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STATE OF MINNESOTA IN SUPREME COURT A10-0992 A11-1293

Hennepin County

Page, J. Dissenting, Meyer and Anderson, Paul H., JJ.

State of Minnesota, Respondent, vs. Jerrell Michael Brown, Appellant. ________________________ Lori Swanson, Attorney General, St. Paul, Minnesota; and Michael O. Freeman, Hennepin County Attorney, Michael Richardson, Assistant County Attorney, for respondent. David W. Merchant, Chief Appellate Public Defender, G. Tony Atwal, Assistant Public Defender, St. Paul, Minnesota, for appellant. ________________________ SYLLABUS 1. Locking the courtroom doors during jury instructions did not implicate Filed: July 3, 2012 Office of Appellate Courts

appellant's right to a public trial when the trial court announced that all spectators were welcome to stay and the jury instructions did not comprise a proportionately significant portion of trial.

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The trial court did not err when it admitted evidence of appellant's

participation in a previous reckless-discharge-of-a-firearm incident. 3. The trial court did not err when it admitted expert gang testimony regarding

the general workings and activities of a gang. 4. The trial court did not err when it instructed the jury on aiding and abetting

because, when viewed as a whole, the jury instructions did not relieve the State of its burden of proof. 5. The prosecutor's failure to disclose impeaching evidence did not warrant a

new trial because the impeaching evidence was not material. Affirmed. OPINION PAGE, Justice. In March 2010 Jerrell Michael Brown was convicted of aiding and abetting firstdegree murder for the benefit of a gang in connection with the shooting death of Darius Ormond Miller, which occurred on August 29, 2008. On appeal, Brown challenges his conviction, claiming that the trial court violated his right to a public trial and erred in its evidentiary rulings and jury instructions. Brown also claims the prosecutor violated his right to a fair trial by failing to disclose impeachment evidence. Because the facts of this case do not implicate the right to a public trial, the trial court did not err in its evidentiary rulings or its jury instructions, and the undisclosed impeachment evidence was not material, we affirm Brown's conviction.

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On August 29, 2008, Darius Miller was fatally shot outside a club in downtown Minneapolis. Following a police investigation, the State filed a criminal complaint

alleging that Jerrell Brown aided and abetted the second-degree intentional murder of Miller. Minn. Stat.

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