Court Opinion

ID: 9516405
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 23:42:01.071322+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:35:38.164907
License: Public Domain

TOML JANOVICH, Justice
(concurring specially).
I concur with the result; however, I respectfully disagree with the reasoning.
The majority concludes we need not address the legal consistency of the verdicts because the defendant requested the court to submit a third-degree murder instruction to the jury. If that is so, it is difficult to foresee a situation where we would ever address the issue. Since the defendant will nearly always be the party requesting submission of the lesser offense, the majority’s decision today effectively precludes this court *332from considering the legal consistency of verdicts except in those rare cases where the prosecution requests submission of the lesser offense. Review of the consistency of verdicts is crucial to ensure that justice was done. Because I feel the majority’s holding circumvents this crucial function of judicial review, I believe we must address the legal consistency of a finding of guilt to both first-degree and third-degree murder.
Jury verdicts are legally inconsistent when a necessary element of each offense is subject to conflicting findings. State v. Moore, 438 N.W.2d 101, 108 (Minn.1989). A necessary element is an element the prosecution must prove to sustain its burden of proof. Id. Thus, verdicts of first-degree and second-degree murder are not legally inconsistent because the lack of premeditation is not a necessary element of second-degree murder. Id. (stating “if lack of premeditation was a necessary element, the state in a prosecution of second-degree murder would be required to prove that premeditation was absent.”).
In this case, the jury found the defendant guilty of both first and third-degree murder. To sustain a verdict of first-degree premeditated murder, the state must prove 1) a death occurred, 2) the defendant caused the death, 3) the defendant acted with premeditation, and 4) the defendant acted with the intent to kill. See Minn.Stat. § 609.185(a) (1994); 10 Minn.Dist. Judges Ass’n, Minnesota Practice, CRIMJIG 11.02 (3d ed. 1990). The third-degree murder statute provides in part:
(a) Whoever, without intent to effect the death of any person, causes the death of another by perpetrating an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life, is guilty of murder in the third degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 25 years.
Minn.Stat. § 609.195(a) (1994).
Although lack of intent to effect death is part of the description of depraved mind murder, lack of intent is not an essential element of Minn.Stat. § 609.195(a) since it need not be proven at trial. See 10 Minn. Dist. Judges Ass’n, Minnesota Practice, CRIMJIG 11.18 (3d ed. 1990). There are five elements of third-degree murder pursuant to Minn.Stat. § 609.195(a). First, a death occurred. Second, an intentional act of the defendant caused the death. Third, the act was eminently dangerous to others. That is, the act was eminently dangerous to more than one person. See State v. Wahlberg, 296 N.W.2d 408, 417 (Minn.1980) (stating the statute was intended to cover reckless or wanton acts committed without regard to their effect on a particular person). Fourth, perpetration or commission of the act evinces a depraved mind. A depraved mind has been characterized as a person who by their conduct displays disregard for human life. Conduct that displays disregard for human life and thus evinces a depraved mind is conduct that is wanton or vicious. See State v. Jackman, 396 N.W.2d 24, 30 (Minn.1986).
Fifth, the act was perpetrated without regard for human life. If an act is perpetrated without regard for human life, it means that under the circumstances existing at the time the act was committed, it was very likely that someone would be killed, and that despite having knowledge of this high degree of likelihood, the defendant proceeded to act, indifferent to the consequences. See Model Penal Code § 210.2 comment at 28 (1980) (stating “the actor must perceive and consciously disregard the risk of death of another before the conclusion of recklessness can be drawn.”). The terms “recklessness” or “indifference” do not preclude an act of intentional injury. See Robinson v. State, 307 Md. 738, 517 A.2d 94, 98 (App.1986). The terms “recklessness” or “indifference” refer to the risk of death, not to the manner in which the act that produces that result is undertaken. Id. Thus, to the extent that CRIMJIG 11.18, which the trial court used in instructing the jury,1 indicates that the third-degree murder *333statute requires proof that the defendant’s act that caused the victim’s death was committed in a reckless or wanton manner, that portion of the JIG is erroneous.
CRIMJIG 11.18 states in relevant part:
Third, defendant’s intentional act which caused the death of _ was eminently dangerous to human beings and was performed without regard for human life. Such an act may not be specifically intended to cause death, and may be without specific design on the particular person whose death occurred, but [the act] is committed in a reckless or wanton manner with the knowledge that someone may be killed and with a heedless disregard of that happening.
(emphasis added).
This explication of the statute implies that one element of proof involves a determination that the act was committed in a reckless or wanton manner, which implies a comparison with how a reasonable person would have acted. Use of the word “reckless” has the unintended effect of adding an element of mental state to the statute that does not exist. For example, a person could deliberately and intentionally plan to shoot at a train full of people. That conduct would not be committed in a reckless or wanton manner. Rather, that conduct would be planned and intentionally committed with reckless disregard for the likelihood of death.
I believe that in this case the convictions under the first-degree premeditated murder statute and the third-degree murder statute are not inconsistent because there are no necessary elements of either offense that are subject to conflicting findings. Premeditated murder of an unborn child or of a pregnant woman is, by definition, an act that is eminently dangerous to others. Because the unborn child was inside the mother, a premeditated murder of either the mother or the unborn child necessarily involved danger to “others.” Further, premeditated murder is, without question, conduct that is wanton and vicious and thus displays a depraved heart. Finally, premeditated murder indicates a reckless or willful indifference to human life. Therefore, there are no elements of a first-degree murder conviction that are inconsistent or in conflict with a conviction for third-degree murder.
In addition, assuming appellant knew that stabbing the woman was an eminently dangerous act and that it had a high degree of risk, the only difference between whether appellant could be convicted of first or third-degree murder was whether he intended to kill the victim. Since proof of lack of intent is not a necessary element of third-degree murder, no inconsistency exists between these two convictions.
For these reasons, I believe that a conviction under Minn.Stat. § 609.185(a) is not legally or logically inconsistent with a conviction under Minn.Stat. § 609.195(a).

. In relation to the third-degree murder charge, the trial judge instructed the jury:
The elements of murder in the third degree are: First, the death of Bonnie Rannow must
be proven. Second the defendant caused the death of Bonnie Rannow. Third, defendant’s intentional act which caused the death of Bonnie Rannow was eminently dangerous to hu*333man beings and was performed without regard for human life. Such an act may not be specifically intended to cause death, and may be without specific design on the particular person whose death occurred, but [the act] is committed in a reckless or wanton manner with the knowledge that someone may be killed and with a heedless disregard for that happening.
(emphasis added).