Chief Justice Lorie Skjerven Gildea of the Minnesota Supreme Court has helped to decide about 400 cases involving murder.

The Minnesota Constitution required that the Supreme Court hear the first "direct appeal" from people convicted of first-degree murder.

The Supreme Court may also grant "discretionary review" to many "post-conviction appeals" by persons convicted of first-degree murder.

"Discretionary reviews" may also be granted to people convicted of lesser degrees of murder, manslaughter, or criminal vehicular homicide.  Cases are also sometimes considered on such issues as restitution ordered by the trial court, sentencing issues, and allegations of newly-discovered evidence.

As a result, about 25 percent of the cases heard each year by the Supreme Court involve some question about homicide.

If you would like to read summaries of the 400 homicide cases which Chief Justice Lorie Skjerven Gildea has helped to decide, go here.

But this website features ten of the most salient murder cases of the past twelve years.

1.  Three trials for the most evil murderer of recent times.

2.  The Vampires of St. Cloud.

3.  Texting a Family during their Daughter's Murder.

4.  Dropping Your ID at a Murder Scene.

5.  Bloody footprints in the snow leading to your house next door.

6.  Using the Victim's credit card 48 times in the next 48 hours.

7.  Killing three people who treated the killer like a son.

8.  Killing a neighbor because he fed the deer.

9. Crashing the get-away car.

10. Hiding the bloody shirt in the back of a truck owned by the deputy sheriff.