The most evil man in Minnesota comes back to the Supreme Court!  He wins a third trial.

2015-M-284       State of Minnesota, Respondent, vs. Josue Robles Fraga, Appellant.

Josue Robles Fraga was charged with and convicted of three counts of murder in connection with the death of his 2-year-old niece, S.R.  While an appeal was pending in our court, new evidence was identified and the district court granted a new trial.  Fraga was then charged with and convicted of five counts of murder.  

Fraga appeals to our court, arguing that the district court committed reversible error in the retrial when it:  (1) seated two jurors who knew that the first trial had resulted in a conviction; (2) seated a juror actually biased against the defendant; (3) denied Fraga’s motion for a change of venue; (4) admitted into evidence a newspaper article that referred to the first trial and included information about an alternative perpetrator; (5) precluded the testimony of a defense expert witness as a sanction for discovery violations; and (6) admitted evidence under Minn. Stat. § 634.20 (2014) of Fraga’s alleged sexual abuse of a relative.  Fraga also argues that the district court erroneously entered convictions for all five counts of murder.  

We hold that the district court did not err when it seated jurors who knew about the first conviction.  However, we hold that the district court committed reversible error when it allowed a juror who exhibited actual bias against the defendant and was not adequately rehabilitated to sit in judgment of the defendant.  Therefore, we reverse and remand for a new trial.  In the interest of judicial economy, we also address three of the other issues raised by Fraga on appeal.

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

[MURDER]

A13-2381,