Gee, its great after staying out late, walking your baby back home!  Then you die!

2016-M-327         State of Minnesota, Respondent, vs. Aloeng Kelly Vang, Appellant.

THE BACKGROUND:  At 1:00 a.m. on September 1, 2013, Jeffrey Elling and his girlfriend were crossing the street to his home in St. Paul when Vang sped by him and whipped into his cousin’s drive-way next door.  The two men exchanged words and Elling shoved Vang to the ground.

Vang went home and retrieved a gun.  He returned to Elling’s home, rang the doorbell, and hid behind a tree.  When Elling opened the door, Vang shot him fatally through the neck.

Vang confessed and offered to plead guilty to second-degree intentional murder and to accept the statutory maximum sentence of 20 years.  This was intended to avoid a charge of premeditated first-degree murder and the possibility of a life sentence.

On February 12, 2014, a grand jury indicted Vang on charges of first-degree premeditated murder and second-degree intentional murder.  At the end of a bench trial, the court found Vang guilty on both counts. As required by statute, Vang was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of release on the first-degree count.

The Supreme Court granted Vang’s request for a stay of his direct appeal so that he could pursue this post-conviction appeal.  The post-conviction court summarily denied relief without a hearing.

THIS APPEAL:  The Supreme Court upheld Vang’s conviction and sentence.

First, the Minnesota Rules of Criminal Procedure did not require the State to commence presentation of the case to the grand jury within 14 days of appellant’s arraignment.

Second, the post-conviction court did not abuse its discretion by denying appellant’s post-conviction claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel without an evidentiary hearing.

Third, the post-conviction court did not abuse its discretion by denying appellant’s post-conviction claim of prosecutorial misconduct without an evidentiary hearing.

Lillehaug (Gildea, Anderson, Dietzen, Stras, Hudson, and Chutich)

               [CRIME] [MURDER] [PREMEDITATED] [FIRST-DEGREE]

Date: July 06, 2016