Court Opinion

ID: 9573954
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:00:55.250952+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:43:48.194024
License: Public Domain

Kelly, Justice
(concurring in part and dissenting in part).
I concur in the holding that where, as part of a single behavioral incident, a defendant kidnaps three girls and commits various sexual offenses upon the girls, the trial court is limited by Minn. St. 609.035 to sentencing defendant on a total of three offenses, one per victim.
The legislature undoubtedly intended that the punishment to be meted out to a defendant for a single behavioral incident be limited to the maximum term of years for any one of the offenses *382he is convicted of by reason of that single behavioral incident. In the instant case the trial court could have given defendant a sentence of up to 40 years as to the crimes against the first victim. Instead, he gave the defendant only 5 years on the kidnapping charge and another 5 years for the indecent liberties charge. He could have given defendant a 10-year sentence on that kidnapping charge and no prison term on the indecent liberties charge and would have accomplished the same result without doing anything contrary to Minn. St. 609.035. Admittedly, part of that statute reads: “* * * he may be punished for only one of such offenses,” but in my view the only purpose of that part of the statute was to preclude the giving of punishment in excess of the maximum sentence that could be imposed upon a defendant by sentencing him for the crime permitting the longest term of those crimes which constitute a single behavioral incident. In this case, that maximum would be 40 years for all of the crimes committed against any one of the victims, but in pronouncing sentence the court would have to adhere to the form required by statute and pronounce that sentence to be for the kidnapping charge.
Thus, the court in pronouncing sentence for the crimes committed against the first victim could have said: “I am sentencing you to 10 years for the crime of kidnapping victim number 1. In doing so, I am taking into account your culpability as shown by the fact that you also took indecent liberties with this victim. I might have given you only a 5-year sentence for this kidnapping if you had not committed the acts involved in taking indecent liberties.” Such a sentence would have complied with the statutory language, the obvious purpose of the statute, and, indeed, the spirit of the statute. However, because the judge sentenced this defendant to 5 years for kidnapping victim, number 1 and to 5 years for taking indecent liberties with the.same victim, the majority opinion would void that sentence and say that the trial court may only sentence the defendant on one of the two offenses. I agree with this conclusion but would not take the next step and *383say that on the remand in correcting the sentence the trial judge is limited to giving a sentence of up to 5 years on only one of the offenses. The result of this last step is that form prevails over substance because of the language used in the statute which technically requires that the defendant be sentenced for only one offense arising out of the same behavioral incident. However, no statute precludes the trial court from correcting the original sentence by giving a 10-year sentence on the kidnapping charge. Admittedly, there is no constitutional issue involved. This court would hold, in reliance on State v. Holmes, 281 Minn. 294, 161 N. W. 2d 650 (1968), that the trial court should limit the sentence to be given as to offenses against victim number 1 to 5 years. I believe this reliance cannot be premised on the rationale on which Holmes was based.
Thus, I respectfully dissent from the majority view that on resentencing the trial court may not impose a more severe penalty than the maximum sentence previously given for any one offense against each victim. I do agree that the trial court should not be permitted to give an overall sentence greater than the one originally imposed. Furthermore, the trial court on resentencing should give credit for the time served between the first sentence and the resentencing. To permit a greater sentence on resentencing would make it possible for a trial judge who might be irked by having his actions questioned to increase a sentence out of pure vindictiveness rather than by reason of the defendant’s culpability. A rule that would permit greater sentences upon resentencing after a successful appeal might deter some defendants from exercising their rights to have their original sentences reviewed. However, in the instant case the majority opinion would not permit the trial court to give the same overall sentence for all of the convictions which he gave in the first place.
The trial court here sentenced defendant on seven counts and defendant was given seven separate sentences to be served consecutively. The length of the sentences were as follows:
*384Crimes against Victim 1
Kidnapping 5 years
Indecent liberties 5 years
Crimes against Victim 2
Kidnapping 5 years
Aggravated Rape 10 years
Crimes against Victim 3
Kidnapping 5 years
Indecent liberties 4 years
Aggravated assault 6 years
Total 40 years
Under the majority opinion upon resentencing the maximum number of years that defendant may be required to serve will be as follows:
For crimes against Victim 1 5 years
For crimes against Victim 2 10 years
For crimes against Victim 3 6 years
Total 21 years
I would agree that if the trial judge on resentencing gave defendant more than a total of 40 years to serve, we should reverse on the rationale of Holmes. The majority opinion here, as in State v. Holmes, supra, would base its decision, not on constitutional or statutory grounds, but on1 procedural fairness and principles of public policy. I cannot equate the facts in Holmes with the present case. In Holmes, defendant sought and received a new trial. The sentence imposed after the new trial resulted in extending defendant’s term 1 year, 1 month, and 26 days. Here the maximum time to be served by defendant would not be extended by my proposal. To be sure, defendant’s legal victory in this appeal would be a hollow one if my view were followed, but there could be no reprisal by the trial court and therefore no prejudice to defendant. Nor would this proposal have a.chilling *385effect on other defendants because they would have nothing to lose by testing their sentences and might gain something under different facts. I do not concede that procedural fairness requires any more than that a defendant not be additionally punished for having sought to correct errors in his sentencing.
The other reason cited for not permitting the trial court to re-sentence up to his original maximum for all the crimes committed is that of public policy. In my view, public policy requires that the determination that defendant be given consecutive terms totaling 40 years by a trial judge who heard all of the evidence be sustained.1 Not just by reason of his culpability, but also because the record discloses that defendant is an antisocial personality with homicidal tendencies. As such, he is unable to feel guilt or to learn from experiences or punishment. He had medical treatment for his mental illness at the Human Development Center but apparently he could not be reached by psychiatric techniques. Obviously, the public must be protected from him. If he can be and is rehabilitated, the Minnesota Corrections Authority may release him. The overriding public policy should be that he be confined to prison or in a hospital until it is reasonably safe to release him.
A. B. A. Standards for Criminal Justice, Post-Conviction Remedies, § 6.3 (Approved Draft, 1968) provides:
“Sentence on re-prosecution of successful applicants; credit for time served.
“(a) Where prosecution is initiated or resumed against an applicant who has successfully sought post-conviction relief and a conviction is obtained, or where a sentence has been set aside as the result of a successful application for post-conviction relief *386and the defendant is to be re-sentenced, the sentencing court should not be empowered to impose a more severe penalty than that originally imposed.
“(b) Credit should be given towards service of the minimum and maximum term of any new prison sentence for time served under a sentence which has been successfully challenged in a post-conviction proceeding.” (Italics supplied.)
The key words in the standard touching upon the issue before this court are: “the sentencing court should not be empowered to impose a more severe penalty than that originally imposed.”2
The trial court here originally gave this defendant sentences, to be served consecutively, totaling 40 years. Imposing consecutive sentences for the same crimes not exceeding a total of 40 years, as I view it, would not “impose a more severe penalty than that originally imposed.” Of course, credit should be given for time served between sentencings. I recognize that a single sentence on one of the counts against one or more of the victims might be increased, but this is not as a practical matter the imposition of a more severe penalty than originally imposed.

I have not detailed the evidence here. However, I am satisfied that the sentence originally imposed or any sentence that might be imposed under this dissent would not result in a term of confinement grossly out of proportion to the gravity of the offenses or to the harm which resulted. See, State ex rel. Stangvik v. Tahash, 281 Minn. 353, 161 N. W. 2d 667 (1968).

 Under our Proposed Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rule 27.03, subd. 9, the trial court may at any time correct a sentence not authorized by law. The court may also under that rule modify a sentence during either a stay of imposition or execution of sentence except that the court may not increase the period of confinement.