Don't say later that you did not do it after you pleaded guilty and agreed to the admission of the grand jury testimony that proved you did it and that prompted you to plead guilty.

2014-M-269       Frank Duane Lussier, petitioner, Appellant, vs. State of Minnesota, Respondent.

Lussier filed an appeal to complain that no actual testimony was introduced when he pleaded guilty.  However, Lussier did plead guilty and agreed to the introduction of grand jury transcripts that proved that he did stab his wife to death and beat his extremely pregnant daughter because he did not want them to leave his St. Paul apartment to attend a baby shower.

THE CRIME:  Lussier had a temper.  He had been convicted of assault in 1997 and 2002.  His wife Sharlene had frequently called his family for assistance while he was punching ho;es in the apartment walls. 

On March 17, 2008, Lussier did not want his wife Sharlene to leave their apartment to celebrate with Sharlene's daughter J.M. who was eight months pregnant.  Lussier punched a seated Sharlene in the back of the head, and J.M. tried to intervene.  When Lussier shoved and hit J.M., Sharlene begged him to stop because J.M. was pregnant and because Sharlene's 12-year-old son was watching. 

Lussier picked up a large butcher knife and stabbed Sharlene.  Sharlene's son called 9-1-1 and the tape of that call revealed screams and shouts from the stabbing. 

Other witnesses testified that they rushed into the apartment in response to the screams and saw Sharlene as she lay dying and Lussier with the dripping knife.

Responding police told the grand jury that they found Sharlene dying and told Lussier to drop the knife.  A recording from one officer's body microphone captured Lussier saying "I hurt my wife."

Other witnesses told the grand jury of many instances when Lussier had punched Sharlene, pushed her down stairs, yanked her up stairs, smashed a car window and reached in to throttle Sharlene by the throat, threatened her with a knife, and sent Sharlene to the hospital after he beat her in the face.  The last two assaults led to Lussier's assault convictions in 1997 and 2002.

In 2003, Lussier pled guilty to the charged offense and was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole.

In 2011, Lussier filed a pro se motion to withdraw his guilty plea, in which he asserted that enforcing his guilty plea was manifestly unjust because the plea was not accurate, intelligent, or voluntary.  In 2012, the Supreme Court affirmed the post-conviction court’s denial of Lussier’s first petition and motion to withdraw his guilty plea.

THIS APPEAL:  Frank Duane Lussier appeals the post-conviction court’s denial of his second petition for post-conviction relief.  Because we conclude that each of the claims raised by Lussier is either procedurally barred or fails on the merits, we affirm.

1. The post-conviction court did not abuse its discretion when it denied the appellant’s challenge to his guilty plea without an evidentiary hearing. 

2. The post-conviction court did not abuse its discretion when it denied the appellant’s ineffective-assistance-of-post-conviction-counsel claim without an evidentiary hearing. 

Affirmed

Stras (Gildea, Page, Anderson, Dietzen, and Lillehaug)

            Took no part:  Wright

[MURDER]
September 10, 2014

A14-312,