The Presumptive Sentence in Minnesota: Reading the Grid

Where the Grid Number Comes From

The Guidelines grid has two axes: the severity level of the offense (how serious the crime is ranked) and the criminal history score (the defendant's relevant prior record). Each cell of the grid where they intersect contains the presumptive sentence for that combination — a recommended disposition and a duration (often a range with a midpoint).

What this means for you: Two facts — the offense's severity ranking and your history score — largely determine the starting-point sentence. Everything else in sentencing argues up or down from that cell.

Disposition: Stay vs. Commit

One of the most important features of the grid is the line between a presumptive stay and a presumptive commit:

• Presumptive stay — the recommended sentence is a stayed prison term, meaning probation rather than immediate prison, if conditions are met;
• Presumptive commit — the recommended sentence is an executed prison term.

Cells below and to the left of the line are typically presumptive stays; cells above and to the right are presumptive commits. Moving across that line — often by just a level or a history point — changes the entire nature of the sentence.

What this means for you: Whether your cell falls on the stay side or the commit side is frequently the single most important question in a felony case.

Duration: The Recommended Length

Within each cell, the Guidelines give a presumptive duration — usually a midpoint with a permissible range around it. For executed sentences, this sets the recommended prison term; for stayed sentences, it sets the term that hangs over the defendant during probation. Staying within the range is presumptively appropriate; going outside it generally requires a departure.

When the Court Can Deviate

The presumptive sentence is the strong default, but not absolute. A court can impose an upward or downward departure — in disposition or duration — when there are substantial and compelling circumstances. Departures are the exception and must be justified on the record.

What this means for you: The presumptive sentence is the baseline, and a major part of sentencing advocacy is either keeping a case within a favorable cell or making the case for a departure.

Sentences That Sit Outside the Grid

Some sentencing factors operate alongside or on top of the grid — mandatory minimums set by statute, conditional release terms for certain offenses, and rules for concurrent versus consecutive sentencing when there are multiple counts. The grid is the core, but these can modify the real-world result.