Knutson v. State, 83-540
| Decision Date | 28 June 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 83-540,83-540 |
| Citation | 41 St.Rep. 1258,211 Mont. 126,683 P.2d 488 |
| Parties | Patricia A. KNUTSON, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. The STATE of Montana, Defendant and Respondent. |
| Court | Montana Supreme Court |
J.V. Barron argued, Great Falls, for plaintiff and appellant.
Sarah M. Power argued, Agency Legal Services Bureau, Helena, for defendant and respondent.
Patricia A. Knutson appeals from a summary judgment granted by the District Court, Eighth Judicial District, Cascade County, against her claim for damages for illegal imprisonment in the Montana State Prison for a period of 274 days.
Knutson was convicted on a guilty plea to a felony charge of issuing a bad check in the Cascade County District Court on July 13, 1979, and was granted a deferred sentence for a period of three years and placed on probation.
On December 16, 1981 Knutson was convicted of forgery on a guilty plea in the District Court, Twelfth Judicial District, Hill County, and was sentenced to 5 years in prison with the execution of the entire 5 years sentence suspended.
Based on the forgery conviction in Hill County, Knutson's probation officer filed a report of violation of the conditions of her deferred sentence and the county attorney of Cascade County on February 16, 1982 filed a petition to revoke Knutson's deferred sentence. Following a revocation hearing, Knutson's deferred sentence was revoked on April 26, 1982 and she was sentenced to serve 5 years in prison.
In the meantime, this Court had held on February 3, 1981, in Crist v. Segna (Mont.1981), 622 P.2d 1028, 38 St.Rep. 150, that section 53-30-105, MCA, then in effect, specifically required that parolees be credited for good time while on parole, subject to determination of good behavior and compliance with the rules by the prison warden and the Department of Institutions.
In two unpublished cases, Miller v. State (1982), No. 81-565 and State v. Gray (1982), No. 82-164, we directed the Department of Institutions to credit good time allowances to sentences where the defendants were on probation while serving a suspended or deferred sentence, relying on our holding in Crist, supra.
Based on Crist and the unpublished cases, we granted post-conviction relief to Knutson and ordered her release from a custodial institution. At the time of revocation of her deferred sentence on April 26, 1982, she had accumulated sufficient good time credit on probation that her deferred sentence would have been fully served. The state agreed that she was entitled to release under our decisions. She was released on January 24, 1983.
Knutson filed this suit in the District Court against the state, claiming that her imprisonment from May 5, 1982 to January 24, 1983 was illegal. Her amended complaint alleges that the District Court acted as the agent of the state in revoking her deferred sentence.
There is a dispositive statute which controls this suit. In section 2-9-112, MCA, it is provided "Immunity from suit for judicial acts and omissions.
(1) The state and other governmental units are immune from suit for acts or omissions of the judiciary...."
The sentence imposed upon Knutson for her violation of parole was a judicial act. Article II, Sec. 18, 1972 Mont. Const., provides that the state shall have no immunity from suit for injury to person or property unless specifically provided by a law passed by a two thirds vote of each house of the legislature....
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In re Parenting of JNP
...151, ¶ 20, 953 P.2d 692, ¶ 20; Clark v. Eagle Systems, Inc. (1996), 279 Mont. 279, 286, 927 P.2d 995, 999; and Knutson v. State (1984), 211 Mont. 126, 129, 683 P.2d 488, 490. ¶ 25 In this case the District Court not only arrived at the correct result based on our previous case law, it did s......
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Silvestrone v. Park County, DA 06-0843.
...power of the state is put to use in a judicial action.'" Mead, 223 Mont. at 431-32, 727 P.2d at 519 (quoting Knutson v. State, 211 Mont. 126, 129, 683 P.2d 488, 490 (1984)). We have noted that the language of the immunity statute applies to judicial acts with "no stated limitation." Knutson......
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Tipp v. Skjelset, 98-303
...We conclude that the court's judgment "can be sustained under the wrong-reason, right-result appellate rule." Knutson v. State (1984), 211 Mont. 126, 129, 683 P.2d 488, 490 (citing Fergus County v. Osweiler (1938), 107 Mont. 466, 86 P.2d 410). A harmless error does not mandate that we rever......
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Brunsvold v. State, 90-277
...for summary judgment on the basis of Sec. 2-9-112, MCA, the judicial immunity statute, and this Court's decision in Knutson v. State (1984), 211 Mont. 126, 683 P.2d 488. Brunsvold appeals from the grant of summary judgment. The sole issue we address, since it was the dispositive issue in th......