State v. C. Zielie

2025 MT 90, 568 P.3d 516, 421 Mont. 452
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedMay 6, 2025
DocketDA 23-0142
StatusPublished

This text of 2025 MT 90 (State v. C. Zielie) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. C. Zielie, 2025 MT 90, 568 P.3d 516, 421 Mont. 452 (Mo. 2025).

Opinion

05/06/2025

DA 23-0142 Case Number: DA 23-0142

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA

2025 MT 90

STATE OF MONTANA,

Plaintiff and Appellee,

v.

CHEYENE LEILANI-AMBER ZIELIE,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL FROM: District Court of the Eighth Judicial District, In and For the County of Cascade, Cause No. ADC-19-215 Honorable David J. Grubich, Presiding Judge

COUNSEL OF RECORD:

For Appellant:

Tammy A. Hinderman, Appellate Defender Division Administrator, Kristina L. Neal, Assistant Appellate Defender, Helena, Montana

For Appellee:

Austin Knudsen, Montana Attorney General, Cori Losing, Assistant Attorney General, Helena, Montana

Josh Racki, Cascade County Attorney, Ryal Ball, Deputy County Attorney, Great Falls, Montana

Submitted on Briefs: January 22, 2025

Decided: May 6, 2025

Filed:

__________________________________________ Clerk Chief Justice Cory J. Swanson delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶1 Cheyene Leilani-Amber Zielie appeals the January 2023 denial of her motion to

dismiss the State’s petition to revoke her suspended sentence. She argues the District Court

lacked jurisdiction to consider the petition on the ground the court had previously dismissed

her case with prejudice. Zielie also argues she was entitled to additional credit for time

served in custody on her first sentence. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm in part,

reverse in part, and remand this case to the District Court for resentencing consistent with

this Opinion.

¶2 We restate the issues on appeal as follows:

Issue One: Whether the District Court erred when it denied Zielie’s motion to dismiss her revocation proceeding.

Issue Two: Whether Zielie is entitled to 66 days of credit for time she served prior to her original sentence.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

¶3 On April 5, 2019, the State charged Zielie with Criminal Possession of Dangerous

Drugs (methamphetamine), a felony; Criminal Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, a

misdemeanor; and Obstructing a Peace Officer or Other Public Servant, a misdemeanor.

On September 11, 2019, Zielie entered a guilty plea to Criminal Possession of Dangerous

Drugs and was committed to the Montana Department of Corrections for three years, all

suspended, to run concurrently with any other sentence she was serving.

¶4 On March 4, 2021, the State filed a petition to revoke Zielie’s suspended sentence.

The next day, the District Court issued an arrest warrant. In the affidavit supporting the

2 revocation petition, the alleged violations of Zielie’s sentence and probation were:

(1) “absconding,” which was a non-compliance violation; (2) missing appointments, which

was a compliance violation; and (3) failure to maintain employment, which was a

compliance violation. However, on March 25, 2021, the State filed a Motion to Dismiss

with Prejudice, asking the court to dismiss “the above-captioned case with prejudice in the

interests of justice.” The State explained, “This motion is made on the grounds and for the

reason that the Defendant has regained contact and compliance with probation and parole

and the petition to revoke is no longer necessary. The State further moves the Court to

quash the outstanding warrant.”

¶5 On April 5, 2021, the District Court, without holding a hearing on the motion, issued

an Order Dismissing Case with Prejudice, which the State had submitted as a proposed

order. In its entirety, the April 5th Order stated:

Upon Motion of the State and good cause appearing; IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the above-captioned case shall be dismissed with prejudice, in the interests of justice. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that revocation warrant is hereby quashed.

¶6 On May 3, 2021, the State filed a second Petition for Revocation of Suspended

Sentence. The State’s second petition was prompted by Zielie’s new criminal charges on

April 21, 2021, including “Criminal Possession of Dangerous Drugs, Aggravated Driving

Under the Influence, and Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol - 3rd Offense.” The new

criminal offenses were non-compliance violations. The District Court issued an arrest

warrant the next day.

3 ¶7 Zielie was released on her own recognizance on June 14, 2021, and she received the

benefit of a Public Defender to represent her. The case continued for months, and Zielie

continued to sporadically show up to subsequent hearings without contesting the District

Court’s jurisdiction. In that time, the Court issued three arrest warrants due to her failure

to attend court hearings. After the final arrest warrant was issued and bail was set at

$15,000, Zielie was arrested and remained in custody.

¶8 Eventually, during a hearing on November 2, 2022, the defense attorney informed

the court he noticed the case had been “dismissed with prejudice” on April 5, 2021. In

response, the State “advised the Court the wrong document was filed and was meant to be

a dismissal of revocation.” The defense attorney filed a Motion to Dismiss Petition and

Release from Bail on December 2, 2022. The motion argued Zielie’s sentence was

dismissed in a final adjudication on the merits, and the doctrine of res judicata now barred

the State from revoking a suspended sentence that did not exist. The entire State’s

revocation proceeding was a “nullity.” Zielie further argued if the State believed the

dismissal order was in error (keeping in mind the prosecutor drafted the proposed order),

the time had lapsed for the State to appeal the dismissal or seek correction of the final

judgment under § 46-18-116, MCA. Zielie asserted “there is no valid legal basis for the

Court to maintain jurisdiction over this Petition or the person of the Defendant.”

¶9 On January 4, 2023, the District Court held a dispositional hearing on the motion to

dismiss. The State did not file a response to the motion, informing the court during the

dispositional hearing it had not been aware of the Defendant’s motion and brief. However,

the deputy county attorney explained his office had apparently made a typo in its original

4 motion to dismiss. When the District Court asked him whether he thought the mistake

“was a clerical error,” the prosecutor answered, “Yes, Your Honor, it was. Of course I

should have said motion and order to dismiss the petition for revocation, not to dismiss the

case.” The State was unsure, however, whether the District Court’s order dismissing the

case with prejudice “completely resolves [Zielie’s] probationary sentence, if that means

that her probation is then terminated and that everything is just done.” The prosecutor

conceded “the time to correct those clerical errors” and “to issue a corrected order ha[d]

passed.”

¶10 The District Court orally denied Zielie’s motion to dismiss, based upon its research

of the record and its understanding of “the true intent of the court's original order[,] based

on the State’s original motion.”1 On January 6, 2023, the District Court issued a

conforming written order denying Zielie’s motion to dismiss the revocation proceedings.

The order reiterated the District Court’s orally stated reasoning, that the intention of the

prior dismissal order was to dismiss the first revocation petition, not the entirety of Zielie’s

sentence. The District Court concluded that it “has the authority to interpret its own orders

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Bluebook (online)
2025 MT 90, 568 P.3d 516, 421 Mont. 452, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-c-zielie-mont-2025.