2012-M-199      Robert Michael Hughes, petitioner, Appellant, vs. State of Minnesota, Respondent.

In October 2006 appellant Robert Michael Hughes was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder, in violation of Minn. Stat. § 609.185(a)(1) (2010), for the shooting death of his wife, Tammy Hughes.  The trial court imposed the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment with the possibility of parole.  Hughes was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $6,771.78 to the Crime Victims Reparations Board.  We affirmed Hughes’s conviction on direct appeal. 

On November 8, 2010, Hughes filed a petition for post-conviction relief.  While the petition is not entirely clear, we read it as raising 18 claims.  The two most significant claims are (1) the trial court’s restitution order was improper because the restitution request lacked specificity, he was not responsible for his wife’s death, his wife did not incur any out-of-pocket expenses, and he did not receive due process with respect to the request; and (2) the Confrontation Clause was violated by the introduction at trial of statements made by his wife.  Affirmed.

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

[MURDER] [DOMESTIC]