Court Opinion

ID: 9885073
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 03:29:08.769785+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:43.673713
License: Public Domain

HANSON, Justice,
concurring.
Although I concur in the affirmance of Jackson’s conviction, I write separately because I would reach that result by different means.
As to the gang expert testimony, Jackson curiously did not argue that the district court erred in admitting the testimony, but only that the state committed prosecutorial misconduct by offering it. By limiting his argument in this way, Jackson has imposed on himself a higher threshold than plain error. In addition to showing that the evidence was plainly inadmissible and sufficiently prejudicial to affect his substantial rights, Jackson must also show that the state had no good-faith basis to argue for admissibility and elicited the testimony knowing that it was inadmissible. See State v. White, 295 Minn. 217, 223, 203 N.W.2d 852, 857 (1973). Because our prior decisions do not establish absolutely clear boundaries on gang expert testimony, I conclude that Jackson failed to meet this higher threshold.
If the court, nevertheless, wishes to directly address the admissibility of the gang expert testimony, I would restrict, even further than the majority, the scope of admissible testimony. In fact, I would conclude that virtually none of Officer Meskan’s testimony was admissible because, first, insufficient foundation was laid to qualify Officer Meskan as an expert; second, several of his opinions were based on incompetent, anecdotal evidence; and third, the effect of his testimony was to supply character evidence that is prohibited by Minn. R. Evid. 404(a) or other *699crimes evidence that does not meet the requirements of Minn. R. Evid. 404(b). The more difficult question is whether we should exercise our discretion to apply a plain error test. My review of the record suggests that Jackson’s counsel was pursuing a strategy to capitalize on the gang-expert testimony. Not only did he not object to a single question in the extended examination of Officer Meskan, he engaged the officer in a detailed cross-examination about the gang criteria, apparently believing that the officer’s analysis was weak and could be exploited for Jackson’s benefit. I would decline to apply the plain error test to a situation where, as here, counsel deliberately forgoes an objection and then affirmatively develops and expands the evidence on cross-examination.
Finally, because I question the wisdom of defense counsel’s strategy in dealing with gang testimony, I would focus the ineffective assistance of counsel claim somewhat differently. For me, the question is whether defense counsel’s strategy, to not object to gang expert testimony and then to attempt to capitalize on it on cross-examination, was a reasonable strategy or was one that Jackson acquiesced in. See, e.g., State v. Jorgensen, 660 N.W.2d 127, 132-33 (Minn.2003) (rejecting the claim that counsel’s concession of intent to kill, in order to defeat the charge of premeditation, because the defendant acquiesced in the concession). Because I cannot answer these questions from the trial record, I would preserve the issue for review by postconviction petition.
On the scope of permissible gang expert testimony, I conclude that it is time for the court to provide greater supervision on this issue. We have been cautious in examining the first several cases under the “crime committed for the benefit of a gang” law, recognizing that the state may have difficulty proving the gang elements and waiting to see how the state may present its proof. But we have now reviewed enough cases to recognize the serious issues raised by this type of gang expert testimony and we need to both clarify the rules concerning its admissibility and consider mechanisms to mitigate against, any unfair prejudice to the defendant.
It may be true that, under the circumstances of a-given case, it will be difficult to prove that the underlying crime was committed for the benefit of a gang. But I do not find any basis to conclude that the legislature, when it enacted the gang legislation, intended to modify the conventional rules of evidence or otherwise relax the state’s burden of proof. And it must be remembered that any difficulty with the proof of the gang elements does not leave the state without legal recourse because gang involvement is not an independent crime but enhances the penalty for another underlying crime. MinmStat. § 609.229, subds. 3, 4 (2004). Thus, in cases where gang involvement cannot be proven by admissible evidence, the state can still proceed with the prosecution of the underlying crime. In the murder context, this is similar to the situation where the stqte has evidence to prove an intentional killing but not premeditation. The fact that admissible evidence of premeditation cannot be found does not justify the relaxation of the rules of evidence to allow inadmissible evidence.
Under Minn. R. Evid. 702, the threshold question, before getting to whether the testimony will “assist the trier of fact,” is whether the witness qualifies as an expert. The rule requires that the witness be “qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education.” I do not doubt that the organization of gang strike forces and the collection of anecdotal information about gangs contributes to *700the effectiveness of the investigation of gang-related crimes. But I doubt whether the experience gained and the information collected qualifies as “expertise” within the contemplation of Rule 702. My concern is whether the unscientific and unsystematic collection of anecdotal information about gangs can be construed to be “scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge” that can then be applied as a standard to evaluate the activities of a specific defendant and his or her associates.
This deficiency in Officer Meskan’s testimony is comparable to the deficiency that we recognized in State v. Williams, where we held that “drug courier profiles” that contain an “informally compiled abstract of characteristics thought typical of persons carrying illicit drugs,” do not qualify as “scientific” information for purposes of expert testimony. 525 N.W.2d 538, 545, 547 (Minn.1994) (quoting United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 547 n. 1, 100 S.Ct. 1870, 64 L.Ed.2d 497 (1980)). We said:
This is not to say that a reasonable and prudent police officer or DEA agent is not free to keep a mental checklist of possibly relevant factors bearing on their important role in intercepting drug couriers. It is simply to say that drug courier profiles are not “scientific” in any sense of the word, that agents may not mechanically rely on them in making investigative decisions affecting the constitutional privacy interests of citizens, and that reviewing courts also must not engage in a mechanistic deference to police testimony that the defendant’s conduct fit some profile.
Id. at 547. I would conclude that a law enforcement officer who specializes in gang investigations cannot thereby bootstrap himself into ' becoming a qualified expert witness on gangs and then be allowed to extrapolate from general and randomly obtained information to interpret the activities of a given defendant.
Further, even if Officer Meskan had qualified as an expert, the data on which he based his opinions was not independently admissible and was not shown to be of a type that could reasonably be relied upon by experts in the field. Although Officer Meskan stated that he has been involved in or reviewed hundreds of investigations of gang activities and interviewed numerous persons about gang activities, there is no way to determine whether the information he collected was accurate or whether it had general applicability to other situations.
Finally, the use of generalized testimony about the activities of gangs has the inevitable effect of being character evidence because it is offered to show not only the propensities of gangs but, by association, the propensities of a defendant who is said to be a gang member. Specifically, the discussion of the range of crimes committed by gangs represents both character evidence that is inadmissible under Rule 404(a) and other crime evidence that is admissible only if it meets the clear and convincing evidence requirement under Rule 404(b). In Williams, we recognized this same deficiency in drug courier profile evidence, quoting these observations by Professor Graham:
Normally proof of character involves witnesses who generalize on the basis of past acts of the defendant and this generalization is used to support an inference as to the conduct in issue. The drug courier profile involves a generalization based on the past acts of third persons. The jury is asked to infer from the fact that the defendant shares some of the characteristics of these third persons that he shares their guilt of drug smuggling.
*701525 N.W.2d at 547-48 (quoting 22 Charles A. Wright & Kenneth W. Graham, Jr., Federal Practice and Procedure — Evidence § 5233, at n. 53.2 (Interim ed. 1992 and Supp. 1994)). We determined that the drug courier profile evidence was “clearly and plainly inadmissible.” Id. at 548.
These deficiencies in Officer Meskan’s testimony are most seriously present with respect to his opinions that (1) the purpose of the Bloods gang is to commit crimes; (2) the types of crimes the gang commits include murder, assault, kidnapping, robbery, and weapons offenses; (3) specific members of the Bloods gang have a history of committing these types of crimes; (4) gang members have a need to assert their power and to intimidate others so as to be shown “respect”; (5) guns are reasonably available to gang members, often carried by juvenile gang members; (6) gang members wear black hooded sweatshirts (hood-ies) to conceal their identity and discard them when they have gun residue on them; and (7) the refusal to fight against a gang member is seen as a sign of disrespect for which retaliation is warranted. Further, as acknowledged in the majority opinion, Meskan’s testimony that was cumulative of first-hand witness testimony and that opined on the ultimate issues of Jackson’s motives was inadmissible.
Although the state may view this evidence as being “necessary” to prove that the murder was for the benefit of a gang, such necessity does not make it admissible. Because the legislature expressed no intent to change the rules of evidence concerning proof of gang involvement, I would not conclude that the application of conventional rules of evidence could be seen as frustrating the legislature’s purpose in enacting the gang laws. I conclude that the legislature’s purpose was to discourage gang activities by increasing the punishment for a crime where it could be proven that the crime was committed for the benefit of a gang. Here, as in many cases, the state offered proof through witnesses with first-hand knowledge of Jackson’s involvement with the Bloods and the activities of the Bloods. As we said in State v. DeSh-ay, “[t]his first-hand knowledge testimony is how the state can and should go about proving the essential elements of this crime.” 669 N.W.2d 878, 886 (Minn.2003).
Finally, if the court does not narrow the scope of admissible gang expert testimony as outlined in this concurring opinion, then I suggest that the court, in the exercise of its supervisory powers, specify that, with the consent of the defendant, the charge of first-degree murder for the benefit of a gang be bifurcated for trial from the charge of first-degree premeditated murder, and the charge of second-degree murder for the benefit of a gang be bifurcated for trial from the charge of second-degree intentional murder, in order to prevent the unfair prejudice that the character and other crime aspects of gang evidence may have on the jury’s evaluation of the evidence concerning a defendant’s guilt for the underlying crimes.