State of Minnesota v. Joshua Lee Myhre, 875 N.W.2d 799

Background

On Sept. 29, 2012 Deputy Hargrove stopped Joshua Myhre for driving the wrong way; Myhre performed poorly on sobriety tests, gave a very weak breath sample, then refused a second sample. He had at least three prior alcohol-related incidents and was charged with first-degree refusal and first-degree DWI; the DWI charge was later dismissed as part of a plea arrangement.
Myhre and the State repeatedly described the disposition as a "Lothenbach plea" (preserving a dispositive pretrial issue for appeal), although Rule 26.01, subd. 4 (which replaced Lothenbach) requires a not-guilty plea and certain on-the-record acknowledgements.
At the plea hearing Myhre orally pleaded "guilty," executed a stipulation of facts (matching the officer’s probable-cause statement), and the district court reviewed the stipulated facts, made findings, adjudicated guilt, and later sentenced him.
Myhre appealed, arguing Rule 26.01, subd. 4 noncompliance (guilty versus not-guilty plea; lack of on-the-record dispositive acknowledgements; other procedural defects) and challenged the constitutionality of the implied-consent statute; the court of appeals treated the plea as if compliant and affirmed.
The Minnesota Supreme Court granted review limited to whether the Rule 26.01, subd. 4 noncompliance invalidated the conviction and applied plain-error review to the unobjected-to procedural errors.

Issues

Issue	Myhre's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Whether accepting a guilty plea (instead of a required not-guilty plea) under Rule 26.01, subd. 4 invalidates the conviction	Myhre: The court plainly erred; the rule requires a not-guilty plea to preserve a dispositive pretrial appeal and thus the conviction is invalid	State: Substantial-compliance or harmlessness should control; relief only if fundamental rights affected	Court: Error was plain but did not affect substantial rights because the court conducted an independent review of stipulated facts constituting a trial to the court; no relief granted
Whether failure to obtain on-the-record acknowledgements that the pretrial issue is dispositive and that appellate review is limited to that issue (Rule 26.01, subd. 4) invalidates the conviction	Myhre: Omission violates the rule and prejudiced his rights to appellate review of guilt	State: No prejudice; if the pretrial issue proved dispositive no risk of retrial, so no substantial-rights prejudice	Court: Failure to obtain the dispositive acknowledgement was plain error but produced no prejudice here (statute challenge would have been dispositive if successful); claim fails on plain-error third prong
Whether other alleged Rule 26.01 deviations (failure to acknowledge limitation of appeal to pretrial issue; submission of stipulated facts vs. stipulated evidence; specificity of prior-conviction findings) entitle defendant to relief	Myhre: These defects undermine the validity of the preserved-issue procedure and require reversal	State: Defendant forfeited most of these claims by not raising them earlier; any error was harmless	Court: Most of these issues were forfeited for review (not raised below or inadequately briefed); court declined to reach them

Key Cases Cited

State v. Lothenbach, 296 N.W.2d 854 (Minn. 1980) (established procedure for preserving pretrial dispositive issues by stipulating to evidence and appealing)
State v. Diede, 795 N.W.2d 836 (Minn. 2011) (parties used a procedure resembling a Rule 26.01, subd. 4 trial; Court treated record by substance over form)
State v. Ford, 397 N.W.2d 875 (Minn. 1986) (court treated a mistaken guilty plea as an appeal from a stipulated-facts finding when parties intended Lothenbach-like preservation)
State v. Verschelde, 595 N.W.2d 192 (Minn. 1999) (allowed appeal where record showed parties intended to preserve a pretrial issue despite procedural confusion)
Dereje v. State, 837 N.W.2d 714 (Minn. 2013) (error in using stipulated facts vs. stipulated evidence reviewed as bench-trial error and affirmed under plain-error analysis)
State v. Griller, 583 N.W.2d 736 (Minn. 1998) (plain-error test elements)