State of Minnesota v. August Latimothy Fleming

869 N.W.2d 319, 2015 Minn. App. LEXIS 72, 2015 WL 5197944
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedSeptember 8, 2015
DocketA14-2187
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 869 N.W.2d 319 (State of Minnesota v. August Latimothy Fleming) 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
State of Minnesota v. August Latimothy Fleming, 869 N.W.2d 319, 2015 Minn. App. LEXIS 72, 2015 WL 5197944 (Mich. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION

LARKIN, Judge.

Appellant challenges his aggravated sentence for possessing a firearm as an ineligible person, arguing that the district court erred by basing its upward durational sentencing departure on an impermissible aggravating factor. Appellant also challenges the district court’s decision to revoke his probation, arguing that the district court failed to make a necessary finding and that the evidence does not support revocation. Because the aggravating departure factor on which the district court relied is permissible under MinruStat. § 244.10, subd. 5a(b), and because the district court did not err in revoking probation, we affirm.

FACTS

Respondent State of Minnesota charged appellant August Latimothy Fleming with possessing a firearm as an ineligible person under Minn.Stat. § 624.713, subd. 1(2) (2012), and second-degree assault under Minn.Stat. § 609.222, subd. 1 (2012). The complaint alleged that on October 3, 2012, Fleming was cut with a knife during a dispute on a basketball court at Folwell Park in Minneapolis and that Fleming responded by reaching into a backpack, retrieving a gun, and firing it six times. Many adults and children were present when Fleming fired the gun. Fleming pleaded guilty to both charges and testified regarding facts that would establish a basis for an aggravated sentence.

The district court accepted Fleming’s guilty plea and convicted him of the offenses. At the sentencing hearing, Fleming requested downward dispositional and durational departures from the 60- and 36-month presumptive prison sentences for the firearm-possession and assault convictions. 1 The state opposed a dispositional departure and argued for an upward durational departure.

The district court granted Fleming’s request for a downward dispositional departure, as well as the state’s request for an upward durational departure. The district court sentenced Fleming to serve 90 months in prison for the firearm-possession conviction, stayed execution of the sentence for eight years, and placed Fleming on probation. The district court sentenced Fleming to serve a concurrent 36-month prison term for the assault conviction and stayed execution of that sentence for eight years.

*324 The district court explained that the dis-positional departure was based, in part, on the following circumstances: the victim was the initial aggressor and Fleming had an imperfect self-defense claim. The district court explained that the upward dura-tional departure was based on the “unique seriousness” of the offense. The district court’s memorandum supporting its sentencing order states:

A trial court may impose a sentence .above the presumptive range- (or the statutorily mandated minimum sentence) if the trial court finds a defendant’s actions represent a greater than normal danger to the safety of other people.
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Going back to the caselaw and taking into account the general nature of the aggravating factors that may be considered, this court finds the danger to the general public — those innocent children, families, and community members in the area of Folwell Park — cannot be overstated. Bullets kill and maim. Bullets do not know their target, and can kill or maim unintended victims. Mr. Fleming’s actions threatened to harm or kill at least six people. And, as is readily apparent, his actions negatively impacted the lives of hundreds[, and] added to the steady drumbeat of negative reports of crime in North Minneapolis. Nothing good came out of Mr. Fleming’s actions.

(Quotation omitted.) The district court imposed several probationary conditions, including “Do not commit any new offense,” “Stay at least one block away from Folwell Park in Minneapolis,” and “Make a good-faith effort to obtain or maintain employment ... and/or pursue an educational program.”

In May 2014, the probation department filed a report alleging that Fleming had violated certain conditions of probation. The department filed an updated report in 'July, alleging, among other things, that Fleming violated the geographic restriction by being arrested at a location adjacent to Folwell Park, by having 58 grams of suspected marijuana in his backpack at the time of his arrest, by being terminated from his job, and by failing to provide verification of searches for other employment or educational opportunities.

The district court held a three-day probation-violation hearing and heard testimony from several witnesses. The district court found that Fleming violated the following probationary conditions: that he stay outside a one-block radius of Folwell Park, that he make a good-faith effort to obtain or maintain employment or pursue an educational program, and that he remain law abiding. The district court found that the probation violations were supported by clear-and-convincing evidence; that the violations were knowing, intentional, and willful; and that the need for confinement outweighed the policies favoring probation. The district court identified public safety as a “large concern.” It also stated:

What just boggles my mind is how you could go across the street from Fol-well Park and as you do it with drugs in your bag. I don’t buy for an instant that you thought it was okay to walk through the park because nobody would know you except for up at the community center.... You know your underlying offense impacted hundreds of people at the park....

The district court further stated:

[H]ad you committed these infractions and offenses while you were on conditional release in the last case, I wouldn’t have departed....
I still think you’ve got hope and promise, but I can’t ignore the violations. And so I do feel that the policies of *325 Minnesota which favor probation need to give way in this case....

The district court revoked 60 months of Fleming’s 90-month firearm-possession sentence, staying execution of the remaining 30 months of that sentence. However, the district court stayed the revocation to allow the parties to submit written arguments regarding whether it had authority to revoke only a portion of Fleming’s firearm-possession sentence. The district court also requested arguments regarding its authority to revoke the 36-month assault sentence and continue the stay of execution on the 90-month firearm-possession sentence. The district court ultimately concluded that revocation of less than 60 months of Fleming’s stayed prison time would be insufficient to address the probation violations. The district court’s probation-revocation order explains:

The court finds the need for confinement outweighs the policies favoring probation. Mr. Fleming was given a significant opportunity by the court to rehabilitate his behavior. Instead, Mr. Fleming was found with 58 grams of marijuana, next to Folwell Park. Given the programming he completed while incarcerated, and the near exhaustion of relevant programming opportunities, he is not amenable to probation and cannot be relied on to avoid antisocial activity.
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
869 N.W.2d 319, 2015 Minn. App. LEXIS 72, 2015 WL 5197944, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-minnesota-v-august-latimothy-fleming-minnctapp-2015.