State v. Maldonado

578 P.2d 296, 176 Mont. 322
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedApril 11, 1978
Docket13883
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 578 P.2d 296 (State v. Maldonado) 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. Maldonado, 578 P.2d 296, 176 Mont. 322 (Mo. 1978).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE HARRISON

delivered the opinion of the Court.

Defendant, Johnny Joe Maldonado, appeals from an order of the District Court, Yellowstone County, denying his petition for post-conviction relief.

On September 11, 1970, defendant entered a guilty plea to a charge of second degree assault, a felony under sections 94-602(5) and 94-114, R.C.M. 1947. The district judge deferred imposition of sentence for a period of three years.

On August 25, 1971, the State filed a petition to revoke defendant’s deferred imposition of sentence, alleging that during the *325 period of his probation, defendant had been charged with the crime of receiving stolen property, had left the state and absconded from supervision, and had failed to report to his probation officer as required.

At the September 22, 1971, hearing on the petition to revoke, defendant admitted the second and third allegations in the petition, but denied he had been charged with receiving stolen property. The District Court ordered that the terms of the deferred imposition of sentence remain in effect, except that defendant was required to serve six months in the county jail on a work-release program. The court order was modified on November 29, 1971, to provide that defendant serve only weekends in jail.

On December 8, 1972, the State filed a second petition to revoke defendant’s deferred imposition of sentence, alleging defendant committed the offenses of burglary and criminal possession of dangerous drugs on October 25, 1972. At the revocation hearing held on January 25, 1973, the State presented evidence that when police responded to a burglary alarm at a local hardware store at about 2:00 a.m., October 25, 1972, defendant was found inside the store with another individual, near a gun case which was broken and several guns removed. Upon receiving this evidence at the January 25, 1973, revocation hearing, the District Court revoked the originality deferred imposition of sentence on the second degree assault conviction, and sentenced defendant to five years and nine months in the Montana state prison.

On July 25, 1975, after serving approximately one-half of his sentence on the second degree assault charge, defendant was paroled. While still on parole, on April 4, 1976, a Billings police officer arrested defendant in a local bar on a charge of carrying a concealed weapon. The District Court granted the Yellowstone County attorney leave to file an Information, charging defendant with carrying a concealed weapon within the city limits of Billings, Montana, in violation of section 94-8-210, R.C.M.1947. The county attorney filed a notice to increase punishment pursuant to section 95-1506, R.C.M.1947, alleging defendant was a prior con *326 victed felon under section 95-1507, R.C.M.1947, due to his previous conviction for second degree assault.

In his affidavit in support of the Information charging defendant with carrying a concealed weapon, the deputy county attorney alleged that approximately 12:30 a.m., April 4, 1976, Officer Hatfield of the Billings Police Department was flagged down by an anonymous person and informed that defendant was inside the Empire Bar in Billings, carrying a concealed weapon. Affiant stated Officer Hatfield and Officer Trimbo entered the bar and observed defendant; upon searching defendant the officers discovered and seized a .38 caliber Smith & Wesson pistol with a two inch barrel, which defendant was carrying in a shoulder holster concealed by his brown leather jacket.

These facts alleged in the affidavit were largely corroborated by defendant himself at his arraignment on the concealed weapon charge. Defendant admitted he was carrying a concealed and loaded .38 caliber Smith & Wesson revolver in a shoulder holster while he was in the Empire Bar. Defendant stated that he understood he was subject, as a persistent felony offender, to increased punishment up to 100 years imprisonment. Defendant pleaded guilty and the District Court sentenced defendant to serve twenty years in the state prison.

On October 12, 1976, defendant filed a petition for post-conviction relief, pursuant to section 95-2601, R.C.M.1947, in District Court, Yellowstone County. Defendant raises the following issues on his appeal from the District Court’s April 26, 1977, order denying post-conviction relief:

1. Did section 95-1507, R.C.M.1947, the persistent felony offender statute, as applied to defendant, violate constitutional safeguards dealing with ex post facto laws and equal protection?

2. Is section 95-1507 unconstitutional under Article II, Section 28, 1972 Montana Constitution?

3. Did the District Court abuse its discretion in revoking defendant’s deferred imposition of sentence on the second degree assault conviction?

*327 4. Did the court’s mistaken belief in sentencing that defendant had entered his guilty plea to the second degree assault charge on January 25, 1973 rather than on September 11, 1970, constitute reversible error?

5. Was section 94-8-210, R.C.M.1947, as in effect when defendant committed the crime of carrying a concealed weapon, an unconstitutionally vague statute?

6. Was defendant sufficiently informed, prior to entering his plea, of the possible sentences he would receive as a persistent felony offender upon conviction of carrying a concealed weapon?

7. Did the District Court abuse its discretion in finding that defendant was not denied effective assistance of counsel?

8. Was the twenty-year senctence defendant received so excessive and disproportionate to the offense as to constitute cruel and unusual punishment?

On September 11, 1970, when defendant plead guilty to second degree assault, a felony, Montana’s persistent felony offender statute, section 94-4713, R.C.M.1947, allowed a district judge to sentence a defendant to a maximum sentence of ten years imprisonment for a subsequent felony conviction of carrying a concealed weapon. Section 94-4713, was repealed by the legislature in 1973 and replaced with the present section 95-1507. Defendant committed the carrying of a concealed weapon offense on April 4, 1976, when section 95-1507, was in effect. The District Court judge sentenced defendant to twenty years in the state prison as a persistent felony offender under section 95-1507. Under section 95-1507(2), the maximum penalty for conviction of the felony of carrying a concealed weapon, for one who has “previously been convicted of a felony” is 100 years in the state prison.

Defendant alleges that, because the felony second degree assault conviction occurred prior to the enactment of section 95-1507, the* District Court’s use of the assault conviction to increase punishment under section 95-1507 on the felony of carrying a concealed weapon charge constituted an ex post facto law. Defendant contends he could be constitutionally sentenced only under *328 section 94-4713, the persistent felony offender statute in effect when he committed the second degree assault.

Defendant misconstrues the constitutional prohibitions against ex post facto laws.

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Bluebook (online)
578 P.2d 296, 176 Mont. 322, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-maldonado-mont-1978.