2008-M-070             State of Minnesota, Respondent, vs. Tony M. Caine, Appellant.

A Hennepin County jury found Tony M. Caine guilty of first-degree intentional felony murder, second-degree intentional murder, and second-degree unintentional felony murder for the death of Brandon Lynch in a guns-for-drugs deal.  The Hennepin County District Court convicted Caine of first-degree intentional murder.  On direct appeal, Caine raised six grounds.  The Court affirmed the conviction.

First, the Court held that district court did not err when it concluded that the guilty plea transcript of a

witness whom the court found was feigning memory loss at trial was admissible.

Second, the Court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion when it denied defendant’s request to reopen his case in order to re-cross-examine a State witness about a guilty plea transcript that was admitted before defendant presented his case-in-chief.

Third, the Court held that, although the district court committed error when it gave the jury an instruction on duress that did not explicitly state that the State’s burden of proof to disprove duress was beyond a reasonable doubt, the error did not constitute plain error or affect defendant’s  substantial rights because the instructions explicitly indicated that the State had the burden to disprove duress and because the instructions as a whole made clear that the State must prove every element of the offenses, including intent, beyond a reasonable doubt.

Fourth, the Court held that the jury had sufficient evidence to find that defendant intentionally shot the

victim and was not acting under duress.

Fifth, the Court held that the district court did not err when it denied defendant’s request to instruct the jury on the lesser-included offense of first-degree manslaughter because no rational basis existed for convicting the defendant of the lesser included offense. 

Sixth, the Court held that the State did not engage in prosecutorial misconduct during defendant’s trial.

Paul Anderson (Page, Meyer, and Barry Anderson)

               Concur:  Gildea and Russell Anderson

               Took no part:  Dietzen [MURDER}