Supreme Court Opinions


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PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED OPINIONS

Please visit the Minnesota State Law Library's Appellate Opinions Archive for previously published Supreme Court Opinions.

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OPINIONS OF THE SUPREME COURT

FILED Wednesday, March 15, 2023

NOTICE - MEDIA RELEASE TIME IS 10:00 A.M.



A21-1523        In re State of Minnesota, Petitioner, State of Minnesota, Respondent, vs. Brian Lee Flowers, Appellant.
                         Court of Appeals.
            1.          The Sixth Amendment right to counsel is not implicated when the State provides a process for an incarcerated defendant to communicate with counsel on an unrecorded phone line, and the defendant instead chooses to communicate with counsel or share defense strategies with a third party by a method the defendant knows is recorded.
            2.          The court of appeals properly granted the State’s petition for a writ of prohibition because the district court was unauthorized by law to order the State to implement a taint team when the Sixth Amendment was not implicated and enforcement of the district court’s order would result in injury to the State for which there would be no adequate remedy.
            Affirmed. Justice G. Barry Anderson.
 
 
 
A21-0275        State of Minnesota, Appellant, vs. Joel Clarence Velisek, Respondent.
                         Court of Appeals.
            1.          Minnesota’s statute prohibiting operation of a motor vehicle by a person whose driver’s license is cancelled or denied as inimical to public safety, Minn. Stat. § 171.24, subd. 5 (2022), is enforceable on private property.
            2.          Because the defendant sought appellate review of the district court’s dispositive pretrial ruling through Minn. R. Crim. P. 26.01, subd. 4, this court’s interpretation of Minn. Stat. § 171.24, subd. 5, requires reversal of the court of appeals’ holding, which results in reinstatement of the defendant’s convictions.
            Reversed. Justice Anne K. McKeig.
 
 
 
A21-1001        Taquinia Kokela Douglas, Appellant, vs. State of Minnesota, Respondent.
                         Court of Appeals.
            1.          Under the plain language of the possession of shoplifting gear statute, Minnesota Statutes section 609.521(b) (2022), an “instrument designed to assist in shoplifting or defeating an electronic article surveillance system” means any item produced with special intentional adaptation to assist the defendant in shoplifting or defeating an electronic article surveillance system.
            2.          The evidence presented by the State that appellant covered security sensors on unpurchased items with aluminum foil to carry the unpurchased items out of the retail store without detection by the electronic article surveillance system is sufficient to support a conviction under section 609.521(b).
            Affirmed. Justice Gordon L. Moore, III.
 
 
 
ORDERS
 
A21-0929        In re the Petition for Reinstatement of Randall Fuller, a Minnesota Attorney, Registration No. 0180762.
                         Supreme Court.
            Reinstated. Chief Justice Lorie S. Gildea.
 

A21-0878        In re Petition for Disciplinary Action against Peder K. Davisson, a Minnesota Attorney, Registration No. 0257461.
                         Supreme Court.
            Conditionally reinstated. Justice Natalie E. Hudson.
 

A22-0922        In re Petition for Disciplinary Action against Grace I. Gardiner, a Minnesota Attorney, Registration No. 0282248.
                         Supreme Court.
            Suspended. Justice Natalie E. Hudson.
 
 
 
ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER
 
 
ADM10-8049             General Rules of Practice for the District Courts.
ADM09-8009              Supreme Court.
            Order promulgating amendments to the General Rules of Practice for the District Courts.
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ORDERS ON PETITIONS FOR FURTHER REVIEW

FILED Tuesday, March 14, 2023


(Petitioner indicated in Italic Type)

 POSTED THURSDAY AFTER SPECIAL TERM CONFERENCE


     Granted

  1.  In re State of Minnesota, State of Minnesota vs. Luis Alberto Martinez Ramirez – A22-1490

  Issue Granted: Did the Court of Appeals erroneously grant the state’s petition for a writ of prohibition where the district court properly followed legal precedent and the Rules of Criminal Procedure when it ordered the limited production of U.M.P.’s mental health records for in camera review?
 

  2.  State of Minnesota vs. Kristi Dannette Mcneilly – A22-0468

  Issue Granted: Ms. McNeilly was a practicing criminal defense attorney who became the subject of a criminal investigation.  Was the warranted search of her law office and computers, including over 1,500 privileged client files, constitutionally unreasonable when the police did nothing to protect the attorney-client and work product privileges and the warrants failed to particularize the items to be seized?
 

  3.  State of Minnesota vs. Curtis Lablanche Vanengen – A22-0105

  Issue Granted: Because criminal sexual conduct offenses involving a sleeping complainant usually occur in an area in which the complainant has an expectation of privacy, does the fact that the crime occurred in such an area make the defendant’s conduct significantly more serious than a typical criminal-sexual-conduct offense of this nature?

     Denied

  4.  Husky Construction, Inc. vs. Gestion G. Thibault, Inc. a/k/a E2SH – A22-0467
  5.  Cheryl Orcutt vs. Jon Crews, et al. – A22-0548 
  6.  In re the Marriage of: Anita Marie Waters vs. Charles Matthew Waters – A23-0002
  7.  Qays Abdi Ahmed vs. State of Minnesota – A22-0506
  8.  Brenda Lutzke vs. Metropolitan Council, et al. – A22-0194
  9.  In re the Custody of K.S.A. and G.M.A., Catherine Easter, vs. Justin David Alyea – A22-0533
10.  State of Minnesota vs. Cameron Oneal Clark – A22-0009
11.  State of Minnesota vs. Terry Lee Banks, Bail Bonds Doctor, Inc. – A22-0774
12.  State of Minnesota vs. Trever Joseph Palodichuk – A22-0070 
13.  State of Minnesota vs. Christopher Lee Konakowitz – A21-1575 
14.  State of Minnesota vs. Jonathan Charles Kalvoda – A22-0295 
15.  State of Minnesota vs. Abdirahman Hussein Farah – A21-1582 
16.  State of Minnesota vs. Renard Lydell Carter – A22-0313 
17.  State of Minnesota vs. Clinton Roosevelt Delaney – A21-1737
18.  State of Minnesota vs. Michael Douglas Capshaw – A21-1694 
19.  State of Minnesota vs. Ronald Anthony Falk – A22-0193 
20.  In re the marriage of: Alison Lee Henry, f/k/a Alison Lee Underthun, f/k/a Alison Underthun-Meilahn vs. Peter Jason Meilahn – A22-0142
21.  State of Minnesota vs. Darren Ray Liimatainen – A22-0893
22.  Pariss Demond Wright vs. State of Minnesota – A22-0431
23.  George Cornelius Watkins vs. State of Minnesota – A22-0291
24.  Pamela Wilhelm vs. Fairview Health Services, Department of Employment and Economic Development – A22-0443


     Stay Vacated/Denied

25. STAYED PETITION FOR REVIEW PENDING STATE V. TATE, A21-0359

   State of Minnesota vs. Patrick James Modtland – A21-0146

     Granted/Stayed – Filed March 3, 2023
 
  1.  In the Matter of the Welfare of the Child of: B.A.B. and B.J.J., Parents – A22-1145
 
  Issue Granted and Appeal Stayed Pending a Decision in In the Matter of the Welfare of the Child of: S.B.G., Parent, A22-0589: Whether the juvenile court had subject-matter jurisdiction to terminate the parental rights of Petitioner who is not a parent as defined in Minn. Stat. § 260C.007, subd. 25.