State v. Royster

OPINION

STRINGER, J.

We granted review to consider whether appellant Stanley N. Royster was properly sentenced under the mandatory minimum sentence of three years imprisonment under Minn.Stat. § 609.11, subds. 5, 9 (1998), when he was in possession of a firearm while committing a predicate felony offense. Royster was not actually carrying the firearm when he was arrested for the felony but the firearm was nearby. The trial court held that constructive possession of a firearm is an appropriate component of Minn.Stat. § 609.11, subd. 5 and that Royster had possession because the firearm was…