State v. Phelps

PETERSON, Justice.

Defendant was indicted by a grand jury for first-degree murder in the shooting death of his wife, Vicky. A district court jury found him guilty of the lesser included offense of second-degree murder, Minn. Stat. § 609.19 (1980), and the trial court sentenced defendant to a prison term of 1 year and 1 day to 40 years. On his appeal from judgment of conviction, defendant contends that he is entitled to a new trial because the trial court (1) erroneously admitted certain statements defendant made to police, (2) erroneously refused to admit other-crime evidence allegedly bearing…