Title: State v. Frost

State: minnesota

Issuer: Minnesota Supreme Court

Document:

306 N.W.2d 803 (1981) STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Al G. FROST, Jr., Appellant. No. 81-422. Supreme Court of Minnesota. June 11, 1981. Friedberg & Peterson, Minneapolis, for appellant. Warren Spannaus, Atty. Gen., St. Paul, Thomas L. Johnson, County Atty., and Vernon E. Bergstrom, Chief, Appellate Section, Asst. County Atty., Minneapolis, for respondent. Considered and decided by the court en banc without oral argument. SHERAN, Chief Justice. This is an appeal from a number of concurrent sentences for convictions of five charges of theft by swindle over $150 committed by defendant before the Sentencing Guidelines became effective. The trial court, proceeding under the Guidelines even though technically not required to do so, departed from the presumptive sentence which would have been to place defendant, who is a "first offender," on probation and sentenced him to five concurrent 40-month prison terms. Defendant, who seeks a remand for resentencing, contends that in deciding to depart, the trial court erred in relying in part upon the factual basis underlying two charges of which defendant was acquitted in his trial. We affirm. Defendant was appointed admissions and financial aid officer at Minneapolis Community College in July 1975. In January 1980 someone reported suspected irregularities in the financial aid program at M.C.C. to the legislative auditor, and the resultant investigation disclosed evidence of large-scale fraud ($104,463 in improper payments) in the program. *804 The investigation showed that several students received aid to which they were not entitled and then made kickbacks to people in the aid office. Other students were invited to apply for aid under fictitious names and they then kicked back a large part of the money they received. Forgery of the names of at least two real students was also involved. Defendant was charged with seven separate felony complaints: (1) theft by swindle over $150; (2) theft by swindle over $150; (3) theft by swindle over $150 and aggravated forgery uttering; (4) theft by swindle over $150 and aggravated forgery uttering; (5) theft by swindle over $150 and misconduct by public employee; (6) theft by swindle over $2,500; and (7) theft by swindle over $2,500. At his trial on all these charges, defendant was found guilty of the first five complaints and not guilty of the last two. At the sentencing hearing the prosecutor argued that the proper basis for departure was that this was a major economic crime. Specifically, section II.D.2.b. of the Guidelines provides that the fact that an offense was a major economic crime is an aggravating factor if two or more of the following circumstances were present: The prosecutor, in seeking a sentence of 72 months in prison, argued that four of these factors (a), (b), (c) and (d) were present in this case. In arguing that there were multiple incidents, the prosecutor urged the court to consider the testimony underlying the charges of which defendant was acquitted because even though the state had not shown defendant's guilt of those charges beyond a reasonable doubt, it had shown defendant's involvement in those crimes by a preponderance of the evidence. In arguing that the monetary loss was substantial, the prosecutor pointed to the fact that at least $104,463 in losses were involved. In arguing that factor (c) was present, the prosecutor pointed to the evidence which the trial court had heard bearing on that, including evidence that defendant began the conduct shortly after he began his job. Finally, the prosecutor pointed to the fact that defendant used his position of trust to facilitate commission of the crime. Defense counsel conceded that factors (c) and (d) were present but argued that factors (a) and (b), along with factor (e), were not present. The trial court, in departing and sentencing defendant to 40 months in prison, stated that it believed aggravating factors were present and that a primary one was defendant's abuse of a position of trust. Most relevant to the matter, which is the subject of this appeal, are the following comments: Explaining the choice of a 40-month term, the court stated: This appeal followed. The state argues that a dismissal would be proper because a defendant cannot appeal a sentence for a crime committed before May 1, 1980, but the state suggests that we decide the matter at this time and save defendant the necessity of bringing the matter before this court by way of an appeal from judgment of conviction. We agree that defendant cannot appeal from the sentence. However, as the state suggests, in the interests of justice we treat the appeal as one from judgment of conviction and address the issue raised by the appeal. Defendant does not argue that his sentence was inequitable in comparison with that given some other defendant, but instead claims that the trial court improperly considered certain information in deciding what sentence to impose. This is the sort of contention which this court was free to consider on appeal even before the adoption of appellate review of sentences. The general principle governing such a contention is that the sentencing judge "may appropriately conduct an inquiry broad in scope, largely unlimited either as to the kind of information he may consider, or the source from which it may come." United States v. Tucker, 404 U.S. 443, 446, 92 S. Ct. 589, 591, 30 L. Ed. 2d 592 (1972). However, the United States Supreme Court has sustained due-process objections to sentences imposed on the basis of "misinformation of constitutional magnitude." Id. at 447, 92 S. Ct. at 592. The Tucker case is an example of a case in which the Court sustained such an objection. There the Court remanded for resentencing after holding that it was improper for the sentencing judge to consider a prior uncounseled felony conviction in determining the defendant's sentence. Roberts v. United States, 445 U.S. 552, 100 S. Ct. 1358, 63 L. Ed. 2d 622 (1980), is an example of a case in which the Court ruled that no "misinformation of constitutional magnitude" was relied upon. There the Court held that the district court in that case properly considered the defendant's refusal to cooperate as a factor in imposing a *806 harsher sentence than he otherwise would have imposed. Defendant tries to analogize his case to the case in which the trial court in sentencing relies on a prior uncounseled felony conviction. The analogy does not fit. What the trial court in this case said was that although it was aware defendant had been acquitted of two charges, that did not prevent it from going beyond the convictions which were obtained and looking at all the evidence implicating defendant, including evidence which was used in the unsuccessful prosecution of the two charges of which defendant was acquitted. Looking at all the evidence it was clear that, while the state had obtained only five convictions of theft by swindle over $150, defendant was the prime mover behind the entire scheme and that as a result of the scheme, losses of $100,000 were sustained and a number of people stood convicted of crimes they never would have committed but for defendant's abuse of his position of trust. In conclusion, this is not a case in which the sentencing court relied upon "misinformation of constitutional magnitude." Affirmed.