ST. PAUL — A defendant lost his appeal on conviction of fifth-degree controlled substance crime (sale) rendered by a Chippewa County jury, but the Court of Appeals ordered the District Court to review his criminal history score to determine if he received the correct sentence.
Kenneth Myron Remund, 34, of Moorhead, is scheduled to return to court May 28 in Montevideo for sentencing on the conviction from October 2018.
Remund was arrested Nov. 30, 2017, as the result of a sting set up by the Montevideo Police Department and CEE-VI Drug Task Force. The criminal complaint charged that he responded to a fake Facebook post set up by the sting operation and brought a duffel bag holding marijuana to a Montevideo motel room where officers were waiting.
The Court of Appeals rejected Remund’s appeal on grounds that there was insufficient evidence for his conviction based on that arrest.
The court agreed with his argument that the criminal history points determined by a pre-sentence investigation may not be correct. The investigation determined he had five criminal history points, including points from a 2004 conviction which Remund argues were incorrectly calcuated.
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Based on that number of criminal history points, the District Court had sentenced Remund to five years in prison on the drug charges. The court stayed the prison sentence for five years provided he serve 61 days in jail and meet other conditions.
Remund argues the sentence should have been 13 months of stayed prison time based on two felony points.
The Court of Appeals found there is a concern that the criminal history score is inaccurate and remanded the case to District Court to determine the correct score and possibly resentence Remund if appropriate.
