State Minnesota v. William Frederick Roden

Lesser offense of issuance of a worthless check is necessarily included within the more serious offense of theft by check, but trial court did not err in refusing to submit the lesser offense in this case. AMDAHL, Chief Justice Defendant was convicted by a district court jury of theft by check, Minn. Stat. § 609.52, subd. 2(3)(a) (Supp. 1985), and was sentenced by the trial court to a stayed 13-month prison term conditioned on jail time and payment of a fine, restitution, and court costs. The Court of Appeals affirmed his conviction. State v. Roden, 380 N.W.2d 520 (Minn. App. 1986). We granted his petition for further review but only for the limited purpose of addressing the issue raised by the trial court's refusal to submit the lesser offense of issuance of a worthless check, Minn. Stat. § 609.535, subd. 2 (1984).