2011-M-185             State of Minnesota, Respondent, vs. Ronald Hill, Appellant.

A jury found appellant Ronald Hill guilty of the first-degree premeditated murder of Jeffrey Logan.  The district court convicted Hill of that offense and sentenced him to life imprisonment without the possibility of release. 

Hill challenges his conviction on three grounds.  First, he argues that the district court abused its discretion when it permitted the State to impeach him with a prior, unspecified felony conviction.  Second, he contends that the State committed prosecutorial misconduct when it elicited testimony that, unlike other suspects who volunteered DNA samples, the State obtained Hill’s DNA

sample through a search warrant.  Third, he asserts that the district court erred when it permitted the State to present evidence that Hill used a stolen gun to shoot Logan.   We affirm Hill’s conviction.

HELD:  First, the district court did not abuse its discretion in permitting the State to impeach the defendant at trial with his prior, unspecified felony conviction.

Second, allegedly improper testimony that the State obtained the defendant’s DNA sample through a search warrant was harmless because it did not affect the defendant’s substantial rights.

Third, the defendant is not entitled to relief on his claim that the district court erred when it admitted and subsequently refused to strike testimony that the defendant used a stolen pistol to kill the victim because any alleged error was harmless.

Stras (Gildea, Paul Anderson, Meyer, Barry Anderson, and Dietzen)

               Concur:  Page

[MURDER]