2007-M-047                State of Minnesota, Respondent, vs. Billy Bailey, Appellant.

MAJORITY:   Appellant Billy Bailey was convicted of first-degree murder while committing criminal sexual conduct in connection with the May 1984 death of a 69-year-old woman.  The Court upheld the conviction against all four claims on appeal.

First, the Court held that the district court properly denied the defendant’s Batson challenge where the defendant did not show that the state’s race-neutral explanations for striking a minority juror were pretextual or that the strike was motivated by race.  Second, the Court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in ruling that defense counsel opened the door to testimony that four DNA loci that measured less than 150 relative fluorescent units could not exclude the defendant as the source of the DNA.

Third, the Court held that the district court did not err in excluding as irrelevant expert testimony that the state should have performed a validation study before using a Bunsen burner to remove a cover slip from a DNA sample.  Fourth, the Court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting Spreigl evidence that the defendant pled guilty to three burglaries, where the law of the case was that the evidence was admissible.

DISSENT:  Justices Page and Paul Anderson opined:  “I respectfully dissent.  I do so because the court’s Batson analysis will again, as it has in the past,[5] have a negative impact on the ability of people of color to vindicate their Fourteenth Amendment right to participate in jury service.  See State v. Reiners, 664 N.W.2d 826, 831 (Minn. 2003).  In this case, the court allows a state to strike a prospective juror who, having personally been the victim of discrimination based on her appearance, expressed anger at the idea that her fellow prospective jurors would form negative opinions about the defendant based solely on his appearance a fact extraneous and irrelevant to the issues to be decided in the case.”

                    Barry Anderson (Russell Anderson, Page, Paul Anderson, Hanson, Meyer, and Gildea)

                    DISSENT:  Page and Paul Anderson

DATE OF DECISION:  June 7, 2007

RECORD NUMBER:  2007-071

FULL OPINION: 

DESCRIPTION:  [MURDER] 

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