Court Opinion

ID: 9721339
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:56:59.906142+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:25.030147
License: Public Domain

LANCASTER, Justice
(concurring specially).
I concur with the result. I write separately, however, because I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that the district court abused its discretion in admitting Spreigl evidence of appellant’s agreement to kill Tanya Achenbach’s husband. Under Minn. R. Evid. 404(b), evidence of “another crime, wrong, or act” may be admitted to show absence of mistake or accident. The majority holds that the district court abused its discretion by admitting the Spreigl evidence because the state failed to establish an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. In my view, the agreement itself, even if not accompanied by an overt act, was a “wrong” admissible under rule 404(b). As stated by the majority, the state established by clear and convincing evidence that appellant and Daniel Angus agreed to commit murder. Furthermore, appellant claimed he shot Anthony Basta because of the interpersonal dynamics between him and his car-mates; they were pressuring him and making him feel rejected. That appellant and Angus, two members of this very group, had recently agreed to engage in criminal activity was relevant and probative on the matter of the interpersonal dynamics and the effect of those dynamics on appellant’s state of mind when he shot Basta. Thus, I would hold that the district court was within its discretion in admitting this evidence.