [if] the person 

is convicted of first-degree [premeditated] murder[.]”). Thus, under the current version 

of the relevant statutes, the only option the district court has in sentencing Mahdi for his 

first-degree premeditated murder conviction is LWOR, a sentence that is unconstitutional 

under Miller.

Yet, the court remands this case to the district court for that court to consider 

whether, in light of Mahdi’s youth, an LWOR sentence or a life sentence with the 

possibility of release after 30 years is the appropriate remedy. In so doing, the court, not 

the Legislature, has “fix[ed] the limits of punishment” available in sentencing Mahdi, in 

C/D-11
contravention of the Legislature’s authority.6

 See Shattuck, 704 N.W.2d at 148; see also 

Commonwealth v. Brown, 1 N.E.3d 259, 264-66 (Mass. 2013) (stating “[i]t is the 

province of the Legislature to define crimes and set penalties in the first instance” and 

rejecting the Commonwealth’s approach at remedying the unconstitutional sentencing 

statute in light of Miller because “the Commonwealth’s approach would have sentencing 

judges creating an entirely new penalty scheme ad hoc”). Accordingly, this court is 

without authority to remand to the district court to conduct a hearing. Instead, the 

appropriate remedy is to sever the unconstitutional provision, revive the 2004 version of 

Minn. Stat. § 244.05, subd. 4, and sentence Mahdi to life imprisonment with the 

possibility of release after 30 years. See Minn. Stat. § 244.05, subd. 4 (2004).

III.

In sum, I conclude that, by remanding to the district court to decide after a hearing 

whether Mahdi should be sentenced to LWOR or life imprisonment with the possibility 

of release after 30 years, we encroach on the Legislature’s responsibility to fix the limits 

of punishment. Accordingly, I would remand to the district court with instructions to 

impose a sentence of life imprisonment with the possibility of release after 30 years. See 

Minn. Stat. § 244.05, subd. 4 (2004).

6 Nothing prevents the Legislature from fixing the limits of punishment for 

juveniles in the same way that the court does today or in some other manner. The 

Legislature’s failure to fix the unconstitutional statute, however, does not give the court 

the authority to act on the Legislature’s behalf. Moreover, the court’s decision to modify 

the unconstitutional sentencing scheme now in place, rather than reviving the most recent 

constitutional version of the law, removes any incentive for the Legislature to amend the 

statutory scheme so that it complies with Miller’s requirements.

C/D-12

 
C O N C U R R E N C E & D I S S E N T

STRAS, Justice (concurring in part, dissenting in part).

I agree with many of the points made in Justice Page’s dissent, but write 

separately to explain my disagreement with Part III of the court’s opinion. The 

Legislature has stated in clear and unambiguous terms: “The court shall sentence a 

person to life imprisonment without possibility of release” for a conviction of first-degree 

premeditated murder. Minn. Stat. § 609.106, subd. 2 (2012). The entire court agrees that 

the mandatory LWOR sentence prescribed by the Legislature is unconstitutional with 

respect to juveniles like Mahdi Ali under Miller v. Alabama, ___ U.S. ___, 132 S. Ct. 

2455, 2460 (2012),1 but we disagree about the proper remedy.

It is well established that the judiciary does not write statutes; nor do we amend 

them, no matter the circumstances. See, e.g., Axelberg v. Comm’r of Pub. Safety, 

848 N.W.2d 206, 213 (Minn. 2014); Dukowitz v. Hannon Sec. Servs., 841 N.W.2d 147, 

151-54 (Minn. 2014); In re Estate of Karger, 253 Minn. 542, 548, 93 N.W.2d 137, 142 

(1958). Instead, our authority is limited to the exercise of “judicial power.” Minn. Const. 

1 I agree with the court’s conclusion that Ali did not forfeit his constitutional claim 

under Miller. The court correctly relies on Osborne in reaching its conclusion, but I am 

concerned that the court’s description of Osborne may be incomplete. The key to 

understanding Osborne is that an intervening change in the law had excused the 

defendant’s failure to assert what otherwise would have been a futile objection in the 

district court. See State v. Osborne, 715 N.W.2d 436, 442 (Minn. 2006) (noting that we 

had “consistently rejected any Blakely-type claim” and that we could not “expect 

defendants to continue, formalistically, to make motions or objections based on 

arguments that we have repeatedly rejected as being without legal merit”). Osborne does 

not broadly excuse the failure of defendants to object whenever there happens to be a 

change in the law.

C/D-1

 
art. III; Minn. Const. art. VI, § 1; Sanborn v. Rice Cnty. Comm’rs, 9 Minn. (9 Gil.) 273, 

278 (1864); see also State v. M.D.T., 831 N.W.2d 276, 284 (Minn. 2013) (Stras, J., 

concurring) (stating that the power of the judicial branch is limited to exercising the 

“judicial power”). The court presumes that the “judicial power” includes the authority to 

establish procedures within the courts—a proposition that finds support in State v. 

Chauvin, 723 N.W.2d 20 (Minn. 2006). Still, Chauvin provides, at most, only partial 

support for the court’s preferred remedy. Even if the “judicial power” includes authority 

to create an ad-hoc hearing procedure to comply with Miller, it certainly does not give 

courts the power to amend the heinous-crimes statute,2

see Minn. Stat. § 609.106, 

subd. 2, to replace “shall” with “may” so that it now reads, “the court may sentence a 

person to life imprisonment without possibility of release,” or, as the court also has done, 

to provide a list of substantive factors for district courts to consider in determining the 

appropriate sentence.3

 Amending statutes is, and always has been, the Legislature’s job, 

2 The court’s conclusion that the remedy in Chauvin is similar to the remedy in this 

case makes an apples-and-oranges comparison. An apple sounds like an orange when it 

is described as a sweet-tasting fruit that grows on a tree and has seeds. And while it is 

true that these are shared characteristics of both fruits, the fact remains that an apple is 

not an orange, and this case is not Chauvin. The court is correct when it says that 

Chauvin provides authority for the proposition that a court has the power in certain 

circumstances to make a procedural decision about which factfinder—the judge or the 

jury—will make a particular finding, but the court’s comparison falls short when it uses 

Chauvin to support its chosen remedy in this case. Chauvin simply did not involve a 

situation in which we were required to change the Legislature’s prescribed sentence for 

an offense so that the statute could pass constitutional muster. In concluding otherwise,

the court confuses apples and oranges.

3 Nowhere in the court’s opinion does it actually say what its amended heinouscrimes statute says. The court cannot be applying the current statute because it mandates 

C/D-2

 

(Footnote continued on next page.)
particularly when it involves defining criminal offenses and establishing criminal 

sentences. See State v. Osterloh, 275 N.W.2d 578, 580 (Minn. 1978) (“Determination of 

what conduct constitutes a criminal offense and the punishment that ought to be 

imposed . . . is peculiarly a legislative and not a judicial function.” (quoting State ex rel. 

Ahern v. Young, 273 Minn. 240, 243, 141 N.W.2d 15, 17 (1966))); State v. Moilen, 

140 Minn. 112, 115, 167 N.W. 345, 346 (1918) (“It is the exclusive province of the 

Legislature to declare what acts . . . constitute a crime, to prohibit the same and impose 

appropriate penalties for a violation thereof.”). 

Squarely within the scope of “judicial power,” however, is the power to sever an 

unconstitutional provision and enforce those remaining portions of the statute that do not 

violate the United States or Minnesota Constitutions. See State v. Barker, 705 N.W.2d 

768, 773 (Minn. 2005); State v. Shattuck, 704 N.W.2d 131, 143 (Minn. 2005); see also

State v. Melchert-Dinkel, 844 N.W.2d 13, 24 (Minn. 2014) (setting forth guidelines for 

determining when it is permissible to sever the unconstitutional portions of a statute). 

the imposition of a sentence of LWOR on Ali. See Sawh v. City of Lino Lakes, 

823 N.W.2d 627, 637-38 (Minn. 2012) (stating that the use of the word “shall” in a 

statute “indicates a duty that is mandatory, not one that is optional or discretionary”).

Instead, we have to be dealing with a hypothetical statute of the court’s own making, and, 

as Justice Page points out in his dissent, it is impossible to know whether the court’s 

hypothetical statute creates a constitutional problem under Blakely v. Washington, 

542 U.S. 296 (2004). If the statutory maximum of the court’s hypothetical statute is life 

with the possibility of release after 30 years, and additional facts must be found to impose 

a sentence of LWOR, then the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution 

requires those facts to be found by a jury, not by the judge. Id. at 301-04. Of course, the 

applicability of Blakely depends on the specific wording of the statute, which is another 

reason why the Legislature, and not this court, must amend the statute. 

C/D-3

 

(Footnote continued from previous page.)
That is what the Minnesota Constitution requires us to do here. Whether phrased in terms 

of statutory revival or severance of the unconstitutional provisions, the remedy is the 

same: we must declare the heinous-crimes statute unconstitutional as applied to Ali and 

remand the case to the district court with instructions to impose a sentence of life with the 

possibility of release.

C/D-4