State of Minnesota v. Joseph Benjamin Klanderud, A15-1897

Joseph Klanderud was charged with six counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving his niece, A.B.C., who was 11–12 during the alleged conduct occurring between December 1, 2014 and March 25, 2015.
Klanderud pleaded guilty to two counts: one under Minn. Stat. § 609.342, subd. 1(a) (victim under 13 and actor >36 months older) and one under Minn. Stat. § 609.342, subd. 1(g) (sexual penetration where actor has a significant relationship with a victim under 16).
At the plea hearing Klanderud admitted intercourse occurred “on more than one occasion.” The district court accepted both pleas simultaneously and entered judgments of guilt, then imposed concurrent prison terms and a lifetime conditional-release term.
On appeal Klanderud argued (1) the two convictions arose from the same behavioral incident so he could not be convicted/sentenced on both, and (2) the lifetime conditional-release term was improper because he had no prior sex-offense conviction at sentencing.
The court affirmed the dual convictions (finding multiple occasions supported separate behavioral incidents) but reversed the lifetime conditional-release term, holding that simultaneous acceptance of pleas meant there was no prior conviction to trigger lifetime conditional release and remanded for ten-year conditional release per statute.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether convicting and sentencing on both first-degree CSC counts violated the single-behavioral-incident rule	State: offenses occurred on multiple occasions; thus not a single behavioral incident	Klanderud: both counts covered identical timeframe and conduct, so convictions duplicate and violate Minn. Stat. § 609.04/§ 609.035	Affirmed: appellant admitted penetration occurred “on more than one occasion,” supporting separate incidents and permitting separate convictions and concurrent sentences
Whether a lifetime conditional-release term was required	State: pleas could be deemed accepted sequentially (at sentencing), producing a prior conviction that triggers lifetime conditional release under Minn. Stat. § 609.3455	Klanderud: pleas were accepted simultaneously at the plea hearing, so no prior sex-offense conviction existed at sentencing; only ten-year conditional release allowed	Reversed: record shows simultaneous acceptance and judgments entered at the plea hearing, so no prior conviction—remand to impose ten-year conditional release on each count

State v. Jackson, 363 N.W.2d 758 (Minn. 1985) (§ 609.04 bars multiple convictions from a single behavioral incident)
State v. Secrest, 437 N.W.2d 683 (Minn. App. 1989) (factors for single behavioral incident: single objective; substantially same time/place; continuous course; indivisible state of mind)
State v. McLemore, 351 N.W.2d 927 (Minn. 1984) (multiple sexual acts over a short period may still be separate incidents)
State v. Stevenson, 286 N.W.2d 719 (Minn. 1979) (separate incidents hours apart can be distinct behavioral incidents)
State v. Marchbanks, 632 N.W.2d 725 (Minn. App. 2001) (offenses are not the same course of conduct if each can be explained independently)
State v. Williams, 608 N.W.2d 837 (Minn. 2000) (purpose of §§ 609.04 and 609.035 is to prevent multiple punishments disproportionate to culpability)
State v. Nodes, 863 N.W.2d 77 (Minn. 2015) (sequential convictions entered at a single hearing can create a prior conviction for lifetime conditional release)