State v. Fleming
Annotate this CaseAppellant pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by an ineligible person and second-degree assault. The district court imposed an upward durational sentencing departure for the possession conviction on the grounds that Appellant fired the gun six times in a park filled with children, thereby putting a large number of individuals in real and significant danger of bodily harm. On appeal, Appellant contended that “the firing of the gun related only to the assault conviction and that the conduct underlying the assault conviction could not be used to support an upward departure for the possession conviction.” The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the plain language of Minn. Stat. 244.10(5)(a)(b) authorized the upward departure, as the firing of the gun made Appellant’s illegal possession of the gun more egregious than the typical possession offense, even if the firing of the gun was part of the same course of conduct as the assault offense.
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