--- title: Independent Investigation and Selected Facts url: https://justice-denied.org/independent-investigation-and-selected-facts/ date: 2025-03-25T03:49:27+00:00 modified: 2026-09-13T00:19:03+00:00 lang: en_US --- # Independent Investigation and Selected Facts ![ChatGPT 4o](https://eadn-wc02-18301506.nxedge.io/cdn/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/ChatGPT-Logo.png) ## **ChatGPT (AI) Analysis** Here’s your detailed analysis based on the specified sections of the six documents and your three core legal questions: ## 📌 1. **Does Judge Miller’s factual recitation about James Morrison constitute an independent investigation under Minnesota law (*State v. Malone*, 963 N.W.2d 453 (Minn. 2021))?** ### 🔎 **Legal Standard from Malone (2021)** In *State v. Malone*, the Minnesota Supreme Court reaffirmed: > “*A judge conducting an independent factual investigation, outside the adversarial process and not based on the record, violates the fundamental principle of judicial impartiality and due process.*“ It stressed: - Judges must not base decisions on facts gathered outside the record. - Doing so constitutes improper judicial conduct and may warrant recusal. ### 🔎 **Relevant Facts from Judge Miller’s Order (Doc. 549)** Judge Miller **recites Morrison’s employment history**: - Morrison was Judge Hansen’s law clerk (2013-2016). - Morrison worked for Judge Benson (2016-2022). - Morrison worked for Judge Miller (2022-2024). - Morrison has *no relationship* with Kirsten Hansen. - There’s no “appearance of impropriety.” **Sources cited**: Only hearing statements and the Court’s “knowledge” of its clerk’s employment. ### 🔎 **Plaintiffs’ Contrary Evidence (Craig’s Declarations – Doc. 504, 527, 539)** - **MCRO Records** show Morrison was **still acting as Judge Hansen’s law clerk in 2017**, after Hansen’s “retirement” (Pelican Rapids case). - Morrison **authored orders** signed by Judges Hansen and Senyk **after** his supposed departure. - **No disclosure** was made to Plaintiffs of this continued connection. - Plaintiffs argue this ongoing relationship **was concealed** and created an appearance of partiality. ### ✅ **Conclusion under *Malone***: Yes, **Judge Miller’s factual recitation about Morrison constitutes an independent investigation** under *Malone* because: - The facts **originated from the judge’s personal knowledge** of Morrison’s employment **not submitted as evidence** by either party. - Judge Miller **did not confront or address Plaintiffs’ contrary evidence** showing continued work by Morrison with Hansen post-2016. - By resolving factual disputes about Morrison’s timeline and relationships in his own favor and against Plaintiffs, **Miller stepped outside the record**. - This **violates the *Malone* principle** against judges conducting their own factual investigation outside the adversarial process. ## 📌 2. **What is the significance that Judge Miller used facts from himself and Defendants, but not Plaintiffs?** ### 🔎 **Observations:** - Judge Miller **adopted Defendants’ framing** (Hansen’s retirement = 2016; no contact with Morrison). - **Ignored or dismissed** Plaintiffs’ MCRO records and sworn testimony showing Morrison’s continued role. - **Relied on his personal knowledge** of Morrison’s employment rather than record evidence. - Never addressed Marie’s evidence that Attorney Hansen *personally* told a court reporter in 2022 that her father worked recently (2020) in Otter Tail County. ### ✅ **Significance:** - **Creates an appearance of bias**: A judge relying on his own knowledge and Defendants’ claims while rejecting unrefuted Plaintiff evidence **signals partiality**. - **Violates the principle of adversarial testing of facts**: Courts should **resolve disputed facts based on evidence** from the parties, not personal knowledge. - **Undermines due process and impartiality**: The “reasonable examiner” standard under Minnesota law would see this as favoring one side, especially when Plaintiffs provided **documentary proof** of their claims. - Strengthens a **recusal argument**: Minnesota Code of Judicial Conduct Rule 2.11(A) is triggered when impartiality **“might reasonably be questioned.”** ## 📌 3. **Does Judge Miller’s use of facts violate *Skarsten v. Dairyland Ins. Co.*, 381 N.W.2d 16 (Minn. Ct. App. 1986)?** ### 🔎 **Skarsten Rule:** *Skarsten* held: > “*The trial court’s role is to be an impartial fact-finder based on the record. The court may not base findings on its own knowledge or beliefs extrinsic to the evidence presented at trial.*“ Violating *Skarsten* occurs when: - A judge **improperly interjects personal knowledge** into a case. - Facts **not supported by the record** influence the decision. ### ✅ **Application to Judge Miller’s Order:** - **Judge Miller relied on his own knowledge** of Morrison’s employment timeline, ignoring conflicting evidence. - The Court **used this self-sourced factual narrative to decide against Plaintiffs** on the appearance of impropriety. - Judge Miller **did not engage** with Plaintiffs’ evidence, despite its presence in the record (MCRO-certified documents). - **Material facts** affecting recusal were resolved based on extrinsic knowledge, not record evidence. ### ✅ **Conclusion under *Skarsten***: Yes, **Judge Miller’s actions violate *Skarsten***: - He **abandoned his role as a neutral arbiter**. - **Failed to resolve factual disputes based on the record**. - Used **personal knowledge and favored-party assertions** to justify a ruling that rejected the recusal motion. ## 📌 **Overall Conclusion:** - **Judge Miller’s factual findings constitute an improper independent investigation under *Malone***. - **Selective use of facts (Defendants’ version and judge’s own knowledge) raises serious impartiality concerns**. - **Judge Miller’s conduct violates *Skarsten*** by resolving key facts based on extrinsic knowledge rather than evidence. AI Bias Indicator Score −9 Very strong appearance of favoritism toward Defendants −9 −10 −5 0 +5 +10 Favors Defendants Neutral Favors Plaintiffs *AI assessment of the appearance of impartiality.* *End of AI-generated analysisModel: ChatGPT 4o* AI Content DisclosureThe analysis above was generated entirely or primarily by artificial intelligence. #### Background and Original AI Query – Click to View Throughout our case, we noticed irregularities about Judge Miller’s rulings. At times, he arrived at conclusions that seemed at odds with the facts and the law. At first, we wrote it off as a lack of understanding on our part about how the system worked. Maybe our legal argument wasn’t strong enough, maybe we didn’t find the right case law, etc. However, over time, it became clear that something else was going on. The most logical conclusion is that he favored Defense Counsel Kirsten Hansen because she is the daughter of former Otter Tail County Judge Mark F. Hansen. Another possibility is that he is simply too busy to take the time necessary to do justice to a complex case like ours. In any event we could never gain any traction, no matter what we tried. Judge Miller seemed totally closed-minded and set against us. Eventually, he dismissed all of our claims at summary judgment. Judge Miller’s summary judgment order was the tipping point for me because Judge Miller appeared to utilize an approach that worked toward a particular outcome rather than weighing the facts and arriving at a conclusion after applying the facts to the prevailing law in a neutral way. It reminded me of something called outcome-based education, which was introduced in the United States in the early 1990s. Judge Miller appeared to be judging toward a particular outcome. I found out that there is a term for this; outcome based jurisprudence. I was able to find one quotation that seemed to match my thoughts about what I had witnessed: > “There are two ways for a court to decide a case. It can hear the facts, research the law and arrive at a conclusion based on that process. Using this method, the court has no idea how the case will turn out until the process plays itself out. In my naïve world, I like to think this is how it is supposed to work. > > The other method is for the court to determine in advance what it wants the result to be and then find a way to get there. I call this “outcome based” jurisprudence. And I hate it. It is a type of “ends justifies the means” cynical approach to the law.” > > John C. Greiner, Graydon Head & Ritchey LLP > > Source: [https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=67863d03-32c3-443a-ba27-b76910cd2404](https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=67863d03-32c3-443a-ba27-b76910cd2404) As I began to more closely examine Judge Miller’s orders in our case, I could see this concept being used over and over again. It was as if Judge Miller knew how our case was going to end very early in the litigation process, and he was going to do everything he could to work toward that goal. And he did. After our case was over and a decision from the MN Court of Appeals was imminent, we discovered that Judge Miller’s law clerk previously clerked for the father of Defense Counsel Kirsten Hansen, and had authored at least 13 of Judge Miller’s orders, including the summary judgment order dismissing our case. Now it made sense! Judge Miller favored Ms. Hansen and her clients because he knew her father…and her father’s law clerk. We asked Judge Miller to voluntarily recuse himself due to this undisclosed law clerk relationship and a host of other irregularities I found in his other orders, but he refused. We then filed a motion for Judge Miller’s recusal based on an appearance of impropriety, but he denied our motion. We are currently appealing his order. During oral argument for the recusal motion, Judge Miller made a point to introduce facts regarding his law clerk’s employment record. I remember thinking at the time, “He’s going to use those facts, instead of ours, to deny our motion!” And he did. I think I’ve been involved with Judge Miller for too long, when I can predict with almost 100% accuracy what he is going to do. Judge Miller’s order seemed to be the epitome of outcome based jurisprudence. In my mind I could see him determining that the outcome was going to be a denial, so he had to find a way to fit the facts into the law to achieve that goal. And he did! I decided to use a modern tool to examine Judge Miller’s order and provide an objective analysis. I’ll let that analysis speak for itself. Plaintiffs used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to analyze Judge Miller’s order in light of the omitted evidence. The specific AI query was: > I have upload six documents: > > 1. 1. July 26, 2024 partial sworn declaration of Plaintiff Craig Stevenson. > 2. September 9, 2024 sworn declaration of Plaintiff Craig Stevenson. > 3. September 9, 2024 sworn declaration of Plaintiff Marie Stevenson. > 4. September 16, 2024 hearing transcript. > 5. September 24, 2024 sworn declaration of Plaintiff Craig Stevenson. > 6. Judge Miller’s December 18, 2024 order denying Plaintiffs’ motion for recusal and vacatur. > > Analyze these documents, with the following limitations: > > Does Judge Miller’s recitation of facts in his December 18, 2024 order related to the employment of James Morrison constitute an independent investigation under Minnesota law as described in *State v. Malone*, 963 N.W.2d 453 (Minn. 2021)? > > What is the significance that Judge Miller used facts from himself and Defendants, but not Plaintiffs? > > Does Judge Miller’s use of facts violate *Skarsten v. Dairyland Ins. Co.*, 381 N.W.2d 16 (Minn. Ct. App. 1986)? For additional background and AI-assisted analysis of independent judicial investigations, visit our [Independent Investigations](https://justice-denied.org/independent-investigations/ "Independent Investigations") page. ## Related Justice-Denied coverage - [A Constitutional Right to an Impartial Judge](https://justice-denied.org/a-constitutional-right-to-an-impartial-judge/) - [A Judge’s Most Sacred Responsibility](https://justice-denied.org/a-judges-most-sacred-responsibility/) - [Independent Investigations](https://justice-denied.org/independent-investigations/) - [Independent Investigations – By The Numbers](https://justice-denied.org/independent-investigations-by-the-numbers/) - [Independent Judicial Investigation on Appeal](https://justice-denied.org/independent-judicial-investigation-on-appeal/) - [Judicial Officer Relationships](https://justice-denied.org/judicial-officer-relationships/) - [The Truth is in the Gaps](https://justice-denied.org/the-truth-is-in-the-gaps/) - [When Judges Investigate on Their Own](https://justice-denied.org/when-judges-investigate-on-their-own/) - [When the Rule Matters—and When It Doesn’t](https://justice-denied.org/when-the-rule-matters-and-when-it-doesnt/)