Court Opinion

ID: 9573293
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:51:49.185399+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:40:07.243960
License: Public Domain

GILDEA, Justice
(concurring).
I concur in the majority’s conclusion to affirm the conviction. I write separately to express my view on two issues. The first issue relates to the flight instruction. I agree that the district court erred in giving the flight instruction as worded in this case. But in my view our opinion should not be read as prohibiting a properly worded flight instruction in every case. See State v. McLaughlin, 250 Minn. 309, 319, 84 N.W.2d 664, 671-72 (1957) (“When the proof is sufficient the trial court may instruct the jury that inference of guilt from the evidence of flight, in connection with other proof, may form the basis from which guilt may be inferred, but this should be qualified by a general statement of the countervailing conditions incidental to a comprehensive view of the question.”); see also United States v. Clark, 45 F.3d 1247, 1250-51 (8th Cir.1995); United States v. Roy, 843 F.2d 305, 310-11 (8th Cir.1988).
The second issue relates to the majority’s conclusion that the district court erred in allowing the state to inquire on cross-examination about circumstances of Valti-erra’s conviction in 2000 for aggravated robbery. I disagree with the conclusion that the district court erred. In my view, the district court did not abuse its discretion in finding that Valtierra “opened the door” to the state’s cross-examination as quoted in the majority opinion.
On direct examination, defense counsel established that Valtierra had been convicted of several prior felonies, one of which was an aggravated robbery conviction in 2000. The majority opinion discusses Valtierra’s statement that he was “taking full responsibility for what [he] did” in 2000. Also important to my view of this issue is what happened later in the direct examination. Specifically, when discussing the night of the murder, defense counsel asked Valtierra: “But you agree, though, that you put yourself in that situation so you had to accept — is that right?” Valtierra responded:
I guess when I look back at everything that happened, I am still in disbelief. I still can’t believe that I am on the stand or I am even in a trial for a murder case, you know. I know I would never, never murder nobody. I know I would never shoot nobody. 1 know I love life. I know if [the murder victims] were here, they would tell you guys that I didn’t have no gun. I know they would.
(Emphasis added.) At the conclusion of the direct testimony, defense counsel moved to preclude the prosecution from inquiring further into the facts of the prior aggravated robbery conviction. The district court denied the motion concluding that Valtierra had opened the door to the state asking questions regarding the 2000 offense. On this record, I would not conclude that the district court abused its broad discretion in allowing the limited cross-examination.