State v. Finley
| Citation | 77 P.3d 193,317 Mont. 268,2003 MT 239 |
| Decision Date | 11 September 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 02-188.,02-188. |
| Parties | STATE of Montana, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Daniel Felix FINLEY, Defendant and Appellant. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Montana |
For Appellant: Kristina Guest, Appellate Defender Office, Helena, Montana.
For Respondent: Mike McGrath, Montana Attorney General, Jennifer Anders, Assistant Montana Attorney General, Helena, Montana; Robert J. Long, Lake County Attorney, Polson, Montana.
¶ 1 Daniel Felix Finley (Finley) appeals the re-revocation of his suspended sentence by the Twentieth Judicial District Court, Lake County, which occurred three months after Finley's initial revocation proceedings were declared void under the authority of State v. Goebel, 2001 MT 73, 305 Mont. 53, 31 P.3d 335, and State v. Giddings, 2001 MT 76, 305 Mont. 74, 29 P.3d 475. We affirm in part and reverse in part.
¶ 2 We frame the issues for appeal as follows:
¶ 3 1. Does this Court have jurisdiction to hear Finley's claim that the District Court lacked jurisdiction to conduct re-revocation proceedings?
¶ 4 2. Did the District Court lack jurisdiction to conduct re-revocation proceedings after the State held Finley for more than 72 hours without setting bail or holding an intervention hearing?
¶ 5 3. Did the District Court violate Finley's due process rights by re-revoking his suspended sentence when Finley did not admit violating the conditions of probation before the court?
¶ 6 The District Court sentenced Finley to a ten-year term at Montana State Prison, with all but 90 days suspended, for entering the bar at the KwaTaqNuk Lodge in Polson, Montana after hours and stealing several bottles of liquor. Almost two years after the incident, the Lake County Attorney petitioned to revoke Finley's suspended sentence based on a probation officer's report that alleged Finley used drugs and alcohol and failed to report a change of address after his eviction from a homeless shelter. Arrested on a bench warrant on September 8, 2000, Finley admitted at his September 13, 2000 sentence revocation hearing that he violated certain conditions of his probation. The court resentenced him to a ten-year term at Montana State Prison, with only five years suspended and credited him for time served, but not for elapsed probationary time.
¶ 7 In May 2001, Finley filed a pro se petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus with this Court, requesting that the District Court's revocation action be voided because Finley had not been provided a probable cause hearing within 36 hours of his arrest for probationary violations as required by § 46-23-1012(4), MCA (1999), and this Court's holdings in Goebel and Giddings. While Finley's petition was pending, the Lake County Attorney filed a petition to revoke Finley's probation on August 29, 2001, and the District Court ordered that Finley be held at the prison without bond. The court took judicial notice of the findings of Finley's prior revocation proceeding. A week later, the court issued a bench warrant for Finley's arrest on these same probationary violations; set bail at $20,000; and had Finley served with the warrant in prison on September 12, 2001. According to the record, the County Attorney filed another petition to revoke with the District Court on September 19, 2001.
¶ 8 On October 11, 2001, this Court granted habeas relief and ordered the State to release Finley from custody. State v. Finley, 308 Mont. 384, 40 P.3d 997 (2001). Finley was returned to the Lake County Jail on the warrant and appeared before the District Court on December 5, 2001. Denying all allegations that he had violated the terms of his probation, Finley received court-appointed counsel.
¶ 9 After several continuances, Finley's re-revocation hearing was held on January 30, 2002. At the outset, defense counsel informed the District Court that Finley had changed his mind and had decided to admit to the alleged probation violations. The court accepted the admission and resentenced Finley to a ten-year prison term with five years suspended and credit for prior incarceration time. Finley immediately asked to withdraw his admission. The court denied the request. Finley filed a timely appeal pro se and now is represented before this Court by the Appellate Defender.
¶ 10 Whether a court has subject matter jurisdiction raises a question of law. State v. Boucher, 2002 MT 114, ¶ 10, 309 Mont. 514, ¶ 10, 48 P.3d 21, ¶ 10. Whether a court violated a probationer's constitutional right of due process also involves a question of law and our review is plenary. In re Mental Health of K.G.F., 2001 MT 140, ¶ 17, 306 Mont. 1, ¶ 17, 29 P.3d 485, ¶ 17 (citing Pickens v. Shelton-Thompson, 2000 MT 131, ¶¶ 7-8, 300 Mont. 16, ¶¶ 7-8, 3 P.3d 603, ¶¶ 7-8). We review a district court's decision to revoke a suspended sentence to determine whether the court abused its discretion. State v. Lee, 2001 MT 176, ¶ 8, 306 Mont. 173, ¶ 8, 31 P.3d 998, ¶ 8 (citing State v. Lindeman (1997), 285 Mont. 292, 302, 948 P.2d 221, 228).
¶ 11 Does this Court have jurisdiction to hear Finley's claim that the District Court lacked jurisdiction to conduct re-revocation proceedings?
¶ 12 The State contends that Finley failed to preserve an appellate claim that the District Court lacked the authority to re-revoke Finley's suspended sentence by neglecting to raise a jurisdictional claim or objection before the trial court. The State implores this Court to reconsider our holding in Giddings and argues that the only proper remedy for a court's revocation of probation without authority is dismissal of the petition and not the voiding of prior proceedings. However, the State fails to support its quarrel with the Giddings remedy by any authority whatsoever.
¶ 13 Jurisdiction is the power of a court to hear and determine an action and to make orders and render judgment as the law authorizes. Rehearing of State v. Goebel and State v. Giddings, 2001 MT 155, ¶ 30, 306 Mont. 83, ¶ 30, 31 P.3d 340, ¶ 30 (citing State v. Moorman (1996), 279 Mont. 330, 336, 928 P.2d 145, 148). The issue of subject matter jurisdiction cannot be waived and may be raised by a party, or by the court itself, at any stage of a judicial proceeding. Giddings, ¶ 15 (citations omitted). For example, the Giddings probationer, successfully challenged the jurisdiction of the district court on appeal, even though he raised no objection in the court below. We later observed that the State's failure to comply with the procedural requirements of § 46-23-1012(4), MCA (1999), is a jurisdictional error that results in the voiding of the prior proceeding ab initio upon reversal. Rehearing of Goebel and Giddings, ¶ 30. We also explicitly upheld re-revocation proceedings under the retroactive provisions of § 46-23-1012, MCA (2001). Rehearing of Goebel and Giddings, ¶ 30.
¶ 14 The State acknowledges that Finley's appeal challenges the District Court's subject matter jurisdiction on the grounds that the State allegedly failed to comply with the procedural safeguards of § 43-23-1012, MCA. Because subject matter jurisdiction may be raised at any time by any party, we hold that the State's challenge to Finley's appeal on the grounds that Finley failed to raise the issue before the trial court is without merit. Contrary to the State's contention that dismissal of the State's petition is the only proper remedy when a court revokes a probationer's suspended sentence without the authority to do so, the procedural remedy available to the State is to re-file a revocation petition as if the voided prior proceedings had never occurred. Therefore, we decline the State's invitation to reconsider our holding in Giddings.
¶ 15 Did the District Court lack jurisdiction to conduct re-revocation proceedings after the State held Finley for more than 72 hours without setting bail or holding an intervention hearing?
¶ 16 The District Court issued a hold order on August 29, 2001, directing prison officials to detain Finley without bail on the basis of findings made at the September 13, 2000 sentence revocation hearing at which Finley admitted violating the conditions of his probation. Subsequently, this Court voided that September 2000 hearing ab initio due to the State's failure to comply with § 46-23-1012, MCA (1999). Finley argues that the District Court was precluded as a matter of law from taking judicial notice of the results of the voided proceeding and that the August 29, 2001 hold order that initiated his re-revocation proceedings was unlawful. Moreover, no intervention hearing was held and no bail was established within 72 hours of the hold order. Finley maintains that the State failed to comply with the jurisdictional prerequisites of § 46-23-1012(3), MCA (2001), which deprived the District Court of authority to hold any further re-revocation proceedings.
¶ 17 The State acknowledges that the findings of the voided prior revocation hearing served as the basis for the District Court's hold order. However, the State argues that the hold order bears no relevance to subsequent revocation proceedings. According to the State, Finley remained lawfully in custody until this Court granted habeas relief on October 11, 2001. Prior to Finley's release from prison, the District Court issued and served a bench warrant for Finley's arrest on the original, alleged probation violations. The State maintains that lawful re-revocation proceedings were initiated when the court issued the warrant and set bail at $20,000. Because Finley was arrested on the warrant upon his release from prison on October 11, 2002, the State contends that further proceedings came under subsection (1) of § 46-23-1012, MCA (2001), which requires no intervention hearing.
¶ 18 Section 46-23-1012, MCA (2001), provides in pertinent part:
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