If you shoot four people while your seven teenage gang cohorts are watching, they will talk as soon as it becomes convenient!

2016-M-335        Kim Thul Ouk, Appellant, vs. State of Minnesota, Respondent.

BACKGROUND:  On the evening of June 7, 1992, Ouk, and seven other Asian youths met at the Roosevelt Projects in St. Paul. They stole three cars and decided to rob a gas station.  Ouk and the others drove in the stolen cars to West Seventh and Davern in the Highland Park section of St. Paul to rob two stations.

During the robbery of the Total Mart, two clerks, John Petsch and Feliuai Faamamafa, and two customers, Read Sulik and David Baer, were shot. Petsch and Faamamafa died from their wounds. Sulik and Baer survived. All of the victims were shot at close range, and none of the victims offered any resistance. Petsch was shot in the left shoulder from less than an inch away. Faamamafa was shot in the back from a distance of two to four inches. Baer was shot in the back while lying face down on the floor.

Around 2:15 a.m. on June 8 an automobile was stopped for turning without signaling. The officer observed that the ignition had been "punched." Upon confirming that the car was stolen, Reuvers arrested its three occupants.  The gang members gave up Ouk, who was arrested for the two murders, the robbery, and the two other shootings.  At the time of the murders, Ouk was 15 years old.

In 1992, after a juvenile court certified Ouk for adult prosecution, a jury found Ouk guilty on all four counts. The district court imposed two mandatory sentences of life imprisonment with the possibility of release after 30 years for the first-degree felony murder convictions and two 15-year prison sentences for the attempted first-degree felony murder convictions.

In 1994, the Supreme Court affirmed Ouk’s convictions and sentences on direct appeal.

x2 On August 21, 2015, Ouk moved to correct his sentences. Ouk alleged that his sentences are void because, in the 1992 proceedings, the juvenile court failed to follow the proper adult-certification procedures before referring him to adult court. Specifically, Ouk alleged that he waived the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which is not permitted; his waiver of his right to a certification hearing was not knowing, voluntary, and intelligent; he did not receive sufficient notice of the first-degree murder charges before certification; the prosecution made insufficient filings; and the juvenile court failed to make sufficient findings of fact.

After construing Ouk’s filing as a petition for post-conviction relief, the post-conviction court summarily denied relief without holding an evidentiary hearing. In doing so, the post-conviction court held that Ouk’s petition was p0rocedurally barred under the Knaffla rule.

HELD:  The post-conviction court did not err by construing appellant's motion to correct his sentence as a petition for post-conviction relief. The post-conviction court did not abuse its discretion by summarily denying relief because appellant's post-conviction petition is procedurally barred by the Knaffla doctrine which bars consideration of appellate claims that had been heard in earlier appeals or should have been raised in earlier appeals.

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

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

Date: August 24, 2016