Opinion ID: 2101401
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Aiding and advising in felony murder.

Text: Defendant also contends that the State presented insufficient evidence to prove that she intentionally aided and advised in the intentional criminal damage to property which resulted in the victim's death. The case law on aiding and advising under Minn.Stat. § 609.05 is absolutely clear that an aider and adviser need not have pulled the trigger; a person may be held criminally liable as an aider and abettor without actively participating in the overt act constituting the primary offense. State v. Strimling, 265 N.W.2d 423, 429 (Minn.1978). [5] Strimling cited the seminal case of State v. Parker, 282 Minn. 343, 164 N.W.2d 633 (1969), for the proposition that a person can aid by inaction. Presence, companionship, and conduct before and after the offense are circumstances from which the requisite criminal intent may be inferred. In Parker his presence and acts helped to make all the crimes possible. Therefore, his lack of objection under the circumstances supports his conviction. 282 Minn. at 355, 164 N.W.2d at 641. The more recent cases of State v. Gruber, 264 N.W.2d 812 (Minn.1978), and State v. Ulvinen, 313 N.W.2d 425 (Minn. 1981), refined but did not alter this standard. Both Gruber and Ulvinen found insufficient evidence for a conviction. But both stressed that a mechanical application of the Parker rule is to be avoided. The decisive factor in Gruber was that evidence of prior activity, which may have been significant if the verdict had been murder, loses a great deal of its probative value and importance when the crime committed was one of sudden passion and anger.  264 N.W.2d at 819 (emphasis added). There was no evidence in Gruber that a robbery or murder was intended, no protracted presence by the defendant during the commission of the crime. Although the defendant had given the gun and the keys to a stolen car to the perpetrator there was no connection shown between this event and the subsequent heat-of-passion shooting. The contrast with this case is obvious. The evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, shows that defendant was present before, during, and after the shooting. This was not a heat-of-passion crime. There had been shooting at signposts and homes before the critical incident. The crime charged is the criminal destruction of property leading to the death of the victim. Thus, the intended damage to property in a dangerous manner is the requisite mens rea. The verdict was felony murder and evidence of prior activity is highly significant under Gruber. Defendant made no objection to this random shooting behavior. She even returned to the apartment with the men for more ammunition and then got back into the car for a continuation of the same activity. Her allegation at trial that she feared Croft was not proven and in any case did not rise to the level of coercion or duress. Moreover, the evidence is overwhelming that she directed Croft and Back to the victim's home. [6] This is just the type of prior aid which the Gruber court would regard as extremely significant evidence of the requisite criminal intent. The Ulvinen case does not alter this reasoning in declaring that something more is required than mere inaction to impose liability under Minn.Stat. § 609.05. Directing the driver to the victim's home, riding along in the car without protesting the random rifle shooting, and aiding in the concealment of the weapon the following day do not constitute mere inaction or passive acquiescence. There was no evidence in Ulvinen that the mother's statement to her son to the effect that the murder of her daughter-in-law would be the best for the kids had any influence on the son's decision to kill his wife. 313 N.W.2d at 428. However, defendant gave the victim's address to Croft and he then drove to the home obviously influenced by those directions. Additionally, she admitted telling Croft to shoot at the windows. Defendant's assertion that she had no power over Croft's actions is inconsistent with her claim that when she told him to shoot at the windows he did so and when she directed him to the Earle Brown School he went there. Taken together all these actions are sufficient evidence to support the inference that defendant intended criminal damage to the victim's home. Defendant's claimed intoxication is not sufficient to negate this level of intent. She contradicted herself so often that it is impossible to determine how much was ingested. [7] The rule in Minnesota is that the mere fact of a person's drinking does not create a presumption of intoxication, and the possibility of intoxication does not create the presumption that a person is incapable of intending to commit a certain act. State v. Wahlberg, 296 N.W.2d 408, 418 (Minn.1980). The defendant has the burden of establishing intoxication by a fair preponderance of the evidence. In view of the minute detail defendant recalls about the evening of July 16, 1982, and the selectivity of her memory, we hold defendant has not met that burden. It strains credibility to believe she blacked out at the precise moment Croft decided to fire the first shots and she awoke with the firing of the last two which, according to defendant, must have been the fatal shots. It is hard to believe that immediately upon returning to consciousness she had the presence of mind to think about whether shooting through windows is safer than shooting through walls, which is the rationale she advanced at trial. Additionally, she testified that the car was at one point parked in the middle of the street in front of the victim's home and at another point was moving while Croft was firing. This testimony is inconsistent with the claimed lack of consciousness. Further, there was no mention of blackouts even in her second statement which was meant to clarify the first, specifically with regard to the subject of intoxication. The State has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant aided and advised in a felony murder.