This opinion will be unpublished and
may not be cited except as provided by
Minn. Stat. § 480A.08, subd. 3 (2014).
STATE OF MINNESOTA
IN COURT OF APPEALS
A15-1577
State of Minnesota,
Respondent,
vs.
Edwin Albert Dlugopolski,
Appellant.
Filed June 13, 2016
Affirmed
Rodenberg, Judge
McLeod County District Court
File No. 43-CR-14-1574
Lori Swanson, Attorney General, St. Paul, Minnesota; and
Michael K. Junge, McLeod County Attorney, Daniel R. Provencher, Assistant County
Attorney, Glencoe, Minnesota (for respondent)
Cathryn Middlebrook, Chief Appellate Public Defender, Steven P. Russett, Assistant
Public Defender, St. Paul, Minnesota (for appellant)
Considered and decided by Bjorkman, Presiding Judge; Peterson, Judge; and
Rodenberg, Judge.
UNPUBLISHED OPINION
RODENBERG, Judge
On appeal from his conviction of fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance,
appellant Edwin Albert Dlugopolski argues that the district court violated his right to
present a complete defense by denying his request for an in-court, physical weighing of
the controlled-substance evidence. We affirm.
FACTS
On October 20, 2014, Hutchinson police officers responded to a report of a man
trying to open car doors in a store parking lot. The man police suspected of pulling on
car doors gave officers a false name. Appellant, who was with that man, correctly
identified him to the officers. After appellant’s conversations with the officers ended,
Officer Willers told appellant that he was free to leave. Officer Willers then asked
appellant where he was going, and offered him a ride after learning his destination. After
initially declining, appellant accepted Officer Willers’ offer of a ride.
Officer Willers explained to appellant that he would have to pat-search appellant
before he allowed him in the squad car. Appellant said “okay” and raised his arms to
allow the search. When Officer Willers patted appellant’s front-right pants pocket, he
felt what he immediately recognized to be a pipe used for smoking methamphetamine.
Officer Willers removed the pipe and continued to search appellant. He found a
prescription medicine bottle containing four hydrocodone pills, a cut straw with
methamphetamine residue on one tip, a small bag of marijuana, a butane lighter, and a
bag of methamphetamine. Officer Willers confirmed by field testing that the substance in
one of the bags was methamphetamine, and arrested appellant.
In processing the evidence, Officer Willers weighed the bag and
methamphetamine. The two items weighed 1.5 grams. The bag and contents were sent
to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) for further testing. A BCA
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forensic scientist tested the substance, confirmed that it was methamphetamine, and
reported that the substance itself weighed 0.647 grams, excluding the weight of
packaging.
The state charged appellant with one count of fifth-degree possession of a
controlled substance (methamphetamine), in violation of Minn. Stat. § 152.025, subd.
2(a)(1) (2014). The case was tried to a jury. At trial, during cross-examination of Officer
Willers, appellant’s counsel sought to have the officer weigh the bag of
methamphetamine with a scale that counsel had brought into the courtroom. The district
court denied the request to weigh the evidence, expressing concern about the lack of
notice of the proposed demonstration, among other concerns.
The jury found appellant guilty of fifth-degree possession of a controlled
substance. The district court sentenced appellant to 17 months in prison. This appeal
followed.
DECISION
“Evidentiary rulings rest within the sound discretion of the [district] court and will
not be reversed absent a clear abuse of discretion. On appeal, the appellant has the
burden of establishing that the [district] court abused its discretion and that appellant was
thereby prejudiced.” State v. Amos, 658 N.W.2d 201, 203 (Minn. 2003) (citation
omitted). “When an error implicates a constitutional right, we will award a new trial
unless the error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. An error is harmless beyond a
reasonable doubt if the jury’s verdict was surely unattributable to the error.” State v.
Davis, 820 N.W.2d 525, 533 (Minn. 2012) (citation and quotation omitted).
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Appellant argues that the district court impeded his right to present a complete
defense by denying his request to have Officer Willers weigh the evidence in the
presence of the jury. In State v. Darrow, the Minnesota Supreme Court held that
the performance of experiments in the presence of the jury . . .
when they are made under conditions and circumstances
substantially similar to those existing in the case at issue rests
in the sound discretion of the [district] court.
287 Minn. 230, 234, 177 N.W.2d 778, 781 (1970) (quotation omitted). The supreme
court has also held that a district court did not abuse its discretion when it excluded,
without objection, defense counsel’s evidence of an experiment performed outside the
jury’s view on foundational and relevancy grounds. State v. Lindsey, 284 N.W.2d 368,
374 (Minn. 1979).
Here, the district court denied appellant’s request to weigh the bag of
methamphetamine in open court because, among other concerns, appellant did not
provide notice of the proposed demonstration to the state or the district court. The district
court noted that appellant was free to argue about the discrepancy in the reported weight
of the bag without the proposed demonstration. The district court’s other concerns
included the absence of verification of the scale’s accuracy. And the charge of which
appellant was convicted did not require proof of the weight of the drugs in any event. See
Minn. Stat. § 152.025, subd. 2(a)(1).
Weighing evidence with a scale of uncertain accuracy and without prior notice to
the court or the prosecutor was not essential to appellant’s defense. Under Darrow and
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Lindsey, the district court acted within its discretion in denying appellant’s proposed
in-court demonstration. 287 Minn. at 234, 177 N.W.2d at 781; 284 N.W.2d at 374.
Affirmed.
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