What is a petty misdemeanor?
A petty misdemeanor is any violation of law or city ordinance that is punishable by up to a $300 fine. Petty misdemeanors are not technically crimes. They are more like minor violations. You cannot be sentenced to any jail time for a petty misdemeanor. Sometimes misdemeanor crimes can be reduced to petty misdemeanors.
The Minnesota Statutes are available on the Internet at https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/pubs/. They can be searched by keyword or through the topic index. Petty Misdemeanors is an index heading. Two sections listed in that index that may be of interest are 609.131 and 609.03. Misdemeanors, petty misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors are all defined in Minnesota Statutes 609.02. The Minnesota House of Representatives Research Department has prepared a handy chart of the Levels of Offenses. [Return to Top of Page] • How do the Sentencing Guidelines work? The Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission provides an explanation at: http://www.msgc.state.mn.us/Text%20Only/what_are_the_guidelines.htm#q4. The Sentencing Guidelines themselves can also be found through this site at: http://www.msgc.state.mn.us/Text%20Only/sentencing_guidelines.htm The heart of the sentencing guidelines is the grid. Two useful features for finding the severity level of a certain crime to plug into this grid are
