A23-0163 Jose Armando Padilla v. State of Minnesota

CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedJanuary 16, 2024
Docketa221710
StatusUnpublished

This text of A23-0163 Jose Armando Padilla v. State of Minnesota (A23-0163 Jose Armando Padilla v. State of Minnesota) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
A23-0163 Jose Armando Padilla v. State of Minnesota, (Mich. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

This opinion is nonprecedential except as provided by Minn. R. Civ. App. P. 136.01, subd. 1(c).

STATE OF MINNESOTA IN COURT OF APPEALS A22-1710 A23-0163

Jose Armando Padilla, petitioner, Appellant,

vs.

State of Minnesota, Respondent.

Filed January 16, 2024 Affirmed Cochran, Judge

Kandiyohi County District Court File No. 34-CR-17-704

Zachary A. Longsdorf, Longsdorf Law Firm, PLC, Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota (for appellant)

Keith Ellison, Attorney General, St. Paul, Minnesota; and

Shane D. Baker, Kandiyohi County Attorney, Willmar, Minnesota (for respondent)

Considered and decided by Cochran, Presiding Judge; Slieter, Judge; and

Larson, Judge.

NONPRECEDENTIAL OPINION

COCHRAN, Judge

This consolidated appeal arises from two related district court orders addressing

appellant’s motion to correct his sentence based on an incorrect criminal-history score and

for resentencing. Appellant argues that the district court abused its discretion when it denied in part his motion to correct his criminal-history score and declined to resentence

him on that basis. Appellant also contends that the district court abused its discretion when

it declined to reduce his sentence based on time served in custody in another court-case

file. Because we discern no abuse of discretion by the district court in its decisions related

to appellant’s criminal-history score and sentence, we affirm.

FACTS

On July 25, 2017, respondent State of Minnesota charged appellant Jose Armando

Padilla with three counts: (1) first-degree sale of 17 grams or more of methamphetamine,

in violation of Minn. Stat. § 152.021, subd. 1(1) (2016); (2) first-degree possession of

50 grams or more of methamphetamine, in violation of Minn. Stat. § 152.021, subd. 2(a)(1)

(2016); and (3) fifth-degree possession of cocaine, in violation of Minn. Stat. § 152.025,

subd. 2(1) (2016). The complaint alleged that law enforcement discovered 374.3 grams of

methamphetamine, 4.4 grams of cocaine, and plastic baggies used to contain the drugs

during a search of Padilla’s home. Law enforcement conducted the search after Padilla

tested positive for methamphetamine while on supervised release.

Padilla pleaded guilty to the first-degree possession charge (count 2) pursuant to a

plea agreement with the state. Under the terms of the agreement, the state agreed to dismiss

the other two counts and the parties agreed to a 128-month “middle of the box” sentence.

The district court ordered a presentence investigation report (PSI) and scheduled the matter

for sentencing.

2 The PSI showed a criminal-history score of 11 points. The PSI indicated that Padilla

had ten felony points 1 based on his prior felony convictions, plus one custody status point

for committing a felony while on supervised release. See Minn. Sent’g Guidelines

2.B.2.a(1)-(3) (2016) (providing, in relevant part, that one custody status point should be

assigned when an offender commits a felony while on supervised release for a felony

conviction). The felony points included in Padilla’s score are listed below:

Offense Felony Points Disposition Date Terroristic Threats (K8-01-369) 1.0 04/2002 Theft 1.0 04/2002

Arson Second Degree 1.0 04/2002

Terroristic Threats (K8-01-280) 1.0 04/2002

Controlled Substance Fifth Degree-Possession 0.5 06/2005

Receiving Stolen Property 1.0 12/2005

Criminal Damage to Property First Degree 0.5 12/2005

Dangerous Weapon-Drive by Shooting (unoccupied) 1.0 11/2007

Assault First Degree-Great Bodily Harm 2.0 11/2007

Dangerous Weapon-Drive by Shooting (occupied) 1.5 11/2007

On October 9, 2017, the district court sentenced Padilla to 128 months in prison,

which included a three-month custody enhancement. See Minn. Sent’g Guidelines 2.B.2.c

(2016) (providing that “[a]n additional three months must be added to the” presumptive

sentence, creating a new presumptive sentence, when “a custody status point is assigned”

1 Padilla’s felony points were rounded down from 10.5 to 10, consistent with the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines. See Minn. Sent’g Guidelines 2.B.1.i (2016) (“If the sum of the weights results in a partial point, the point value must be rounded down to the nearest whole number.”).

3 and the offender’s criminal-history score is seven or more). The sentence was consistent

with the parties’ agreement.

Relevant to this appeal, Padilla’s criminal-history score includes points for three

2005 felony convictions from a separate case arising from Padilla’s involvement in two

drive-by shootings. State v. Padilla, No. A21-0377, 2021 WL 3278014, at *1 (Minn. App.

Aug. 2, 2021). In that case, Padilla was originally convicted of six offenses: two counts of

attempted second-degree murder by drive-by shooting and one count each of first-degree

assault, drive-by shooting of an occupied building, drive-by shooting of an unoccupied

building, and receiving stolen property. Id. Padilla appealed, and we reversed his

attempted second-degree murder convictions. State v. Padilla, No. A06-446, 2007 WL

1746746, at *1 (Minn. App. June 19, 2007). On remand, the district court vacated those

convictions and resentenced Padilla on the remaining convictions. State v. Padilla,

No. A08-0224, 2009 WL 749171, at *1 (Minn. App. Mar. 24, 2009), rev. denied (Minn.

May 27, 2009). Padilla then challenged his new sentence several times, which resulted in

corrections to his sentence. See id.; Padilla v. State, No. A15-0573, 2015 WL 7357311, at

*2 (Minn. App. Nov. 23, 2015); Padilla v. State, No. A18-1689, 2019 WL 3000726, at *1

(Minn. App. July 8, 2019); Padilla, 2021 WL 3278014, at *1. In one of the appeals, this

court acknowledged that the first-degree assault and drive-by shooting of an occupied

building were part of the same behavioral incident but determined that Padilla was properly

sentenced for both under the multiple-victim exception to the rule prohibiting separate

sentences for offenses committed during the same behavioral incident. Padilla, 2009 WL

749171, at *1-2. Following another appeal, the district court determined on remand that

4 the receipt of stolen property was part of the same behavioral incident as the first-degree

assault and the drive-by shooting of an occupied building, and it vacated his sentence for

receipt of stolen property. Padilla, 2021 WL 3278014, at *1. As a result of the litigation,

Padilla was left with three separate sentences in the drive-by-shooting case—one for

first-degree assault, one for drive-by shooting of an occupied building, and one for drive-

by shooting of an unoccupied building—which amounted to 203 months in prison. See id.

On May 25, 2022, Padilla filed a motion to correct his sentence and for resentencing

in this case. Padilla argued that the criminal-history score used to support his 128-month

sentence for first-degree drug possession is incorrect for the following reasons: (1) the

receipt-of-stolen-property conviction was improperly included in his criminal-history score

because his sentence for that conviction had been vacated; (2) the conviction for drive-by

shooting of an unoccupied building was improperly included in his criminal-history score

because that crime was part of the same behavioral incident as the crimes of drive-by

shooting of an occupied building and first-degree assault; (3) the one-half felony point for

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