Court Opinion

ID: 9733342
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 17:03:49.755378+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:40.657456
License: Public Domain

FOLEY, Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent.
The trial court should have departed dis-positionally from the presumptive sentence. Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines § 1.4. To grant probation here is a departure which defies logic and ignores reality. Halverson pled guilty to three counts of receiving *622stolen property, one count of theft/altering serial numbers, and one count of unlawful possession of cocaine.
The plea was in return for dismissing several similar counts. Evidence obtained in searching his premises included multiple-identity driver’s licenses, at least 40 sets of keys for new automobiles, and an address book replete with numbers of individuals previously convicted or indicted for automobile theft. Clearly, Halverson is a person deeply involved in organized criminal activity.
There were “substantial and compelling circumstances” here to prompt the trial judge’s departure from sentencing guidelines and incarcerate.
The trial court reasoned that if Halver-son were on probation he could make restitution payment to both the Public Defender’s office and his victims. In addition, he could support his daughter and maintain a paternal relationship with her which would otherwise not be possible. I find these reasons neither sufficiently substantial nor compelling to support probation.
Furthermore, the guidelines specifically indicate that employment at the time of sentencing is a factor that should not be considered. Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines § II.D.1.c.(4). However, the court here apparently looked with favor on the fact that Halverson had obtained a job since his arrest. This factor is irrelevant in applying the guidelines.
The listed factors justifying aggravation of sentencing guidelines primarily focus on the defendant’s culpability. State v. Wright, 310 N.W.2d 461, 462 (Minn.1981).
The trial court’s focus here was on the defendant as an individual. However, there is nothing in the record to indicate any special disposition to probationary treatment. On the contrary, the defendant was already on probation when he was arrested for the crimes to which he pled guilty. The court merely noted that the defendant is amenable to probation. This is a statement lacking substance. Most defendants facing sentencing are amenable to probation, a fact which of itself, hardly justifies probation.
Granting probation on these facts can only have a chilling effect on law enforcement officers’ efforts to disrupt stolen property cabals and curb fencing operations. At the very least, sentencing on Count III should have been executed.
I reject the suggestion that we blindly adhere to the trial court’s exercise of discretion, when that discretion has been grossly abused, as demonstrated here.
I would reverse and remand for sentencing to incarcerate.