Legal Question in Criminal Law in Minnesota

Re: Stay Of Imposition

In the real world, this can turn out to be an acedemic question -- since there may be little practical difference. If a potential employer does a background check, they should find the public record of the felony criminal charge, and guilty plea. Many employers don't seem to care whether the conviction is deemed a misdemeanor by operation of law, due to a stay of imposition of sentence. You may want to disclose it, and let them know that it will be deemed a midemeanor upon the successful completion of the probation period. Note that even after that, most or many felony charges with a stayed impostion of snetence will still be deemed a felony conviction for purposes of civil rights to guns and firearms.

Is it a "felony conviction" while on probation under a stay of imposition? Probably "yes," since arguably Minn Stat Section 609.13 reduces it to a misdmeanor after (AFTER) successful completion of a stay of impostion of sentence. Generally however, the level of conviction (felony vs misdmeanor) in Minnesota is detemrined by the sentence imposed.

Another idea is to petition for an end of probation early, after it is more than half completed.

Re: Stay Of Imposition

A stay of imposition - pursuant to statute allows for the following:

You plead guilty to a felony (in this case) and then are put on probation. After you are discharged from probation, your felony is reduced to a misdemeanor. At this point in time you are able to say you have not been convicted of a felony because you case is reduced to a misdemeanor by operation of law.

A stay of adjudication (which is what perhaps was contemplated) entails the following:

You plead guilty to a felony (again, in your case), however the judge does not accept you plea of guilty and places you on probation for a period time. Because the judge does not accept you plea of guilty and stays - or holds off on adjudicating you guilty, you have not been convicted of anything. You can then proceed telling people you have not been convicted.

After your probation expires, your case with the court is dismissed.

However, if you mess up on probation, because you already entered a plea of guilty, the judge can now go back and enter your guilty plea and adjudicate you guilty.

Hopefully this answers your questions. If not, feel free to contact me.