This opinion will be unpublished and may not be cited except as provided by Minn. Stat. § 480A.08, subd. 3 (2014). STATE OF MINNESOTA IN COURT OF APPEALS A15-1577 State of Minnesota, Respondent,

vs. Edwin Albert Dlugopolski, Appellant. Filed June 13, 2016 Affirmed Rodenberg, Judge McLeod County District Court File No. 43-CR-14-1574 Lori Swanson, Attorney Gene ral, St. Paul, Minnesota; and Michael K. Junge, McLeod County Attorney, Daniel R. Provencher, Assistant County Attorney, Glencoe, Minne sota (for respondent) Cathryn Middlebrook, Chief Appellate Public Defender, Steven P. Russett, Assistant Public Defender, St. Paul, Minnesota (for appellant) Considered and decided by Bjorkman, Presiding Judge; Peterson, Judge; and Rodenberg, Judge. U N P U B L I S H E D O P I N I O N RODENBERG , Judge On appeal from his convictio n of fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance, appellant Edwin Albert Dlugopolski argues that the district court violated his right to2 present a complete defense by denying his request for an in-c ourt, physical weighing of the controlled-substance evidence. We affirm. FACTS On October 20, 2014, Hutchinson police officers responded to a report of a man trying to open car doors in a store parking lot. The ma n police suspected of pulling on car doors gave officers a false name. Appe llant, who was with that man, correctly identified him to the o fficers. After appellant’s conversa tions with the officers ended, Officer Willers told appellant that he was free to leave. Officer Willers then asked appellant where he was going, and offered him a ride after learning his destination. After initially declining, appellant accepted Officer Willers’ offer of a ride. Officer Willers explained to appellant that he would have to pat-search appellant before he allowed him in the squad car. Appe llant said “okay” and raised his arms to allow the search. When Officer Willers patt ed appellant’s front-ri ght pants pocket, he felt what he immediately recognized to be a pipe used for smoking methamphetamine. Officer Willers removed the pipe and continued to sear ch appellant. He found a prescription medicine bottle containing four hydrocodon e pills, a cut straw with methamphetamine residue on one tip, a small bag of marijuana, a butane lighter, and a bag of methamphetamine. Officer Willers conf irmed by field testing that the substance in one of the bags was methampheta mine, and arrested appellant. In processing the ev idence, Officer Willers weighed the bag and methamphetamine. The two items weighed 1.5 grams. The bag and contents were sent to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Appreh ension (BCA) for further testing. A BCA3 forensic scientist tested th e substance, confirmed that it was methamphetamine, and reported that the substance itself weighe d 0.647 grams, excl uding the weight of packaging. The state charged appellant with one count of fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine), in violation of Minn. Stat. § 152.025, subd. 2(a)(1) (2014). The case was tr ied to a jury. At trial, duri ng cross-examination of Officer Willers, appellant’s counsel sought to have the officer weigh the bag of methamphetamine with a scale that counsel ha d brought into the cour troom. The district court denied the request to weigh the evid ence, expressing concern about the lack of notice of the proposed demonstra tion, among other concerns. The jury found appellant guilty of fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance. The district cour t sentenced appellant to 17 mont hs in prison. This appeal followed. D E C I S I O N “Evidentiary rulings rest within the sound discretion of the [district] court and will not be reversed absent a clear abuse of discretion. On appeal, the appellant has the burden of establishing that the [district] court abused its di scretion and that appellant was thereby prejudiced.” State v. Amos , 658 N.W.2d 201, 203 (Minn. 2003) (citation omitted). “When an error implicates a c onstitutional right, we will award a new trial unless the error is harmless beyond a reasonabl e doubt. An error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt if the jury’s verdict was surely unattributable to the error.” State v.
Davis , 820 N.W.2d 525, 533 (Minn. 2012) (citation an d quotation omitted).4 Appellant argues that the district court impeded his right to present a complete defense by denying his request to have Officer Willers weigh the evidence in the presence of the jury. In State v. Darrow , the Minnesota Supreme Court held that the performance of experiments in the presence of the jury . . . when they are made under conditions and circumstances substantially similar to those exis ting in the case at issue rests in the sound discretion of the [district] court. 287 Minn. 230, 234, 177 N. W.2d 778, 781 (1970) (quota tion omitted). The supreme court has also held that a district court di d not abuse its discreti on when it excluded, without objection, defense counsel’s evidence of an experiment performed outside the jury’s view on foundationa l and relevancy grounds. State v. Lindsey , 284 N.W.2d 368, 374 (Minn. 1979). Here, the district court denied appe llant’s request to weigh the bag of methamphetamine in open court because, among other concerns, appellant did not provide notice of the proposed de monstration to the state or the district court. The district court noted that appellant was free to argue about the discrepancy in the reported weight of the bag without the proposed demonstrati on. The district court’s other concerns included the absence of verification of the sc ale’s accuracy. And the charge of which appellant was convicted did not require proof of the weight of the drugs in any event. See Minn. Stat. § 152.025, subd. 2(a)(1). Weighing evidence with a scale of uncert ain accuracy and with out prior notice to the court or the prosecutor was not esse ntial to appellant’s defense. Under Darrow and5 Lindsey , the district court acted within its di scretion in denying a ppellant’s proposed in-court demonstration. 287 Minn. at 23 4, 177 N.W.2d at 781; 284 N.W.2d at 374. Affirmed.