State v. Walker

2007 MT 205, 167 P.3d 879, 338 Mont. 529, 2007 Mont. LEXIS 387
Montana Supreme Court·Decided August 20, 2007·No. DA 06-0335·Published·Cited by 23 cases

Opinions

JUSTICE MORRIS

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶1 Oliver David Walker (Walker) appeals the sentencing order of the Second Judicial District, Silver Bow County. We affirm.

¶2 Walker raises the following issues for review:

¶3 1. Whether the District Court properly ordered Walker to pay restitution to a bail bondsman as part of his sentence for bail jumping.

[531] ¶4 2. Whether the District Court properly considered uncharged conduct at Walker’s sentencing.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶5 Law enforcement officers arrested Walker for burglary and partner family member assault in February 2005. The Justice Court set Walker’s bond for $100,000. Barry Bail Bonds posted the $100,000 bond for Walker’s release from jail on February 26, 2005. Walker charged four credit cards to pay for the $10,000 fee that Barry Bail Bonds charged for this service. Walker also charged a fifth credit card for a $200 cash advance from Barry Bail Bonds. Walker’s credit cards initially cleared but later “unraveled” about a month after his release from jail. Barry Bail Bonds never received payment.

¶6 Walker failed to appear for his arraignment in District Court on March 24,2005. The court issued a warrant for Walker’s arrest. Barry Bail Bonds launched its own search for Walker, tracking him first to a house in Utah and then to Florida. Authorities eventually arrested Walker in Florida and extradited him to Butte.

¶7 The State charged Walker with felony bail jumping in violation of § 45-7-308(1), MCA, based on Walker’s failure to appear for his March 24, 2005, arraignment. Walker pled guilty to the bail jumping charge. The District Court accepted Walker’s plea and ordered a pre-sentence investigation report (PSI).

¶8 Walker objected to portions of his criminal history recited in the PSI, including alleged, uncharged criminal conduct contained in a section of the PSI entitled “Other Pertinent Information.” The PSI noted that Walker allegedly had been the subject of two or more pending criminal investigations. The first investigation concerned the “stolen or fraudulent” credit cards that Walker had used to pay Barry Bail Bonds. The second investigation surrounded allegations by Walker’s estranged wife that Walker had sexually abused her two daughters. Walker argued that the court could not consider the information concerning the pending investigations for the purposes of sentencing because such conduct had not been charged and remained unsubstantiated.

¶9 The court allowed the information in the PSI concerning Walker’s uncharged conduct and considered only the weight of the information. The court sentenced Walker to an eight-year commitment to the Montana Department of Corrections, with three of the eight years suspended. The court also ordered Walker to pay restitution in the amount of $11,150 to Barry Bail Bonds. Walker appeals.

[532] STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶10 We review a criminal sentencing for legality only, determining whether the sentence falls within the statutory parameters. State v. Kuykendall, 2006 MT 110, ¶ 8, 332 Mont. 180, ¶ 8, 136 P.3d 983, ¶ 8.

DISCUSSION

¶11 Whether the District Court properly ordered Walker to pay restitution to a bail bondsman as part of his sentence for bail jumping.

¶12 Walker challenges for the first time on appeal the court’s order requiring him to pay restitution to Barry Bail Bonds. Walker argues that the restitution does not correlate with the underlying crime, and, therefore, is invalid under State v. Ommundson, 1999 MT 16, 293 Mont. 133, 974 P.2d 620. Walker also contends that the restitution order is invalid because Barry Bail Bonds does not qualify as a victim under § 46-18-241, MCA. Walker cites to State v. Lenihan, 184 Mont. 338, 602 P.2d 997 (1979), for the proposition that he may raise these issues for the first time on appeal.

¶13 We generally refuse to review on appeal an issue to which a party failed to object at the trial court. State v. Kotwicki, 2007 MT 17, ¶ 8, 335 Mont. 344, ¶ 8, 151 P.3d 892, ¶ 8. Our decision in Lenihan carved out an exception to the general rule by allowing appellate review of an allegedly illegal sentence even when the defendant raised no objection to the sentence at trial. We recognized that a defendant “often times must remain silent even in the face of invalid conditions” or risk the chance that a judge may impose a stiffer sentence upon raising an objection. Lenihan, 184 Mont. at 343, 602 P.2d at 1000. We deemed it the “better rule to allow an appellate court to review any sentence imposed in a criminal case, if it is alleged that such sentence is illegal or exceeds statutory mandates, even if no objection is made at the time of sentencing.” Lenihan, 184 Mont. at 343, 602 P.2d at 1000.

¶14 The Lenihan rule does not apply, however, in cases where a defendant did not remain silent at sentencing, but, instead, actively acquiesced or participated in the imposition of a condition of sentence. State v. Micklon, 2003 MT 45, 314 Mont. 291, 65 P.3d 559. We held in Micklon that a defendant who had requested installment payments for restitution could not later rely on the Lenihan rule to challenge the court’s imposition of interest on such installment payments. We concluded that the Lenihan rule did not apply in light of the fact that Micklon had “affirmatively agreed to the inclusion of the interest condition in his sentence” by telling the court that he would accept the interest payments. Micklon, ¶ 10.

[533] ¶15 We narrowed the definition of “active acquiescence” for the purposes of invoking the Lenihan rule in State v. Eaton, 2004 MT 283, 323 Mont. 287, 99 P.3d 661. We determined that Eaton’s expression of remorse and willingness to make restitution payments did not rise to the level of active acquiescence or participation in his sentencing condition for the purposes of forestalling appellate review under Lenihan. We allowed appellate review of Eaton’s sentence under the Lenihan rule based on the fact that Eaton’s statements of remorse lacked any request to the trial court for specific sentencing conditions. Eaton, ¶¶ 13-14.

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State v. Walker, 2007 MT 205, 167 P.3d 879, 338 Mont. 529, 2007 Mont. LEXIS 387 (Mo. 2007).

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