Opinion ID: 2023883
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Counts II, IV, VI, and VIIIDismissed Drug Tax Stamp Charges.

Text: A review of the record reveals the defendant never admitted the drug tax stamp offenses. The State argues the minutes of testimony contain repeated references to the absence of drug tax stamps and the minutes constituted sufficient facts to show the defendant had committed those offenses. We have previously held that minutes of testimony attached to a trial information do not necessarily provide facts that may be relied upon and considered by a sentencing court. Black, 324 N.W.2d at 316. Minutes can be used to establish a factual basis for a charge to which a defendant pleads guilty. Id. The sentencing court should only consider those facts contained in the minutes that are admitted to or otherwise established as true. Id. Where portions of the minutes are not necessary to establish a factual basis for a plea, they are deemed denied by the defendant and are otherwise unproved and a sentencing court cannot consider or rely on them. See id. The portions of the minutes referring to the absence of drug tax stamps were not necessary to establish a factual basis for the defendant's pleas of guilty to the three delivery charges. The sentencing court improperly considered the dismissed drug tax stamp charges. We cannot speculate about the weight a sentencing court assigned to an improper consideration and the defendant's sentences must be vacated and the case remanded for resentencing. See id.; Messer, 306 N.W.2d at 733.