Life Without Possibility of Release for Aiding & Abetting Premeditated Murder Constitutional Under State Constitution

State v. McDaniel, Minn.S.Ct., 01/21/1010.  A grand jury indicted Mr. McDaniel for aiding and abetting first degree premeditated murder, and committing a crime for the benefit of a gang; the state alleged that Mr. McDaniel helped Cornelius Jackson and LaMonte Martin in killing Christopher Lynch. 

Mr. McDaniel denied being a leader of a certain gang but admitted that he used to be the “chief” of this gang and had “some say-so” with that gang.  On rebuttal, the state presented a serious of officer witnesses to testify generally about various aspects of gangs.  The appellate court upholds the limited testimony that the trial court admitted here, without really breaking any new ground.  The appellate court has written about gang evidence several times over the past six months or so, here, here, and here. 

Following the homicide, several officers attempted to locate Mr. McDaniel, leaving messages with his mother, girlfriend, cousin and friend that there was a warrant for McDaniel’s arrest.  McDaniel eventually called one of the officers, and told her that he was not going to turn himself in.   Mr. McDaniel objected to this evidence of his pre-arrest conduct but the appellate court found no error in its admission.

Mr. McDaniel also complained of various acts of prosecutorial conduct.  The appellate court rejected most all of them, but it did find that this part of the prosecutor’s rebuttal closing argument was out of bounds:

There’s a reason why attorneys’ arguments, closing arguments, opening statements, questions and so forth are not evidence and cannot be considered by you as evidence. Because the attorneys will, oftentimes like to manipulate the evidence, make it what it isn’t—hoping hopes that you don‟t recall the evidence that was presented and then misrepresent the evidence to you and ask you to rely on their representations of the evidence as if that’s the truth.
There’s a reason why arguments aren’t evidence and that is because, one of the reasons is because when the evidence that comes from the witness stand if it doesn’t fit and an attorney stands up and gives you an explanation when that question was—when the opportunity for introducing that evidence was offered and passed by, it gives them the advantage by filling in the blanks for you in their own words when their clients can’t do it for themselves.

This error, however, was harmless.

Finally, the appellate court rejects Mr. McDaniel’s argument that a sentence of life without possibility of release for aiding and abetting first degree premeditated murder violates the Minnesota Constitution’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.