Opinion ID: 1811743
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Did Turnage Satisfy the Second Larrison Factor for Withdrawn Testimony?

Text: I agree that Quantez's recantation statement, by itself, does not sufficiently satisfy the second Larrison factor to require a new trial. But, I conclude that the statement was at least sufficient to warrant an evidentiary hearing to address each of the Larrison factors. Clearly, the postconviction court should not answer the first Larrison factorwhether Quantez's trial testimony was falsewithout an evidentiary hearing to test that statement. We have regularly cautioned against making reliability determinations without an evidentiary hearing. See, e.g., Wilson v. State, 726 N.W.2d 103, 107 (Minn.2007); Opsahl v. State, 677 N.W.2d 414, 423-24 (Minn.2004). The majority attempts to avoid this concern about the first Larrison factor by, in essence, assuming that this factor has been met and proceeding to the second Larrison factor to determine if the absence of any testimony from Quantez might have produced a different result. To hold that the second Larrison factor was not met, the majority must conclude that the absence of testimony from Quantez could not possibly have changed the result. In other words, if it is not enough to simply conclude that the other evidence would be sufficient to convict, because we must ask the more difficult question of whether the absence of Quantez's testimony might have made a difference, we should not give a negative answer to that question summarily, without a hearing, unless we are satisfied that there is no possibility that the absence could have made a difference. I find that question to be a close call. If this were the only aspect of Quantez's recantation statement, I might be inclined to agree with the majority. But because it is not the only aspect, I respectfully disagree and conclude that an evidentiary hearing is warranted, for the reasons discussed below.