Opinion ID: 1726381
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: State v. Wright

Text: On a remand from the Supreme Court, we applied the Davis/Hammon principles in State v. Wright, 726 N.W.2d 464 (Minn. 2007). Wright involved a 911 call and victim interviews. Wright allegedly pulled a gun and pointed it at his girlfriend, R.R., and her sister before leaving the apartment Wright and R.R. shared. Wright, 726 N.W.2d at 467, 470. R.R. called 911, told the operator how she had been threatened, described Wright in response to the operator's questioning, and then asked her sister to speak with the operator after the operator told R.R. that the police had arrived at the apartment. Id. at 467-68. After determining where R.R. and her sister were in the building and notifying R.R.'s sister that the police had sighted Wright and were following him, the operator learned that Wright was in police custody and informed R.R.'s sister of this fact. Id. at 468. Then, in response to R.R.'s sister's concerns and questions, the operator comforted and assured the sister that the situation was under control. Id. Following Wright's arrest, police officers conducted a field investigation interview of both R.R. and her sister at the apartment. Id. at 469. We concluded in Wright that the police interviews were testimonial but that the entire 911 call was nontestimonial. Id. at 475-76. Regarding the interviews, we stated that as in Davis/Hammon, by the time the interviews occurred, the emergency had ended because Wright was in custody. 726 N.W.2d at 476. We therefore concluded that the interviews were conducted to establish events potentially relevant to Wright's prosecution. Id. Regarding the 911 call, we specifically addressed whether the 911 call should be divided between testimonial and nontestimonial statements, but we concluded that it was not necessary to do so. Id. at 474. We concluded that the emergency was ongoing until Wright was in custody, and even after Wright was in custody, the sole purpose of the remainder of the call was to calm R.R.'s sister and not to establish or prove past events. Id. at 474-75 (distinguishing the facts from those in Davis ).