Court Opinion

ID: 9742152
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:07:36.424019+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:28.859865
License: Public Domain

ANDERSON, Paul H., Justice
(concurring).
I concur in the result reached by the majority and its reasoning on all of the issues except for part of its conclusion regarding Minn.Stat. § 609.25, subd. 1 (2004), the kidnapping statute. The majority reads this statute too broadly when it concludes that the placement and confinement of the Chromey family members in the kitchen of their home was not incidental to the burglary and thus constitutes kidnapping. Therefore, I would vacate Christopher Earl’s conviction under Count 7 (murder of Hollis Chromey while committing kidnapping) and Count 9 (murder of Jerrod Zapzalka while committing kidnapping), and remand for sentencing under either Count 1 or 4 (aiding and abetting the first-degree premeditated intentional murder of Chromey, or aiding and abetting the first-degree murder of Chromey while committing a burglary), and for sentencing under either Count 8 or 6 (aiding and abetting the first-degree premeditated intentional murder of Jerrod Zapzalka, or aiding and abetting the first-degree murder of Jerrod Zapzalka while committing burglary).