State of Minnesota v. Daniel Drljic

876 N.W.2d 350, 2016 Minn. App. LEXIS 15
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedMarch 7, 2016
DocketA15-714
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 876 N.W.2d 350 (State of Minnesota v. Daniel Drljic) 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. Daniel Drljic, 876 N.W.2d 350, 2016 Minn. App. LEXIS 15 (Mich. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION

CONNOLLY, Judge.

Appellant challenges his 88-month prison sentence for first-degree aggravated robbery, arguing that the district *352 court erred in sentencing him based -on a criminal-history score of four. Appellant contends that because his 2011 burglary convictions involved a" “single behavioral incident,” only two of his three 2011 burglary convictions can properly be counted in his criminal-history score under Minn. Sent. Guidelines 2.B.l.d(2) (Supp.2013). Because appellant’s burglary of three separate- businesses in one day does not constitute a single behavioral incident, we affirm.

EACTS

In April 2014, respondent State of Minnesota charged appellant Daniel Drljic with first-degree aggravated robbery for his participation in a robbery at a restaurant in Richfield. At an omnibus hearing on December -15, 2014, the district court noted that if appellant were convicted of the first-degree aggravated robbery charge, “the guidelines would call-for an 88-month prison term.” Respondent offered to “agree to a middle-of-the-box disposition” of an “88-month prison commit” in exchange for not adding additional charges. On January 7,, 2015, respondent amended the complaint to add kidnapping, second-degree assault, first-degree assault, and possession of a firearm by an ineligible person charges. On January 23, appellant entered a plea of guilty to the first-degree aggravated robbery charge in exchange for the dismissal -of all' -other charges and an 88-month prison term.

Prior to sentencing, the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission created a sentencing worksheet for appellant. The sentencing worksheet listed a criminal-history score of four. This score was calculated by adding. together three second-degree burglary convictions from February 2011 and a custody status point for being .on probation at the time of the April 2014 offense.

On January 30, 2015, the district court sentenced appellant, to an 88-month prison term with 18 days’ credit for time served. Appellant now appeals his sentence, challenging the district court’s determination of his criminal-history score.

ISSUE

Did appellant’s 2011 burglary convictions and sentences arise from a single behavioral incident such that the district court should have counted only two of the three sentences in his' criminal-history score?

ANALYSIS

Appellant argues that “[appellant] had a criminal history score of three, and the district court erred in sentencing him with a criminal history score óf four.” He asserts that because his 2011 burglary convictions involved “a single behavioral incident,” only two of his'2011 burglary sentences can properly be counted in his criminal-history score under Minn. Sent. Guidelines 2.B.l.d(2). Respondent contends that “[appellant’s] criminal history score was properly calculated because, in addition to 1 custody status point, the three burglaries were motivated by divisible intentions and motivations and, therefore, did not constitute a single behavioral incident.”

While the record does not contain any direct discussion of appellant’s criminal-history score or the sentencing worksheet by the' district court, it notéd that “the guidelines would call for an 88-month prison term” in this situation and characterized that prison term as a “middle-of-the-box guideline sentence,” indicating that the 88-month prison term was the presumptive sentence for appellant under the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines and was thus necessarily based on his criminal-history score. '

*353 A sentence based- on an incorrect criminal-history score may be challenged on appeal, regardless of whether the defendant raised the issue in district court. See State v. Maurstad, 733 N.W.2d 141, 148 (Minn.2007) (noting that “a defendant cannot forfeit review of [the defendant’s] criminal history score calculation”). We review the district court’s determination of a defendant’s criminal-history score for an abuse of discretion. State v. Stillday, 646 N.W.2d 557, 561 (Minn.App.2002), review denied (Minn. Aug. 20,2002).

The sentencing guidelines determine presumptive sentences- based on the severity of an offense and the offender’s criminal-history score. Minn. Sent. Guidelines 2.C (Supp.2013). An “offender is assigned a particular weight for every felony conviction for which a felony sentence was stayed or imposed before the current sentencing.” Minn. Sent. Guidelines 2.B & cmt. 2.B.101 (Supp. 2013). “When multiple offenses arising from a single course of conduct involving multiple victims were sentenced,” the -sentencing guidelines instruct the district court to “include in criminal history only the weights from the two offenses at the highest severity levels.” Minn. Sent. Guidelines 2.B.l.d(2). .

In this case, there is no dispute that the prior burglary convictions, which formed the basis for the three felony criminal-history points, involved multiple victims. Appellant challenges the district court’s implicit finding that the 2011 burglary convictions did not arise from a single behavioral incident 1 under Minn. Sent. Guidelines 2.B.l.d(2) and thus should be counted separately for purposes of appellant’s criminal-history score. Id.

“[T]he factors to be considered in determining whether - multiple offenses constitute a single behavioral act are time, place, and whether the offenses were motivated by a desire to obtain a single criminal objective.” State v. Gould, 562 N.W.2d 518, 521 (Minn.1997). “Broad statements of criminal purpose do not unify separate acts into • a single course of conduct.” State v. Jones, 848 N.W.2d 528, 533 (Minn. 2014); see also Gould, 562 N.W.2d at 521 (“[T]he criminal plan of obtaining as much money, as possible is too broad an objective to constitute a single criminal goal.... ”).

The 2011 burglary convictions at issue here arose from a series of events that occurred in the early morning hours of December 9, 2009 at a building housing an art studio, liquor store, and coffee house in St. Paul. Each of the three businesses had its own address and was owned and operated separately.

According to. the complaint, 2 appellant and a codefendant gained access to the art studio by prying open the door. An aluminum ruler and aluminum t-square were removed from the art studio. Appellant and his codefendant then “gained access to the liquor store next door by breaking through the wall from the art studio to [the liquor store].” They removed items worth $1,364.65 from the liquor store, including “a large amount of boxes of liquor.” Appellant and his codefendant entered the coffee house by breaking through a sealed door in the art studio,removed $150, ’ broke the cash register, rummaged through several of the drawers and shelves, and scattered items all over the floor.

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Bluebook (online)
876 N.W.2d 350, 2016 Minn. App. LEXIS 15, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-minnesota-v-daniel-drljic-minnctapp-2016.