State v. Johnson

216 N.W.2d 904, 299 Minn. 143, 1974 Minn. LEXIS 1427
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedApril 12, 1974
Docket44114
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 216 N.W.2d 904 (State v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court 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. Johnson, 216 N.W.2d 904, 299 Minn. 143, 1974 Minn. LEXIS 1427 (Mich. 1974).

Opinion

Knutson, Justice. *

Defendant was convicted in the municipal court of St. Paul of disorderly conduct and simple assault in violation of city ordinances and was sentenced to 60 days in the Ramsey County Workhouse, 45 days of which were suspended and 15 days of which were to be actually served. He appealed from the municipal court convictions and secured, under Minn. St. 488.20, a trial de novo in the district court. The jury in the district court proceedings found defendant not guilty of simple assault but guilty of disorderly conduct. The judge of the district court sentenced defendant to 60 days in the Ramsey County Workhouse and assessed costs in the sum of $200 under Minn. St. 633.28 and 633.25.

Defendant appeals to this court, requesting that the sentence imposed by the district court be reduced to that imposed by the municipal court and in addition that the assessment of costs against him be vacated.

Three issues are presented: (1) Whether it is constitutionally permissible after trial de novo in district court to impose upon defendant a sentence more severe than that imposed at the prior municipal court proceeding; (2) whether the sentence imposed in district court was improperly more severe because of defendant’s juvenile record; and (3) whether assessment of costs against defendant was proper where defendant was convicted of one charge and acquitted of the other.

In State v. Holmes, 281 Minn. 294, 161 N. W. 2d 650 (1968), we held that where a defendant is granted a new trial on appeal, the trial court may not impose a greater sentence after a subsequent conviction than was imposed after the first conviction. Defendant argues that the same rule should prevail where a defendant appeals to the district court from a lower court and there is a trial de novo. We did not base our decision in Holmes *145 on constitutional grounds but instead adopted the rule recommended by the Advisory Committee on Sentencing and Review, A. B. A. Standards for Criminal Justice, Post-Conviction Remedies (Approved Draft, 1968), § 6.3(a), Commentary, where we find the following:

“* * * Even though new facts may be brought to light which might occasionally warrant a heavier sentence, the Advisory Committee believes it is preferable to establish a standard that is prophylactic in effect, and easily administered, whereby sentencing judges are not given power to increase a sentence when an applicant has exercised his right to seek a post-conviction remedy. This takes the matter out of the discretion of the sentencing judge.”

After our decision in the Holmes case, the Supreme Court of the United States decided North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U. S. 711, 89 S. Ct. 2072, 23 L. ed. 2d 656 (1969). That court did not hold that it was constitutionally impermissible to impose a more severe sentence after the second trial but instead required that the judge, if such increased sentence were to be imposed, state the reasons for so doing. The court said (395 U. S. 726, 89 S. Ct. 2081, 23 L. ed. 2d 670):

“In order to assure the absence of such a motivation [the trial judge’s vindictiveness], we have concluded that whenever a judge imposes a more severe sentence upon a defendant after a new trial, the reasons for his doing so must affirmatively appear. Those reasons must be based upon objective information concerning identifiable conduct on the part of the defendant occurring after the time of the original sentencing proceeding. And the factual data upon which the increased sentence is based must be made part of the record, so that the constitutional legitimacy of the increased sentence may be fully reviewed on appeal.”

In State v. Holmes, supra, we expressly excluded from determination the question now posed before us. We said (281 Minn. 303, note 3, 161 N. W. 2d 656):

*146 “We do not decide whether the rule we here adopt applies where a defendant appeals and secures a trial de novo in the district court after a conviction in a justice court * * *.
“In these situations the new trial does not necessarily result from errors occurring at the first trial. Under our statutes a defendant may appeal from a conviction based on a plea of guilty or a finding of guilty and secure a trial de novo notwithstanding the fact he has previously received a fair trial free from error.”

Prior to Holmes, in Village of Elbow Lake v. Holt, 69 Minn. 349, 350, 72 N. W. 564 (1897), in an opinion written by Mr. Justice Mitchell, we held:

“* * * When the appeal [from a conviction in justice court of an ordinance violation] is general, upon questions of both law and fact, and the case is tried de novo, and the defendant convicted, the district court may impose any sentence within the limits of the penalty prescribed by the statute or ordinance under which the action is brought. This is so in strictly criminal actions. So, also, in strictly civil actions, when the appeal from justice’s court is on questions of both law and fact, the recovery may be for whatever a party proves himself entitled to (at least within the jurisdiction of the justice), regardless of what the judgment was in the justice’s court.”

Appeals from municipal court are governed by the same statutes as appeals from justice court. Minn. St. 488.20.

The United States Supreme Court in Colten v. Kentucky, 407 U. S. 104, 92 S. Ct. 1953, 32 L. ed. 2d 584 (1972), had occasion to address itself to the issue involved in the case now before us. The court distinguished North Carolina v. Pearce, supra, from a case involving a two-tier court system where the second trial is de novo and not a new trial granted on errors at law. Among other things, the court said (407 U. S. 116, 92 S. Ct. 1960, 32 L. ed. 2d 593):

“Our view of the Kentucky two-tier system of administering *147 criminal justice, however, does not lead us to believe, and there is nothing in the record or presented in the briefs to show, that the hazard of being penalized for seeking a new trial, which underlay the holding of Pearce, also inheres in the de novo trial arrangement. Nor are we convinced that defendants convicted in Kentucky’s inferior courts would be deterred from seeking a second trial out of fear of judicial vindictiveness. The possibility of vindictiveness, found to exist in Pearce, is not inherent in the Kentucky two-tier system.”

In Chaffin v. Stynchcombe, 412 U. S. 17, 25, 93 S. Ct. 1977, 1982, 36 L. ed. 2d 714, 723 (1973), the Supreme Court clarified its reasons for establishing the Pearce rule as follows:

“* * * [The Pearce] decision, as we have said, was premised on the apparent need to guard against vindictiveness in the re-sentencing process.

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Bluebook (online)
216 N.W.2d 904, 299 Minn. 143, 1974 Minn. LEXIS 1427, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-johnson-minn-1974.