Sentencing Guidelines staff tell probation officers to equate out‑of‑state convictions by conduct, not label, after Johnson ruling

Linda, a staff member with the Sentencing Guidelines Commission, told probation officers at an April lunch-and-learn that when evaluating out‑of‑state convictions they should focus on the conduct and how it would translate to Minnesota law, not on the foreign jurisdiction’s label.

"Get rid of the ... where it came from. Doesn't matter where it came from. What matters is what they did and if and how that would translate to an offense here in Minnesota," Linda said, advising attendees to treat out‑of‑state offenses as though they had occurred under Minnesota statutes for purposes of initial assessment.

The guidance comes in the wake of the Johnson appellate decision, which Linda said clarifies that the prosecutor, not probation or defense, bears the burden of proving that an out‑of‑state conviction belongs to the defendant and equates to a Minnesota offense before it should be included in criminal‑history scoring. "The state bears the burden," she said, repeating the point several times throughout the session.

Why it matters: judges and sentencing worksheets rely on accurate criminal histories to calculate presumptive sentences under Minnesota guidelines. If out‑of‑state convictions are added to worksheets without sufficient proof, they can produce erroneous scores and…