Caron may get stiffer sentence than state guidelines

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, July 30, 2002

Randall Romeo Caron downgraded part of the charges against him by entering a guilty plea, but he may stay in a prison longer than the sentencing guideline sets forth.

In a court hearing Monday, Caron confirmed for the court that the guilty plea was of his own will.

The deal between the prosecutor and defense is to dismiss a second-degree assault charge for stabbing his girlfriend, Annette Marie Lestrud, and downgrade two counts of first-degree assault for attacking Albert Lea police officers with a knife while resisting arrest.

Email newsletter signup

Now he has a first-degree assault charge for the stabbing, and second-degree and fourth-degree assaults in the attack on the officers.

The presumptive sentence for the charges is 86 months, but County Attorney Craig Nelson asked the court to depart upward from the guideline to 98 months.

The incidents happened last November. Caron stabbed Lestrud in her apartment on East Front Street in Albert Lea. The following day, Caron was found in the woods near Railroad Avenue by a police search team. He started brandishing a knife, resisting the arrest. Officer Jesus Cantu shot Caron in his chest when he was cornered against a fallen tree limb.

Caron will be sentenced Sept. 16.