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Judge Peter A. Cahill,   Sentencing Memoradum for Derek Chauvin for George Floyd Murder (June 25, 2021)

 

 

FloydChauvinThe Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines were promulgated “to establish rational and consistent sentencing standards that promote public safety, reduce sentencing disparity, and ensure that the sanctions imposed . . . are proportional to the severity of the . . . offense and the offender’s criminal history.” Minn. Sent. Guidelines 1.A; see also State v. Hicks, 864 N.W.2d 153, 156 (Minn. 2015) (“The Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines promote uniformity, proportionality, and predictability in sentencing.”).

The presumptive guidelines ranges are “deemed appropriate for the felonies covered by them.” Minn. Sent. Guidelines 1.A.6. In most cases, the maximum sentence a district court may impose is the top of the presumptive sentencing range because the sentencing guidelines mandate that district courts pronounce a sentence within the range on the sentencing guidelines grid. Minn. Sent. Guidelines .D.1.

However, the Sentencing Guidelines recognize there are cases in which the guidelines sentence may not be appropriate and therefore allow district courts to depart from the presumptive sentence, although departing courts must articulate “substantial and compelling” circumstances justifying the departure. Id.; see also State v. Barthman, 938 N.W.2d 257, 267, 270 (Minn. 2020); Hicks, 864 N.W.2d at 156; State v. Misquadace, 644 N.W.2d 65, 69 (Minn. 2002).

“Substantial and compelling circumstances are those demonstrating that ‘the defendant’s conduct in the offense of conviction was significantly more or less serious than that typically involved in the commission of the crime in question.’” Barthman, 938 N.W.2d at 270 (emphasis in original); Tucker v. State, 799 N.W.2d 583, 586 (Minn. 2011).

When such factors are present, the judge “may depart from the presumptive disposition or duration provided in the Guidelines and stay or impose a sentence that is deemed to be more appropriate than the presumptive sentence.” Minn. Sent. Guidelines 2.D.1. That includes exceeding the top end of the presumptive range when “there exist identifiable, substantial, and compelling circumstances.” Id.; State v. Rourke, 773 N.W.2d 913, 919 (Minn. 2009).