2006-M-27 State
of Minnesota, Respondent, vs. Andre Francis Hall, Appellant.
SUMMARY: Justice Gildea joined a 4-3 majority written by Justice Helen
Meyer to strike down a Court of Appeals decision to strike down Hall’s
first-degree premeditated murder conviction and sustain a second-degree murder
conviction and sentence.
The Minnesota Supreme Court held that the trial court’s use of a
jury instruction on “transferred intent” was a reversible error on the
first-degree premeditated murder charge which required a new trial on that
charge, and that the lesser sentence for the second-degree murder conviction
and sentence would be set aside for the results of the new trial.
The dissenters would have imposed the lesser sentence for the
second-degree murder conviction and sentence.
Following this decision in 2006, Hall was convicted of
second-degree murder felon in possession of a firearm and sentenced to 30 years
in May, 2007.
DESCRIPTION OF CRIME: On October 5, 2004, Hall left his pistol at A.M.s apartment
in Brooklyn Center. Hall and A.M. walked less than two blocks to a Citgo
station to buy groceries. Hall argued with a fellow customer. Cashier
Dennis Winfield argued with Hall and ordered Hall to leave. A.M. left and
returned to her apartment. Hall threatened Winfield and went outside,
where he lost a fight with several men.
Returning to A.M.’s apartment, a bloodied Hall retrieved his pistol
and said he had been jumped by three men and said he was going to kill
them. Returning to the Citgo store, Hall shot and killed Winfield who was
outside his bullet-proof booth to empty a garbage can.
THE TRIAL: At trial, Hall admitted that he had committed the
second-degree murder of Whitfield, as well as the unpermitted possession of a
firearm by a felon. However, he denied that he had premeditated the
killing of Winfield.
The prosecutor argued that Hall’s premeditation for killing Winfield
was proved by his statement that “this bullet-proof glass won’t protect you”
and Hall’s statement at the apartment after the killing that “I killed that
n***er.”
Alternatively, the prosecutor argued that the evidence showed that
Hall intended to kill the men he had fought but that intent transferred to
Winfield when Hall shot him. The trial court gave the jury an instruction
that combined the prosecution’s two theories on premeditation.
THIS APPEAL: A Court of Appeals decision to strike down Hall’s first-degree
premeditated murder conviction and sustain a second-degree murder conviction
and sentence led to this appeal.
The majority held that because “Hall conceded at trial that he was
guilty of second-degree intentional murder; the only element the state had to
prove was the element of premeditation. Because the transferred intent
instruction pertained directly to the element of premeditation and because that
instruction relieved the jury of its obligation to find that the element of
premeditation was satisfied, the instruction was not harmless. Moreover,
although there was evidence that Hall premeditated Winfield’s murder, we cannot
conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Hall would have been convicted
of first-degree premeditated murder without the erroneous transferred intent
instruction.”
The majority reversed the Court of Appeals and remanded Hall to
the district court for a new trial. Following this decision in 2006, Hall
was convicted of second-degree murder felon in possession of a firearm and
sentenced to 30 years in May, 2007.
DATE OF DECISION: October 12, 2006
RECORD NUMBER: 2006-176
DESCRIPTION: [MURDER]
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