Opinion ID: 1670153
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Aiding and Abetting First-Degree Premeditated Murder

Text: As for Clark's conviction for aiding and abetting first-degree premeditated murder, in order for Clark to be convicted of aiding and abetting first-degree murder, the State had to prove that Clark intentionally aided, advised, hired, counseled, or conspired with or otherwise procure[d] the other to commit the crime. Minn. Stat. § 609.05 (2006). If a defendant plays a knowing role in the commission of a crime and [takes] no steps to thwart it, he is guilty of aiding and abetting. State v. Ostrem, 535 N.W.2d 916, 924 (Minn.1995). To show that Clark played a knowing role in the shooting, the State had to prove that Clark knew that his accomplice, in this case Reed, was going to shoot Officer Sackett and that Clark intended his presence or acts to encourage or further the completion of the crime. Mahkuk, 736 N.W.2d at 682. Intentional presence at or near the scene of the crime alone is insufficient to support a conviction for aiding and abetting. Id. The evidence the State relies on to support Clark's aiding and abetting conviction is the same circumstantial evidence the State relies on in support of Clark's conspiracy conviction. Again, there is no direct evidence of Clark's involvement in Officer Sackett's shooting. As discussed above, the evidence of Clark's presence at United Black Front meetings, his agreement with Reed's statements about killing a police officer, statements of his own about black power and self-defense, and Clark's close relationship with Reed, standing alone, does nothing more than suggest that Clark is guilty because of his association with Reed and is insufficient to support an inference that Clark played a knowing role in the shooting of Officer Sackett. Moreover, Harper's testimony that Reed and Clark were seen leaving Day's apartment establishes nothing more than Clark's mere presence in Reed's company some 15 to 30 minutes before the shooting. That evidence does not, however, place Clark in Reed's company at the time of or after the shooting. Nor does it lead unerringly to the conclusion that Clark knew of the plan to shoot a police officer that night or that he played a knowing role in the plan. Further, the record is silent with respect to any action taken by Clark at anytime in furtherance of Officer Sackett's shooting. Finally, for the same reasons discussed above, the Nebraska bank robbery evidence is also insufficient to support the conclusion that Clark played a knowing role in the shooting of Officer Sackett or took any actions in furtherance of that crime. Having concluded that Trimble's uncorroborated accomplice testimony cannot be used to support Clark's convictions and that the remaining evidence is insufficient to support Clark's convictions for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and for aiding and abetting first-degree murder, I conclude that Clark's convictions must be reversed outright. As we stated in Bernhardt, on a record with more available evidence to support the conviction than is present here, [i]f our standard on circumstantial evidence means anything, it means [that, in this case, Clark] cannot be convicted on this record that does not exclude other rational hypotheses. 684 N.W.2d at 479. The same is true here. [7]