Minn. Stat. § 609.04

CONVICTION OF LESSER OFFENSE.

Known as the Criminal Code

The act spans §§ 609–609 (377 sections).

Applied in 219 court decisions — leading case Hagans v. State (1989)

Most recently applied in State of Minnesota v. Jerry Arnold Westrom (May 2024)

1963 c 753 art 1 s 609 .04; Ex1971 c 27 s 45

How often courts cite this section

citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

Subdivision 1. Lesser offense prosecution.

Upon prosecution for a crime, the actor may be convicted of either the crime charged or an included offense, but not both. An included offense may be any of the following:

(1) a lesser degree of the same crime; or

(2) an attempt to commit the crime charged; or

(3) an attempt to commit a lesser degree of the same crime; or

(4) a crime necessarily proved if the crime charged were proved; or

(5) a petty misdemeanor necessarily proved if the misdemeanor charge were proved.

Subd. 2. Conviction; bar to prosecution.

A conviction or acquittal of a crime is a bar to further prosecution of any included offense, or other degree of the same crime.

Official source: Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Reproduced from public-domain Minnesota statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.