# State v. Thonesavanh

> Supreme Court of Minnesota · September 6, 2017 · 904 N.W.2d 432

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/8248629

## Case

- **Full name:** STATE of Minnesota v. Somsalao THONESAVANH
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Minnesota
- **Decided:** September 6, 2017
- **Citations:** 904 N.W.2d 432
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Gildea
- **Judges:** Anderson, Chutich, Gildea, Stras
- **Cited by:** 77 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/8248629

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- stating that the first step in statutory interpretation is to determine whether the statute is ambiguous, and if the statute is ambiguous, then courts “may apply the canons of construction to resolve the ambiguity”
- explaining that this canon is not, however, a "grand canon that towers over all the others and allows a defendant to prevail in every instance in which a criminal statute is ambiguous"
- noting that the supreme court had previously held that "even temporary 'control or dominion' over another's property was sufficient to 'complete' the offense of simple robbery, even if there was no evidence that the defendant had 'carr[ied] away' the property" (alteration in o…
- noting that the rule of lenity only applies after traditional canons of construction have been exhausted; also recognizing "[i]t is not. . . some sort of grand canon that towers over all the others and allows a defendant to prevail in every instance in which a criminal statute…
- stating that “the rule of lenity applies only after the other canons of construction have been exhausted and what remains is a grievously ambiguous statute”

## Opinion text

GILDEA, Chief Justice
(concurring).
I join in the concurrence of Justice Anderson,

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/8248629. Public record. Not legal advice.