In Re Sl

663 N.W.2d 31, 2003 WL 21384837
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedJune 17, 2003
DocketC6-02-1467
StatusPublished

This text of 663 N.W.2d 31 (In Re Sl) 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
In Re Sl, 663 N.W.2d 31, 2003 WL 21384837 (Mich. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

663 N.W.2d 31 (2003)

In the Matter of the Welfare of S.L., Child.

No. C6-02-1467.

Court of Appeals of Minnesota.

June 17, 2003.

John M. Stuart, State Public Defender, Lawrence Hammerling, Deputy Public Defender, Minneapolis, MN, for appellant child.

Mike Hatch, Attorney General, St. Paul, MN and Ross E. Arneson, Blue Earth County Attorney, Mark A. Lindahl, Susan DeVos, Assistant County Attorneys, Mankato, MN, for respondent state.

*32 Considered and decided by HUDSON, Presiding Judge, TOUSSAINT, Chief Judge, and MINGE, Judge.

OPINION

HUDSON, Judge.

Appellant challenges her adjudication of delinquency for committing second-degree burglary, arguing that the district court committed reversible error when it failed to permit her to withdraw her guilty plea. Appellant contends that the state violated the negotiated plea agreement by not equivocally recommending to the district court the agreed-upon stay of adjudication. Because the state did not follow through on its promise to recommend a stay of adjudication, we reverse and remand.

FACTS

On January 1, 2002, the day before appellant S.L. was scheduled to enter chemical-dependency treatment, she and two of her juvenile friends burglarized the home of S.L.'s father. S.L. suggested the burglary in order to obtain marijuana for herself and to repay a debt. On March 5, 2002, the state filed a delinquency petition in Blue Earth County District Court alleging that S.L. committed second-degree burglary, in violation of Minn.Stat. § 609.582, subd. 2a (2000), and misdemeanor theft, in violation of Minn.Stat. § 609.52, subds. 2(1), 3(5) (2000). S.L. pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Prior to trial on June 6, 2002, Blue Earth County filed a petition alleging that S.L. was a child in need of protective services (CHIPS petition) based on an unrelated matter, habitual truancy, in violation of Minn.Stat. § 260C.007, subds. 6(14), 19 (2000).[1] Subsequently, in a negotiated agreement, S.L. agreed to plead guilty to the second-degree burglary charge in exchange for dismissal of the misdemeanor theft charge and for the state's recommendation of a stay of adjudication of delinquency for committing the burglary. At the plea hearing on June 17, 2002, pursuant to the plea agreement, S.L. pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary. The state and defense counsel stated the plea agreement as follows:

[Defense Counsel]: Yes, Your Honor. We've had additional discussions with the County Attorney's Office and we've come to an agreement whereby [S.L.] would be admitting to Count I. Count II would be dismissed. Adjudication on Count I would be stayed and [S.L.] would be referred to probation for a [social history] * * * and additional consequences would be recommended.
[The Court]: Is it contemplated that * * * there be a social history then and a dispositional hearing would be scheduled; that the adjudication would be stayed at this hearing, but it's possible that it would be accomplished depending on what the results of the social history were * * *.
[Defense Counsel]: That wasn't my anticipation, Your Honor.
[The Court]: Okay. I just want to make it clear.
[Prosecutor]: Your Honor, it was our * * * desire that I would recommend that it would be a stay of adjudication. It's based on the juvenile's chemical dependency issues and the treatment she's since received for her chemical dependency issues after this event took place. *33 So that is what that recommendation is based on Your Honor.
[The Court]: All right. Well, then [S.L.] is that what you want to do?
[S.L.]: Umm, yea.

The district court accepted the plea agreement, withheld adjudication, ordered a social history, and set disposition to occur after completion of the social history. The district court also ordered S.L. to "remain law abiding and follow the rules, regulations, curfew, etc. of the home." The following day, S.L. admitted the petition on the habitual truancy charge that was the basis for the CHIPS petition. The district court again withheld adjudication, ordered a social history, and set disposition for that matter to occur after completion of the social history.

The disposition hearing for both the burglary and truancy charges was held on July 23, 2002. At the hearing, the prosecutor engaged in a back-and-forth discussion with the district court concerning the negotiated sentence recommendation. The social history revealed that S.L. had consistently engaged in criminal behavior over the previous two years. In 1999, and again in 2000, S.L. was charged with truancy. Also in 2000, S.L. was charged with shoplifting, assault, and disorderly conduct. Furthermore, S.L.'s probation officer recommended to the district court that S.L. be adjudicated delinquent so that S.L. could receive help with her chemical-dependency and mental-health issues. According to the probation officer, S.L. had continued to engage in "very very risky behaviors." In addressing the state's recommendation for a stay of adjudication, the prosecutor and defense counsel stated:

[Prosecutor]: Your Honor, the agreement on the burglary in the second degree included a recommendation from the County Attorney's Office for a stay of adjudication for up to 180-days and basically the benefit of that for [S.L.] was that she would keep a felony conviction off her record if she did what she was supposed to do for the next six months and there were no violations * * *.
Some things have come up since then * * *. We have some concerns * * *. Implicit in * * * the recommendation for the stay of adjudication was, I think, the idea that [S.L.] would be on good behavior pending the disposition in this matter and we have indications that she has not been on the best behavior.
* * * *
[Prosecutor]: I would say with regard to that stay of adjudication—that was the agreement of the County Attorney's Office. I indicated what I thought was implicit in that agreement. If the Court chooses not to stay adjudication, umm, it was a recommendation. It wasn't a guarantee and I think—I guess, I'd leave it at the Court's discretion. I think it's questionable whether she would have the right to withdraw her plea in that matter * * * because her expectations are different from what's likely to happen at sentencing here, but * * * in any event, we also have her admission in the truancy file.
* * * *
[Prosecutor]: You know, I really join in [the probation officer's] recommendations. I guess there is a feeling that I don't want to go back on the County Attorney's Office's word that we are going to recommend a stay of adjudication. Yet, I think there have been some things that changed the circumstance and * * * it would be legitimate for me then to say * * * I don't think a stay of adjudication is appropriate any more.
[Prosecutor]: Your Honor. * * * I just think that the Court should know that that was our original agreement. The *34 circumstances under which she entered her plea was a recommendation from the County Attorney's Office for a stay of adjudication.
* * * *

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Related

State v. Kunshier
410 N.W.2d 377 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1987)
State v. Kortkamp
560 N.W.2d 93 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1997)
State v. DeZeler
427 N.W.2d 231 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1988)
State v. Ferraro
403 N.W.2d 845 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1987)
Barragan v. State
583 N.W.2d 571 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1998)
In re S.L.
663 N.W.2d 31 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 2003)

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Bluebook (online)
663 N.W.2d 31, 2003 WL 21384837, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-sl-minnctapp-2003.