State v. Norton

AMDAHL, Chief Justice.

This is a criminal appeal from judgment of conviction which raises only one issue, whether there were severe aggravating circumstances present justifying a durational departure of greater than two times the presumptive sentence established by the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines. We hold that there were severe aggravating circumstances present, and we affirm the sentence.

On September 25, 1981, a 5-year-old Minneapolis girl was playing in front of her home when a man whom she did not know picked her up, put her in a car and drove off. The victim’s sister, who saw the…