Philip Clenny STANGVIK

1937 - 2015  (77 years)

• Name	Philip Clenny STANGVIK
  Birth	24 Nov 1937	Otter Tail County, Minnesota
  Gender	Male
  Baptism	30 Jan 1938	Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Fergus Falls, Otter Tail County, Minnesota
  Minnesota Death Certificate	2015-MN-028957
  Death	24 Jul 2015	Ramsey County, Minnesota
  Burial	Fairview Cemetery, Stillwater, Washington County, Minnesota
  Notes	Or Philip Clerry. According to a newspaper account dated Saturday, July 6, 1963: FERGUS FALLS, Minn. (AP) - A mental patient, on temporary leave from a state hospital, was sought for questioning today after his wife and two little children were found dead, their throats cut. Philip Stangvik, 25, was released from Fergus Falls State Hospital Wednesday for a nine day visit with his parents here, and his wife and babies. -- Another newspaper account dated the next day: Admits Slayings A young husband and father, on leave from the state mental hospital in Fergus Falls, Minn., signed a statement yesterday, Sheriff Russell Brooberg said, admitting he cut the throats of his wife and their two children Thursday night. Philip Stangvik, 25, was found and arrested without incident Saturday in the hayloft of a barn. The sheriff said Stangvik gave no reason for the slayings but said he had been planning them. A babysitter, appearing at Mrs. Stangvik’s home Friday, found the bodies of the 21 year-old woman and the children, Rebecca Lynn, 2, and Scott Philip, 11 months old. -- From court proceedings in September of 1968 in which Philip Stangvik (”relator”) argued that he had been coerced to plead guilty to the three murders: In resolving this issue, it is necessary to recite in some detail the chronology of events which resulted in these convictions. In November 1961, relator was taken from the Hennepin County jail to the psychiatric ward of Glenwood Hills Hospital for observation after being charged with assaulting his wife and threatening to kill their children. The probate court thereupon committed him to the St. Peter State Security Hospital where he remained until May 17, 1962, when he was restored to capacity. About a year later, on April 22, 1963, he was committed to the Fergus Falls State Hospital by the probate court of Otter Tail County. The hospital record, prepared at the time of his admission in 1963, disclosed the following: "The patient has had delusional thinking in that he has been convinced that his wife has been unfaithful to him, and that she has put things in his food that would be harmful to him. * * * "* * * In Sept. 1961 he tried to smother his daughter with a pillow. Eventually, in Oct. 1961, he was angry at his wife because she did not hurry to iron a shirt as soon as she got home from work. He held her arm behind her back and twisted it until he broke it. He had previously held a knife to her back and threatened to kill her." Relator's wife joined in petitioning for his discharge in May 1962. However, the hospital report goes on to say: "* * * He has recently been hitting the children and getting angry for nothing, and then, on the other hand, he would be extremely indulgent toward them when he should be firm. * * * All of the above behavior made the informant and his parents think perhaps he should be observed in a mental hospital." By the end of May 1963, defendant was permitted to visit his parents for periods of 3 days at 10-day intervals. It was during one of such visits on July 4, 1963, that he stabbed to death his wife and two children. Relator was apprehended on July 6, 1963, and indicted for murder on July 22, 1963. He was first arraigned on September 23, 1963, at which time counsel was appointed to represent him. Thereupon, the matter was continued without a plea until October 8, when counsel entered a plea of not guilty. On November 12, 1963, relator petitioned the court for an order holding him incapable of conducting his own defense by virtue of insanity as provided by ? 611.026. Accordingly, the court appointed a commission consisting of a psychologist, a psychiatrist, and a probate judge to inquire into the matter. On January 13, 1964, the commission filed a detailed report which concluded with a finding that relator was not in a state of idiocy, imbecility, lunacy, or insanity so as to be incapable of understanding the criminal proceedings pending against him or making a defense thereto. Relator readily admitted to the commission that he had killed his wife. Among other things, he indicated a desire to accept punishment, adding, "I am tired of institutions." However, in the same interview he stated he did not mind being in the hospital. Thereafter, he told the commission, "If I was in a mental institution, I would be there the rest of my life. * * * In prison I will have a chance to obtain a parole." The trial court adopted the commission's findings and ordered relator to stand trial. Concurrently, the court denied a motion made on November 12, 1963, "for an Order finding that said defendant, Philip C. Stangvik, at the time of committing the alleged criminal acts was laboring under such a defect of reason as not to know the nature of his acts or that they were wrong." The motion was denied with a memo attached by the Honorable Rol E. Barron as follows: "There is no showing in the slightest that on the date of the crime, to-wit: July 4, 1963, Philip C. Stangvik was in a state of insanity as not to know the nature of his acts or that they were wrong." Thereafter, venue was changed to Clay County. On April 27, 1964, Judge Barron summoned relator, his counsel, and the prosecutor, and read them a letter which he had just received from relator, as follows: "When I committed this crime last year, July 4, 1963 about 11:00 p.m. I knew what I was doing all the time, and I still know it, and that's why I can't see that people think there is something wrong with me. I know myself better than anyone, and there is definitely nothing wrong with me. I am no different now than when I was 20 years old. I am very sorry I have committed this crime, but it's too late now to go back and look in the past." The court further stated that it was his understanding from counsel that defendant wished to plead guilty to three indictments for murder and that the state would reduce the charges involving the death of relator's children from first-degree murder to second-degree if relator pled guilty to first-degree murder with respect to the death of his wife. Counsel acquiesced. Thereupon, relator was interrogated by the court and stated that he was presently sane and was sane at the time he committed the murders; that he knew what he was doing and knew that it was wrong; that no one had used any threats or coercion or promises of any kind to change his plea to guilty; and that he was entering a plea of guilty of his own free will. Counsel then asked relator for the record whether he had advised relator to plead guilty, to which relator answered in the negative. Counsel stated he wished the record to show that the plea of guilty was relator's own idea. Before imposing sentence, the court asked relator whether he realized that a life sentence for first-degree murder was mandatory, to which relator answered in the affirmative. Thereupon, he was sentenced to life imprisonment on the indictment for murder in the first degree and 40 years on each of the other two indictments for murder in the second degree, all of the sentences to run concurrently. The petition for a writ, executed in July 1966, resulted in an evidentiary hearing in the District Court of Washington County. There relator testified that he had written to Judge Barron to avoid being sent to St. Peter. His counsel had advised him that if he pled not guilty by reason of insanity he "would probably go to St. Peter for about 15 years." On cross-examination, relator was interrogated with respect to a confession he had given the sheriff shortly after he was first apprehended. He admitted that his confession was correct in relating that he had stabbed and killed his wife and children and in the recitation that he had planned the crimes for some time. However, notwithstanding his confession and his letter to Judge Barron, in the hearing he denied that he knew what he was doing the night of the crime. He conceded, however, that he made a contrary statement to his counsel. At the hearing, the attorney who represented relator in the trial court testified by deposition. He recited the unsuccessful attempts he had made to have relator examined by a qualified expert in anticipation of the defense of insanity, and how, at the hearing called by Judge Barron, he had advised relator not to enter a plea of guilty but to stand trial, and in any event to complete the examinations scheduled for that week. Defendant refused the advice. According to his counsel defendant said he would rather spend his time in Stillwater than in St. Peter. Relator was apprised of the consequences of pleading guilty, and his right to plead not guilty by reason of insanity, which, if successful, would result in his being sent to an institution without the stigma of having committed murder. "I tried to hammer home that point but he would not listen to me." Counsel told relator that even without expert testimony a jury might find him not guilty if he didn't know the difference between right and wrong. Counsel concluded by testifying that relator appeared rational at the time of arraignment and seemed to understand what was told him. In fact, counsel was of the opinion that relator should not take the witness stand because his rational appearance would convict him. The Washington County District Court found: "That each plea was entered by Philip C. Stangvik, petitioner herein, knowingly, willingly and voluntarily and at his own insistence during the time at which he was represented by competent counsel and that said petitioner was at all times during the critical stages of the proceedings surrounding his conviction well and ably represented by competent counsel." The court concluded that relator was entitled to no relief. In an accompanying memorandum, the court noted that qualified medical authority had declared relator to be legally sane, both at the time of trial and at the time the crimes were committed. We agree there is nothing in the record on which the court could base a finding that relator's plea of guilty was coerced or was not voluntarily or intelligently entered. All of the evidence is to the contrary. Three experts found relator capable of standing trial. The court concurred. Relator's own attorney fully advised him of his rights and the consequences of his plea, and attempted to dissuade him from pleading guilty. He too was of the opinion that relator was mentally competent to make his own decision. Even relator does not claim that he did not understand his rights. He relies on the contention, first advanced at the hearing, that he was induced to plead guilty by his own subjective aversion to being returned to a mental hospital. He does not suggest that there was any coercion or inducement imposed by anyone else. The thrust of the argument here is that his prior history of mental illness imposed on the court a duty to refuse a plea of guilty to permit a defense of insanity to be litigated. In that respect the case is unlike State v. Jensen, 278 Minn. 212, 153 N.W.2d 339, where we held that prior insanity of a permanent type is presumed to continue and imposes on the court an obligation to conduct a hearing with respect to the capacity of the accused to defend himself. Whether relator was criminally responsible within the meaning of ¶ 611.026 when he killed his wife and children is not the critical issue. All that we have before us is whether relator was competent to enter a plea of guilty and thereby waive the defense of insanity. State v. Seebold, 280 Minn. 241, 158 N.W.2d 854. In view of the facts which we have recited, we hold as a matter of law that the conclusions of the court were fully supported by the record. Consequently, neither the trial court nor the court was obliged to set aside relator's plea of guilty. -- As of 1994, he was an inmate in the Linden Ward at the Faribault State Prison. He was not mentioned in his sister’s obituary. He died at St. Joseph’s Hospital in St. Paul.
  Person ID	I15077	Don Carlson's Tree
  Last Modified	5 Dec 2022

  
  

  Father	Marvil Clenny STANGVIK,   b. 9 Jun 1908, Otter Tail County, Minnesota d. 9 Apr 2004, Otter Tail County, Minnesota (Age 95 years)
  Mother	Mabel Amanda OLSON,   b. 3 Mar 1909, Otter Tail County, Minnesota d. 20 Feb 2002, Otter Tail County, Minnesota (Age 92 years)
  Marriage	10 Apr 1937	Sisseton, Roberts County, South Dakota
  Family ID	F9926	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Velda Beryl HAMES,   b. 20 Mar 1942, Otter Tail County, Minnesota d. 4 Jul 1963, Otter Tail County, Minnesota (Age 21 years)
  Marriage	20 Feb 1960	Otter Tail County, Minnesota
  	Bethlehem Lutheran Church
  Children	1. Rebecca Lynn STANGVIK,   b. 5 Aug 1960, Otter Tail County, Minnesota d. 4 Jul 1963, Otter Tail County, Minnesota (Age 2 years)   2. Scott Philip STANGVIK,   b. 12 Jul 1962, Otter Tail County, Minnesota d. 4 Jul 1963, Otter Tail County, Minnesota (Age 0 years)
  Family ID	F11131	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	8 Jun 2012