OPINION STRAS , Justice . This case involves an appeal from a postconviction court's summary denial of Reginald Lee Gail's second petition for postconviction relief. Because Minn. Stat. 590.04, subd. 3 (2016), bars Gail's claims, we affirm the postconviction court's decision. I. In 2004, Gail shot and killed Yvain Braziel during a drug deal. 1 Following a trial, a jury found Gail guilty of first-degree murder while committing a felony involving the unlawful sale of a controlled...
OPINION ANDERSON , Justice . Appellant Brian Keith Hooper appeals the postconviction court's summary denial of his fourth petition for postconviction relief. See State v. Hooper ( Hooper I ), 620 N.W.2d 31 (Minn. 2000); State v. Hooper ( Hooper II ), 680 N.W.2d 89 (Minn. 2004); State v. Hooper ( Hooper III ), 838 N.W.2d 775 (Minn. 2013). The postconviction court denied Hooper's petition as untimely under Minn. Stat. 590.01, subd. 4 (2014), and his previously raised claims as...
OPINION ANDERSON , Justice . Appellant James Yates was injured in a car accident in Minnesota and sought basic economic loss benefits under Minnesota's No-Fault Automobile Insurance Act, Minn. Stat. 65B.41-.71 (2014), from respondent Founders Insurance Company, his insurer. Founders argued that the Act does not require it to provide basic economic loss coverage because Founders is an out-of-state insurer that does not write motor vehicle insurance in Minnesota. An arbitrator awarded...
OPINION ANDERSON , Justice . Appellant Junious Taylor, Jr. pleaded guilty to felony domestic assault in Ramsey County District Court. Following sentencing, Ramsey County Community Corrections (Corrections) notified the district court that, due to his conviction, Taylor was required to register as a predatory offender. Taylor moved to withdraw his guilty plea, and the district court denied the motion. Taylor appealed, and the court of appeals affirmed the district court's decision....
OPINION GILDEA , Chief Justice . The question presented in this case is whether an offender who contends that his sentence violates Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296 , 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004), must bring that challenge before the expiration of the 2-year limitations period in the postconviction statute, Minn. Stat. 590.01, subd. 4 (2014). Respondent Willie Edd Reynolds challenged the imposition of a 10-year conditional-release term as part of his sentence under Minn....
OPINION PER CURIAM . In August 2016, respondents Tyler Vasseur, et al. (collectively, "Vasseur") filed a petition with Hennepin County District Court pursuant to Minn.Stat. 204B.44(a) (Supp.2015), asking the court to order the Minneapolis City Council to place a charter amendment before the voters on the November 2016 general election ballot establishing a local minimum-wage standard in the City of Minneapolis. The district court granted Vasseur's petition, concluding that the proposed...
OPINION HUDSON , Justice . Following a jury trial, appellant Diamond Lee Jamal Griffin was convicted of first-degree felony murder, Minn.Stat. 609.185(a)(3) (2014), in connection with the shooting death of Francisco Benitez-Hernandez. 1 On appeal, Griffin contends the district court committed reversible error when it admitted Spreigl evidence and when it denied his motion for a mistrial. He also claims that the State failed to present sufficient evidence to prove he intentionally...
OPINION LILLEHAUG , Justice . Hennepin County (the County) assessed real estate taxes on two properties in Medina (the Subject Properties) owned by STRIB IV, LLC (STRIB IV). STRIB IV submitted an application to the County to classify the Subject Properties under Minnesota's Green Acres statute, Minn. Stat. 273.111 (2014). The County denied that application. The tax court affirmed the County's decision. Because we conclude the tax court correctly determined that STRIB IV is not entitled...
OPINION STRAS , Justice . In a proceeding before the Minnesota Tax Court, Minnesota Energy Resources Corporation (MERC) challenged the Commissioner of Revenue's valuation of its natural-gas pipeline distribution system for the years 2008 through 2012. With the exception of 2012, the lone year in which it increased the assessed value of the pipeline distribution system, the tax court reduced the Commissioner's valuation and ordered the Commissioner to recalculate MERC's tax liability. Both...
OPINION HUDSON , Justice . In 2008, appellant Lincoln Lamar Caldwell was convicted of first-degree murder for the benefit of a gang on an accomplice-liability theory. We affirmed Caldwell's conviction and the denial of his first two postconviction petitions in August 2011. See State v. Caldwell ( Caldwell I ), 803 N.W.2d 373 (Minn.2011). Caldwell subsequently filed a third postconviction petition in May 2012, in which he alleged that three witnesses presented false testimony at his...
OPINION HUDSON , Justice . This case presents the question of whether an air-powered BB gun is a "firearm" under the felon-in-possession statute, Minn.Stat. 609.165 (2014). The State charged appellant David Haywood with one count of Possession of a Firearm by an Ineligible Person under Minn.Stat. 609.165, subd. 1b. Haywood filed two motions to dismiss. In the first motion, Haywood argued that the charge should be dismissed because the BB gun that police found in his possession was...
OPINION GILDEA , Chief Justice . The question we are asked to decide in this case is whether Minnesota's test refusal statute, Minn.Stat. 169A.20, subd. 2 (2014), is constitutional as applied to respondent Todd Eugene Trahan. After Trahan was arrested on suspicion of driving while impaired, he refused to submit to a warrantless blood test. Trahan pleaded guilty to first-degree test refusal, but in postconviction proceedings, he sought to withdraw his plea, arguing that the test refusal...
OPINION PER CURIAM . On June 15, 2016, the Minnesota Voters Alliance and Kirk Stensrud filed a petition under Minn.Stat. 204B.44 (Supp.2015), asserting that respondents are not taking the necessary steps to ensure that those ineligible to vote are not permitted to vote. Specifically, petitioners contend that respondents' alleged failures to identify people deemed ineligible to vote by reason of a court order, and allowing these people to certify their eligibility to vote even though...
OPINION HUDSON , Justice . We are presented here with a claim that commissions earned under an employment agreement are governed by statutory penalty provisions and those penalties may not be offset against other damages. Stated otherwise: May an "offsetting liability" owed to the employer be considered when determining whether an employee "recovers" a greater sum of wages than the employer tendered in good faith, for the purpose of deciding whether a penalty may be imposed on the employer...
OPINION GILDEA , Chief Justice . Following a jury trial, appellant Marlon Rashaad Robertson was convicted of several offenses, including first-degree premeditated murder for the shooting death of Kevin Braziel, in violation of Minn.Stat. 609.185(a)(1) (2014). On direct appeal, Robertson presents a number of claims. First, he claims the State presented insufficient evidence to sustain his convictions. Second, he contends the district court committed reversible error when it disallowed...
OPINION GILDEA , Chief Justice . The question presented in this case is whether counsel's mistake about the applicability of a procedural rule is sufficient, by itself, to deny relief under Minn. R. Civ. P. 60.02. The district court denied respondent Jerry Wayne Cole's Rule 60.02 motion concluding that Cole's counsel's admitted "ignorance of the law" could not constitute "excusable neglect" under the rule. The court of appeals reversed and concluded that Cole was entitled to relief under...
OPINION DIETZEN , Justice . The question presented in this appeal is whether a person must physically occupy a dwelling in a residential building to qualify as a "residential tenant" under Minnesota's unlawful exclusion or removal statute, Minn.Stat. 504B.375 (2014). Appellant Mary Cocchiarella brought an unlawful exclusion petition under the statute to enforce her agreement with respondent Donald Driggs to rent an apartment located in Hennepin County. Driggs requested and received the...
OPINION GILDEA , Chief Justice . In this case, we are asked to decide whether Minn. R. Civ. P. 60.02 applies to a Minn. R. Civ. P. 5.04(a) "deemed" dismissal, and whether such a dismissal violates procedural due process. The district court concluded that Rule 60.02 is inapplicable to a dismissal under Rule 5.04(a) or, alternatively, that respondent Ferdinand Leo Gams, Jr. failed to establish all four requirements for relief under Rule 60.02, see Finden v. Klaas, 268 Minn. 268 , 128 N.W....
OPINION STRAS , Justice . This case arises out of the foreclosure of respondent Steven Jaeger's townhome in St. Louis Park. The validity of the foreclosure turns on whether Jaeger's townhome association properly served Jaeger's adult son with notice of the foreclosure under Minn. R. Civ. P. 4.03(a), which provides a method of substitute service. The district court concluded that the association's service on Jaeger's son was ineffective. The court of appeals affirmed the district court's...
OPINION ANDERSON , Justice . In this first-degree murder case, appellant Kim Thul Ouk moved to correct his sentence under Minn. R.Crim. P. 27.03, subd. 9, alleging that the juvenile court failed to follow the proper adult-certification procedures before referring him for adult prosecution. After construing Ouk's motion as a petition for postconviction relief, the postconviction court summarily denied the petition as procedurally barred under State v. Knaffla, 309 Minn. 246, 243 N.W.2d...
