State v. Dodson

2009 MT 419, 221 P.3d 687, 354 Mont. 28, 2009 Mont. LEXIS 635
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 8, 2009
DocketDA 07-0481
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 2009 MT 419 (State v. Dodson) 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. Dodson, 2009 MT 419, 221 P.3d 687, 354 Mont. 28, 2009 Mont. LEXIS 635 (Mo. 2009).

Opinion

JUSTICE NELSON

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶1 On April 27, 2007, Billy Eugene Dodson (Dodson) was convicted by a jury of the following offenses in the Fourth Judicial District Court: Count I, misdemeanor theft; Count II, felony deceptive practices; Count III, issuing a bad check (a felony); and Count IV, theft by deception or deprivation of property (a felony). Dodson now appeals his conviction. We affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

¶2 On October 6 and 17,2004, the Missoula County Sherriff s Office (MCSO) received reports from several individuals that their vehicles had been broken into while parked at the trailhead to the Rattlesnake Recreational Area in Missoula County. The individuals reported that items were stolen from their vehicles, including credit and debit cards. One of the victims, Janna Herman (Herman), reported that her missing credit card had been used at a Lowe’s in Missoula to purchase $708.99 worth of goods. Herman also reported her debit card had been used to charge $159.00 in gas and merchandise at a Conoco convenience store in Missoula. Further investigation showed that the credit cards of two other victims, Connie Tuttle (Tuttle) and Susan Kerns (Kerns), had also been used to purchase several thousand dollars of various types of merchandise at stores throughout Missoula.

*30 ¶3 Sherriffs Detective Rick Newlon (Det. Newlon) of the MCSO conducted an investigation into these reports. Det. Newlon reviewed a security camera at Lowe’s and some of the other locations where purchases had been made using the victims’ credit and debit cards. Det. Newlon was able to formulate a description of the individual making the purchases as well as a rough description of the cars the individual was driving. Based on his investigation, Det. Newlon put out an attempt to locate for two vehicles which he observed in the surveillance tapes.

¶4 Approximately 45 minutes after the attempt to locate was issued, Deputy Hartsell pulled over a vehicle matching the description of the vehicle identified on the surveillance tape from Lowe’s. The vehicle was a gray 1985 Oldsmobile. The driver of the vehicle was identified as Ben Wilton (Wilton). Wilton agreed to a search of the vehicle. Deputy Hartsell discovered receipts of purchases which later turned out to be made on the stolen credit cards. Wilton told Deputy Hartsell that an individual named “Mike Arnett” lived with him at 408 Rock Creek Road in nearby Clinton, Montana. Wilton told Deputy Hartsell that Mike Arnett had told him that he had broken into cars parked at the Rattlesnake trailhead, and then used the credit cards to buy tools at local stores and then sold them to individuals who needed tools.

¶5 Det. Newlon interviewed the landlord at 408 Rock Creek and confirmed that Wilton and “Mike Arnett” had rented a cabin there. Furthermore, it was discovered that “Mike Arnett” was expecting a box of checks from Missoula Federal Credit Union to be sent to the Rock Creek address. The landlord was able to describe Wilton’s vehicle to Det. Newlon, and also described a yellow Cadillac which she believed belonged to either Wilton or “Mike Arnett.”

¶6 On October 23, Det. Newlon discovered that “Mike Arnett” was actually Dodson, and that Dodson had absconded from federal probation in the state of Washington. Det. Newlon was able to interview Dodson’s girlfriend at the time, Laramie Jorgenson (Jorgenson), and learned that Dodson had recently purchased a 1989 GMC pickup from DeMarois Oldsmobile in Missoula for $3,800. Dodson purchased the pickup with stolen traveler’s checks using the name “Mike Arnett.” Subsequent investigation revealed that the real Mike Arnett was currently serving time in a federal prison in Arizona. Dodson and Arnett had shared a prison cell while both men were incarcerated in October 2003, and January to March 2004.

¶7 Det. Newlon continued his investigation in Missoula County, and gathered information and evidence related to Dodson’s alleged *31 purchases on the stolen credit cards. On October 26, the landlord at Dodson’s address on Rock Creek informed Det. Newlon that she received a letter addressed to Arnett with a return address in Lynnwood, Washington. Det. Newlon later obtained this letter from the landlord. Det. Newlon contacted authorities in Washington and relayed this information to them. Dodson’s federal probation officer Michael Larson (Officer Larson) conducted a search of Dodson’s residence in Lynnwood, Washington, as well as the 1989 GMC pickup truck which was parked there. The search produced a number of items of incriminating evidence which connected Dodson to the crimes committed in Missoula County. Dodson was arrested that same day and placed into custody.

¶8 After his arrest, Dodson was sent to a federal prison in Beaumont, Texas, for federal probation violations. On January 7, 2005, Missoula County charged Dodson with three felonies and one misdemeanor, and the Missoula County Justice Court issued a warrant for his arrest. The warrant was subsequently transmitted to Dodson at the federal prison. On November 15,2005, Dodson filed a request for a speedy trial under the Interstate Agreement on Detainers Act (IAD) with the officials at the federal prison in Texas. The IAD is codified in Montana at Title 46, chapter 31, MCA. The purpose of the IAD is to encourage the expeditious and orderly disposition of outstanding charges against a prisoner held outside the charging jurisdiction, and facilitate a determination of the proper status of any detainers based on untried indictments, informations, or complaints. State v. Seadin, 181 Mont. 294, 297, 593 P.2d 451, 453 (1979) (discussing United States v. Mauro, 436 U.S. 340, 343-44, 98 S. Ct. 1834, 1838 (1978)). The IAD describes the procedures by which a state may obtain trial for a prisoner incarcerated in another jurisdiction. Seadin, 181 Mont, at 297, 593 P.2d at 453. The IAD is triggered once a detainer is filed with the custodial state of the prisoner (here, Texas), by the state seeking the prisoner (Montana).

¶9 Article III of the IAD contains a speedy trial provision which reads in pertinent part as follows:

(1) Whenever a person has entered upon a term of imprisonment in a penal or correctional institution of a party state and whenever during the continuance of the term of imprisonment there is pending in any other party state any untried indictment, information, or complaint on the basis of which a detainer has been lodged against the prisoner, he shall be brought to trial within 180 days after he shall have caused to be *32 delivered to the prosecuting officer and the appropriate court of the prosecuting officer’s jurisdiction written notice of the place of his imprisonment and his request for a final disposition to be made of the indictment, information, or complaint; provided that for good cause shown in open court, the prisoner or his counsel being present, the court having jurisdiction of the matter may grant any necessary or reasonable continuance.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2009 MT 419, 221 P.3d 687, 354 Mont. 28, 2009 Mont. LEXIS 635, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-dodson-mont-2009.