State v. Maclennan

Shortly after midnight on January 14, 2003, Kenneth MacLennan was shot and killed at his home in Saint Cloud, Minnesota. Kenneths son, 17-year-old Jason Alexander MacLennan, was charged and subsequently indicted by a Stearns County grand jury for the first-degree premeditated murder of his father. Jason MacLennan asked for both a speedy trial and a change of venue, and as a result a jury trial was held in September 2003 in Duluth, Minnesota. MacLennan claimed that he killed his father in self-defense and asked the district court to admit expert testimony regarding battered child syndrome to demonstrate his state of mind at the time of the shooting. The court declined to admit expert testimony on battered child syndrome, but allowed MacLennan to present evidence about his relationship with his father. The jury found MacLennan guilty of first-degree premeditated murder and the lesser-included offense of second-degree murder. The court then convicted MacLennan of first-degree murder and sentenced him to life in prison. On appeal, MacLennan alleges that (1) the court erred in failing to admit expert testimony on battered child syndrome, and (2) the state committed prosecutorial misconduct during its closing argument. We affirm.