State v. Gustafson

Defendant, who was charged with second-degree murder, Minn. St. 609.19, in the death of his estranged wife, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, Minn. St. 609.195(2), and was sentenced by the district court to a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. On this appeal from judgment of conviction, defendant contends that the district court should not have accepted his guilty plea because there was no factual basis for the plea. Specifically, defendant contends that his admissions at the guilty-plea hearing show that he intended to kill his wife and that therefore the facts do not fit third-degree…