Court Opinion

ID: 9731910
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 16:01:13.734719+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:22:18.033023
License: Public Domain

WAHL, Justice
(dissenting).
Because I believe the majority opinion violates the statutory protection against serialized prosecution provided by Minn.Stat. § 609.035 (1978), I must respectfully dissent. The statute provides that a conviction of any offense bars prosecution for any other offense arising out of the same behavioral incident. Defendant’s guilty plea is a conviction for purposes of this statute.
We have repeatedly warned that in situations like the instant one, where a defendant pleads guilty to one of several offenses arising out of the same behavioral incident charged in a single prosecution, the trial court should defer sentencing until after disposition of all charges. State v. Sailor, 257 N.W.2d 349, 352 (Minn.1977); State v. Wheat, 296 Minn. 97, 206 N.W.2d 655 (1973); See In the Matter of the Welfare of Reynaldo Castillo, No. 50235, 293 N.W.2d 839 (Minn. June 13, 1980). Here, the trial court accepted a plea of guilty from this unrepresented defendant as to one charge and proceeded to sentence him before trial on another charge. In these circumstances, Minn.Stat. § 609.035 prohibits further prosecution.
Although the majority opinion concedes that defendant’s offenses arose out of the same behavioral incident and that he therefore may be sentenced for only one offense, it nevertheless approves prosecution of defendant on the additional charge. Since no sentence can be imposed for conviction of this charge, the only reason for pursuing the conviction is to harass the defendant, something which Minn.Stat. § 609.035 was intended to prevent. I would affirm the three-judge panel.