(DOWNLOAD) "State v. Ross" by Supreme Court of Montana * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: State v. Ross
- Author : Supreme Court of Montana
- Release Date : January 07, 2007
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 56 KB
Description
Respondent Rossco A. Ross was found guilty and convicted of one count of identity theft and two counts of theft by swindle after a jury trial in Hennepin County. On appeal, the court of appeals reversed Rosss convictions, holding that the offenses were improperly joined and that, as a result of the improper joinder, Ross was entitled to a new trial. In this appeal, conceding that the offenses were improperly joined for trial, the state asks that we abandon our traditional joinder analysis under Minn. R. Crim. P. 17.03, subd. 3(1)(a), in favor of "a less restrictive interpretation of the term related that applies to the joinder of all criminal offenses," reverse the court of appeals, and affirm Rosss conviction. Specifically, the state asks that we construe the term "related" to be consistent with the definition found in 2 ABA Standards for Criminal Justice 13-1.2 and 13-2.1 (2d ed. 1980). In the alternative, the state, in its brief, asks us to adopt a rule that would permit joinder of multiple-offense property crimes when statutory provisions would permit offense aggregation. Finally, the state asks us to hold that any error in joining the offenses for trial in this case was harmless. For the reasons discussed below, we agree that the offenses were improperly joined for trial, but decline to abandon our traditional joinder analysis under the rule. We also conclude that the erroneous joinder of the offenses was harmless as to the determination of Rosss guilt and therefore reverse the court of appeals. However, because Ross could not have been properly charged and tried on all four offenses due to the interplay between our joinder rule and Minn. Stat. § 609.035 (2006), we direct that one of Rosss theft-by-swindle convictions be vacated.
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