State v. Woodland

1

State of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Jerome Anthony Woodland, Appellant.

No. A22-1748

Court of Appeals of Minnesota

June 17, 2024

This Opinion is Nonprecedential except as provided by Minn. R Civ. App. P. 136.01, subd. 1(c).

Hennepin County District Court File No. 27-CR-21-9018

Keith Ellison, Attorney General, St. Paul, Minnesota; and Mary F Moriarty, Hennepin County Attorney, Nicole Cornale, Assistant County Attorney, Minneapolis, Minnesota (for respondent)

Cathryn Middlebrook, Chief Appellate Public Defender, Julie Loftus Nelson, Assistant Public Defender, St. Paul, Minnesota (for appellant)

Considered and decided by Cochran, Presiding Judge; Ede, Judge; and Smith, John, Judge. ^[*]

EDE JUDGE.

In this direct appeal from a final judgment of conviction for second-degree intentional murder, appellant maintains that the district court erroneously admitted (1) a 911 call made by the victim reporting an alleged assault by appellant three days before the murder and (2) a Facebook Live video made by appellant two days before the victim was killed. Because we conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion by admitting the challenged evidence, we affirm.

FACTS

This case arises from the fatal stabbing of N.R. on April 7, 2021. The following factual summary is based on the salient pretrial record and the evidence adduced at trial.

Relevant Events Preceding April 7, 2021

Appellant Jerome Anthony Woodland and N.R. first met when N.R. bought drugs from Woodland. The two later developed a romantic relationship.

On April 4, 2021, N.R. called 911, reporting that Woodland threw two bricks at her. N.R. told the 911 dispatcher that she just wanted the authorities to know what had occurred and that she was "tired of going through this sh-t with [Woodland]." Although the dispatcher asked if N.R needed an ambulance, N.R. responded: "No, I don't, I'm limping and I'm walking home. It was a heavy-a-- brick[.]" N.R. also declined to meet with law enforcement but stated that she hoped the police would talk to Woodland. N.R. requested a call back because she wanted to know what happened.

Between April 4 and April 5, 2021, Woodland made several Facebook Live videos in which he recorded himself angrily ranting and cursing. Woodland created the video at issue in this appeal on April 5, two days before N.R.'s death.

In the subject video, Woodland says that he feels like he has "53 years of just anger built up" inside him. Woodland also states that he wants to hurt someone "real, real, real, real bad" and that he did "not really car[e] about the consequences." Later in the video, Woodland says that, if somebody was to speak with him, "too bad," he would try to kill them. Woodland notes that he is serious and "in a mood." Woodland further states: "You already knew why that stuff happened the other day[.] Why you had to call the police[,] because guess what[,] you're trynna stop this here." Woodland then turns the camera to show his face and displays folded cash in his hand. And the video shows Woodland saying: "I bet that b--ch sorry she tried . . . because a couple more inches this b--ch would have brain damage."

Events of April 7, 2021

On the morning of April 7, 2021, Woodland, N.R., and Woodland's friend, D.S., were at D.S.'s home, using drugs. D.S. left the residence at some point. Before D.S. departed, Woodland, N.R., and D.S. were the only people inside D.S.'s home. When D.S. returned, he found N.R. dead in the back bedroom.

Around that time, a neighbor overheard loud, quick, heavy footsteps-which sounded "like they were in a panic"-on the hardwood floor of D.S.'s unit. The neighbor assumed "a fight was starting" because that happened "from time to time" between Woodland and N.R. when they visited D.S.'s home; alternatively, the neighbor thought that someone might have overdosed. The neighbor also heard "raised" and "panicked voices," including D.S. asking: "What happened? . . . What's going on?" According to the neighbor, Woodland responded in a high-pitched, excited, and panicked voice: "Call 911. Call 911."

Three 911 calls reported the incident. The first 911 call came in at 12:31 p.m. from Woodland's phone, although Woodland did not identify himself. The caller reported a need for an ambulance at D.S.'s residence and pleaded sixteen times for the dispatcher to hurry. D.S. placed the second and third 911 calls from his phone at 12:31 p.m. and 12:39 p.m., respectively. In the 12:31 p.m. call, D.S. stated that "somebody is . . . bleeding" and exclaimed: "What the h-ll has happened here?" D.S. also reported that he "just came in the door and she's bleeding all over the place." In the 12:39 p.m. call, D.S. stated that he had called earlier and needed an ambulance, saying: "I just got home, there's blood all over the floor and I think she's dying.... She's laying on the bathroom floor and there's blood all over the place."

The paramedics arrived and entered D.S.'s home after the third 911 call. D.S. directed them into the residence but was "very vague about what happened." Woodland was not present and D.S. told one of the paramedics that no one else was home when D.S. had returned to the residence. When one paramedic noted a bloody shirt on the living room floor and asked D.S. about it, D.S. denied knowing the person to whom the shirt belonged. The paramedics found N.R. in a back bedroom, laying on her back covered in blood. N.R. was not breathing, did not have a pulse, and her heart had no electrical activity; the paramedics did not administer care to N.R. because they determined that those efforts would have been futile. The paramedics determined that N.R. was dead.

The paramedics called for police, who responded to the scene. Law enforcement processed the scene and found drug paraphernalia related to crack cocaine throughout the residence. When an officer asked D.S. if anyone else had been home with N.R., D.S. said "no." Law enforcement noted that D.S. did not have any blood-like substance on his person. An officer also observed that D.S. was not very forthcoming with information. D.S. later admitted to law enforcement that Woodland was present at D.S.'s home when the stabbing occurred and that he returned home to find Woodland with N.R., who was bleeding, and no other people present. D.S. also stated that Woodland left through the back door after telling D.S. to call 911 and to "be sure she stays conscious."

Cell phone data and surveillance footage ultimately revealed that Woodland and N.R. left N.R.'s apartment complex in the early morning hours of April 7 and that Woodland was at D.S.'s residence before and during the first two 911 calls. Forensic scientists also identified a latent print on a glass bottle at D.S.'s home as belonging to Woodland and matched the bloody shirt found on D.S.'s living room floor to a gray longsleeved shirt that surveillance video shows Woodland was wearing.

A medical examiner later determined that N.R.'s cause of death was "sharp force injury of the chest" and that the manner of her death was "homicide." Based on a four-centimeter-wide wound found on N.R., the medical examiner opined that N.R. had been stabbed with a blade that had a single sharp edge and had suffered a single "straight in and straight out" stab. N.R. also had "sharp force injuries" or incisions on her right hand, which the medical examiner believed might or might not have been defensive wounds. Although N.R.'s autopsy revealed that she also had cocaine and hydroxyzine in her system, the medical examiner determined that those substances did not contribute to N.R.'s death.

Prior to Woodland's surrender to authorities, Woodland's sisters and mother told law enforcement that Woodland had called them right after N.R. was stabbed, and one of Woodland's sisters said that Woodland was possibly planning "suicide by cop." Woodland's sister also provided police with the April 5 Facebook Live video at issue in this appeal and told law enforcement that she believed the footage depicts Woodland referring to hurting N.R. Woodland ultimately turned himself in about a month after N.R.'s stabbing.

Respondent State of Minnesota charged Woodland by amended complaint with second-degree intentional murder, in violation of Minnesota Statutes section 609.19, subdivision 1(1) (2020), and second-degree murder without intent-while committing a felony, in violation of Minnesota Statutes section 609.19, subdivision 2(1) (2020), for his involvement in the stabbing of N.R.

Pretrial Motion and Hearing

Before trial, Woodland's counsel filed a motion in limine requesting that the district court prohibit the state from offering the 911 call N.R. made on April 4 and from offering any of Woodland's Facebook Live videos. In a memorandum accompanying the motion, defense counsel argued: (1) that the 911 call was inadmissible because it was not an excited utterance under Minnesota Rule of Evidence 803(2); (2) that admission of the 911 call would violate Woodland's right to confrontation; and (3) that the call's probative value was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice.

After reviewing the 911 call and hearing the parties' arguments at a pretrial hearing, the district court determined that the 911 call was an excited utterance based on N.R.'s "combination of anger, fear, [and] frustration[,] recounting an event that just occurred" and that "the purpose of the 911 call was to meet an ongoing emergency." The district court therefore ruled that the 911 call was admissible.

Defense counsel then argued that inclusion of the Facebook Live videos was more prejudicial than probative because the videos showed Woodland's state of mind on April 5, not his state of mind on April 7-the day of N.R.'s death....