State v. Halverson

373 N.W.2d 618, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 4475
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedAugust 27, 1985
DocketCX-85-848
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 373 N.W.2d 618 (State v. Halverson) 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 v. Halverson, 373 N.W.2d 618, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 4475 (Mich. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinions

OPINION

LESLIE, Judge.

This is a sentencing appeal. The State challenges a stay of execution given the defendant while defendant contends the prohibition against multiple sentencing for a single behavioral incident was violated. We affirm but modify the sentence.

[619]*619FACTS

In return for dismissal of several similar counts, Ronald Halverson pleaded guilty to three counts of receiving stolen property, one count of theft/altering serial numbers, and one count of unlawful possession of cocaine. The charges stemmed from Hal-verson’s involvement in “stripping” stolen cars and distributing the parts to other “fences.” Evidence obtained in a search of his premises showed that he had three separate Minnesota driver’s licenses, lists of names, birthdates, death dates and burial places of different males who died at young ages (apparently used to obtain aliases), a box with over 40 sets of keys for 40 new vehicles, VIN plates, numerous automobile parts, and an address book with numbers of individuals previously convicted or indicted for automobile theft.

At sentencing the trial court found the automobile related convictions were all different offenses and did not involve a single behavioral incident. Sentencing was pursuant to State v. Hernandez, 311 N.W.2d 478 (Minn.1981) as follows:

Count I. Receiving stolen property (1983 Chevrolet, stolen from Merit Chevrolet in Maplewood on August 25, 1983). Imposition was stayed; defendant was placed on probation for 21 months.

Count II. Receiving stolen property (1983 Chevrolet, stolen from Main Motors in Maplewood on May 9, 1983). Imposition was stayed; defendant was placed on probation for 26 months.

Count IV. Receiving stolen property (1980 Ford, stolen from Prestige Lincoln-Mercury in Minneapolis on October 4, 1982). Imposition was stayed; defendant was placed on probation for 30 months.

Count III. Theft/altering serial number (1983 Chevrolet, stolen from Harold Chevrolet in Bloomington on December 16, 1982). Defendant was sentenced to 34 months imprisonment, execution was stayed, and defendant was placed on supervisory probation for five years. The terms of probation included: (1) Defendant served one year in jail with work release conditioned on his continued employment with his present employer. The work release agreement required defendant to, among other things, confine release activities to employment, consume no intoxicating liquor or non-prescription drug, and voluntarily submit to a chemical test at any time when requested, and reimburse Dakota County Jail for room and board for $6.00 per day. (2) Defendant undergo a chemical dependency assessment and carry out the recommendations. (3) Pay restitution to victims in all eight counts involving property theft. (4) Pay $500.00 to the Public Defender Fund. (5) Carry out the terms, conditions, and the probation agreement with the Department of Corrections, including restrictions on associations with any party who may lead defendant into criminal activity. (6) Reporting in person to probation officer on a monthly basis.

Defendant was also subject to the usual conditions, such as obeying all laws, replying promptly to his probation officer, keeping the probation officer informed of his employment and residence, and obtaining permission from the probation officer before leaving the state.

Count IX. Possession of cocaine. Imposition was stayed and defendant was placed on probation for 15 months.

The trial court believed it was departing dispositionally by staying execution on Count III. The court gave the following reasons for its “departure”:

My rationale in doing what I have done is as follows: Firstly, there is no previous serious involvement with the law. I’m aware of the marijuana problem. You do seem amenable to probation. Secondly, the course of action which I have chosen provides for some compensation to the Public Defender which would not otherwise be the case were you to be imprisoned. Obviously you would not be able to repay anything to those victims in prison. You would not be able to make any restitution into the Public Defender’s Fund for the excellent defense which you have been given in this matter. Moreover, you’re able, as a [620]*620third reason, to continue to support your daughter and to maintain a paternal relationship with her which would otherwise not be possible. Fourth, the Court is led to believe that the Sentencing Guidelines Commission is in some quandry as to the appropriate results in exactly this kind of situation. Obviously you’re certainly not unblemished by crime or you wouldn’t be here in the first place. It does seem however, rather illogical that the person who took the vehicles in question would receive a lesser sentence than the person who received them. It would seem that some aspect of the philosophy and thinking of the Sentencing Guidelines would be out of sync. Moreover, I think the sentencing is in accord with the policy of the Sentencing Guidelines in this case. I note the Comment II C.O.l “The disposi-tional policy adopted by the Commission was designed so that scarce prison resources would primarily be used for serious person offenders and community resources would be used for most property offenders.”
To a large degree I believe in what I have done that I have followed the philosophy of the Sentencing Guidelines even though this may be a dispositional departure. I like to believe, and I do believe, that the intent of the law is to make sure that the person who has erred changes their ways and I have tried to fashion the sentence in that way. If properly and faithfully carried out, it is not an easy one, but it does take the road back to being a responsible citizen in our society and I believe that is the end of the law in hopefully what I have done.

The State challenges the “dispositional departure” and Halverson challenges the sentence as a violation of the single behavioral incident prohibition of Minn.Stat. 609.035 (1984).

ISSUES

1. Did the trial court err in determining that the offenses did not constitute a single behavioral incident?

2. Did the trial court abuse its discretion by placing defendant on probation?

ANALYSIS

I.

The stolen property here involved separate thefts from different victims at different times. The fact that Halverson had possession of the items at the same time when a search warrant was later executed does not change the offenses into a single behavioral incident for purposes of Minn.Stat. § 609.035. See State v. Wybierala, 305 Minn. 455, 235 N.W.2d 197 (1975).

II.

The trial court, prosecutor, defense counsel, and appellate counsel all assumed Count III, theft/altering serial number, was a severity level VI offense. With defendant’s criminal history score of 3 (generated by the Hernandez method of sentencing) they assumed the presumptive sentence was 34 months, executed. However, theft/altering serial number, Minn.Stat. 609.52, subd. 2(11) is a severity level IV offense. See Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines, Felonies. As such, the presumptive sentence for Count III was 21 months, execution stayed. There was no downward dispositional departure.

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State v. Halverson
373 N.W.2d 618 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1985)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
373 N.W.2d 618, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 4475, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-halverson-minnctapp-1985.