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STATE OF MINNESOTA IN SUPREME COURT A08-467

Ramsey County State of Minnesota, Respondent, vs. Michael Joseph Hall, Jr., Appellant. ________________________

Gildea, J.

Filed: May 7, 2009 Office of Appellate Courts

Lawrence Hammerling, Chief State Appellate Public Defender, Michael F. Cromett, Assistant State Public Defender, St. Paul, Minnesota, for appellant. Lori Swanson, Attorney General, St. Paul, Minnesota; and Susan Gaertner, Ramsey County Attorney, Mark Nathan Lystig, Assistant County Attorney, St. Paul, Minnesota, for respondent. ________________________

SYLLABUS 1. evidence. 2. The district court did not abuse its discretion in instructing the jury on the The district court did not commit prejudicial error in the admission of

duty to retreat applicable to the legal excuse of self-defense.

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3. to a new trial.

The cumulative effect of any errors is not such that the appellant is entitled

Affirmed. OPINION GILDEA, Justice. A Ramsey County jury found appellant Michael Joseph Hall, Jr., guilty of firstdegree premeditated murder in connection with the shooting death of Shawn Moore. Hall brings this direct appeal challenging a number of the district courts evidentiary rulings and he argues that the jury instructions were erroneous. We affirm. The evidence at trial established that Shawn Moore was fatally wounded on April 29, 2007. The shooting happened outside the St. Paul apartment Moore shared with his girlfriend, S.B. Witnesses identified Moores assailant as Hall, who is S.B.s brother. The State offered evidence showing that Hall and Moore had been at odds, in part because of the relationship between Moore and S.B. Moore and S.B. began living together in late 2006. But in March 2007, S.B. moved out and ended her relationship with Moore. When S.B. ended the relationship, Moore threatened to kill her and her family, including her children. On April 9, 2007, approximately three weeks before the murder, Hall was on his way to his mothers house to pick up some documents when he learned that Moore was there. Halls mother was concerned about Moores presence. Moore spoke to Hall and when Hall ignored him, Moore insulted Hall by using derogatory language. After Moore left, Hall called Moores cell phone number and told Moore not to come to Halls 2

mothers home anymore. Moore then returned to the home and he and Hall exchanged words. Moore threatened to kill Hall and mutilate his body. Hall drew a gun from his waistband, set it on the hood of his car and told Moore to get his gun. When Halls mother intervened, Hall put his gun away and drove away with his girlfriend. Moore drove after them, made threatening hand gestures to Hall, and his car hit Halls car on the passengers side. Hall reported the incident to St. Louis Park police. Later in April, S.B. and Moore moved back in together. Hall learned that his sister and Moore had renewed their relationship, and the difficulties between the two men continued. For example, a witness testified that shortly after Moore renewed his

relationship with S.B., Moore went looking for Hall armed with a gun. There was also testimony at trial establishing that Hall and Moore exchanged several threatening messages between April 9 and April 29, with most of the calls coming from Hall. Hall testified that the calls he placed to Moores phone were prank calls, not threats. On the night of the shooting, Moore was at his apartment with S.B. and her children. A friend, R.T., was also there. At approximately 9:40 p.m., Moore went outside the apartment to smoke a cigarette. S.B. testified that she heard two loud pops while Moore was outside. R.G., a friend of Moores, testified that he was sitting in Moores car in the parking lot behind the building on the night of the murder, drinking and dozing off in the passenger seat when he heard two gunshots. After hearing the gunshots, R.G. saw Hall run down the sloped yard of the apartment building and get into his car. R.T. looked out the window of the apartment after hearing the gunshots and saw

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Hall drive out of the parking lot. R.G. testified that Hall drove away without turning on the cars headlights. S.B. testified that the wounded Moore ran into the apartment and said, "They got me." R.T. testified that he remembered Moores initial statement as, "He shot me in my back." S.B. asked who Moore meant and Moore replied, "Mike," who m S.B. understood to be Hall. Moore stumbled down the hallway and collapsed near the bathroom. S.B. then called the police. When the police arrived, they found Moore bleeding profusely. He was

transported to Regions Hospital by ambulance but was declared dead on arrival in the emergency room at 10:13 p.m. The cause of death was a single gunshot wound. Moore also had a laceration on his lower lip, a sign of blunt force injury, possibly from a fall, kick, or punch. Forensic evidence established that when he was shot, Moore was in the hallway of the apartment building that leads from the back door of the building to his ground floor apartment. He was shot a few centimeters below the left scapula, or shoulder blade, with a .40 caliber semiautomatic pistol. Two shots were fired at Moore in quick succession and in a downward trajectory. Law enforcement identified the murder weapon as a gun owned by Halls former girlfriend, C.J. Hall testified that he used C.J.s gun to shoot Moore, and that he returned it to C.J. shortly thereafter. Finally, the forensic evidence established that Moore was shot through the glass window of a security door at the rear of the building.

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S.B. told one of the responding police officers that Hall had shot Moore and described the car Hall was driving. Hall, meanwhile, called his mother and told her, "Something bad just happened." Police subsequently arrested Hall. Sergeant Daniel Moriarty of the St. Paul Police Department interviewed Hall following his arrest. The interview began approximately three hours after the shooting, at 12:56 a.m. on April 30. Moriarty advised Hall of his Miranda rights, including his right to counsel. Moriarty said he wanted to hear Halls side of the story regarding what had happened to Moore. Hall said he first wanted to hear the officers side of the story. Hall said he had no idea why he had been arrested. Told by Moriarty that Moore had been shot, Hall twice responded, "Mm-hmm." Asked whether he had shot Moore, Hall

replied, "I dont have any comment about that, Im just listenin, Im just hearin your side of the story." Moriarty said he knew Hall had shot Moore and asked Hall why he did it. Hall responded, "Im not admitting to anything and Im just talkin to you about a story youre tellin me, so, Im not, until I have a lawyer, you know, Im not really gonna break down anything. You know?" Hall said even if, "hypothetically," he had been at the scene, someone else could have shot Moore. During the interview with police, Hall denied owning or recently purchasing a handgun. "As far as I know Im actually ineligible I believe," Hall told Moriarty. Hall continued, "Uh, fifth-degree assault, dont that make me ineligible?" Moriarty

responded, "Okay. I didnt know you had an assault." Moriarty immediately returned to his line of questioning, asking whether C.J., Halls former girlfriend, had purchased a handgun for Hall. Hall denied that she had done so. Another police officer, Sergeant 5

James Gray, arrived during the latter half of the interview to administer a gunshot residue test to Hall. Asked by Gray when he had last fired a gun, Hall replied, "Who says I have fired a gun? Who says I have even held a gun before?" Hall said he might have fired a gun earlier on April 29 on private land in Farmington but refused to identify the landowner. About 23 minutes into the interview, Hall said to Moriarty, "So whats the deal man? You gonna give me a lawyer or what?" approximately 37 more minutes. A grand jury subsequently indicted Hall on one count of first-degree murder with premeditation in violation of Minn. Stat.

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