About 100 Stab Wounds in Home Invasion in Roseville

2006-M-13          Michael Gary Lee, Petitioner, Appellant, vs. State of Minnesota, Respondent.

DESCRIPTION OF THE CRIME: In the pre-dawn hours on June 10, 1990, Lee invaded the Roseville home of his former girlfriend, Laure Muller.  Lee stabbed Laura’s 16-year-old sister 22 times in her chest, neck, face and arms, killing her.  Lee then stabbed Laura 38 times in her chest.  Lee then stabbed Laura’s friend Kristin Salyers in a second bedroom as she shielded her three-year-old son.  During the attack, the tip of the knife blade broke off in Kristin Salyers' spine. The remaining knife blade broke about an inch from the handle before appellant discarded it.  Lee fled the house, and Laura and Kristin identified Lee as the attacker when police arrived.

PRIOR PROCEEDINGS:  Lee was convicted of one count of first‑degree murder and two counts of attempted first‑degree murder.  Lee was sentenced to consecutive sentences of life, 15 years and 20 years for the first-degree murder of Bethany Muller and the attempted first-degree murders of Laura Muller and Kristin Salyers.

The Minnesota Supreme Court rejected Lee’s direct appeal on November 13, 1992.

First, the Court denied Lee’s claim that his constitutional rights to due process were violated when the trial court precluded him from asserting a mental illness defense.  None of the three psychiatrists testified that Lee did not know right from wrong.

Second, the Court denied Lee’s claim that the trial court abused its discretion in declining to instruct the jury on third-degree "depraved mind" murder as a lesser-included offense under first-degree murder. The Court noted that district judges have broad discretion on whether to give jury instructions on potential lesser-included offenses.

Third, the Court denied Lee’s claim that the trial court abused its discretion by imposing consecutive sentences that included an upward departure in one sentence for attempted first-degree murder. 

The Court held that extended sentence for the attempted murder of Kristin Salyers was justified because of the vicious nature of the crime, as exemplified by the knife breaking off in her spine, and the fact that it took place while the victim was huddled over her young son.

THIS DECISION:  Justice Gildea wrote the unanimous opinion rejecting Lee’s first post-conviction appeal. 

His claims in 2006 were nearly identical to his rejected claims in 1992.  By statute and Minnesota Supreme Court precedent from a case called Knaffla, issues generally cannot be raised on a later appeal if they were raised or should have been known to the appellant at the time of the earlier rejected appeal.  Justice Gildea and the Supreme Court upheld Lee’s convictions and sentences again.

DATE OF DECISION:  July 20, 2006

RECORD NUMBER:  2006-119

FULL OPINION:  A05-1375,

DESCRIPTION: [MURDER]  [GILDEA]  [DOMESTIC]