State v. Goebel
Decision Date | 26 April 2001 |
Docket Number | No. 00-086.,00-086. |
Citation | 31 P.3d 335,2001 MT 73,305 Mont. 53 |
Parties | STATE of Montana, Plaintiff/Appellant, v. Bryan GOEBEL, Defendant/Respondent. |
Court | Montana Supreme Court |
For Appellant: Diana Leibinger-Koch, Special Assistant Attorney General, Department of Corrections, Helena, MT.
For Respondent: Edmund R. Sheehy, Jr., Cannon & Sheehy, Helena, MT.
¶ 1 The District Court for the Fourth Judicial District, Mineral County, dismissed the petition of the Mineral County Attorney requesting that the court revoke Bryan Goebel's suspended sentence. The Department of Corrections (the DOC) appeals on behalf of the State. We reverse and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
¶ 2 The DOC presents the following issue on appeal:
¶ 3 Whether the District Court erred when it dismissed the State's petition to revoke Goebel's suspended sentence because the DOC failed to hold a hearing pursuant to § 46-23-1012(4), MCA, within 36 hours of Goebel's arrest.
¶ 4 On January 16, 1991, Goebel pleaded guilty to a charge of felony theft. The District Court subsequently sentenced him to ten years imprisonment with five years suspended. Goebel discharged the imprisonment portion of his sentence and began serving his probationary sentence on August 19, 1994. On July 23, 1998, the District Court revoked Goebel's five-year suspended sentence, but reinstated that sentence with additional terms and conditions including completion of anger management, domestic violence, and chemical dependency counseling, as well as repayment of his original restitution obligation in monthly installments of not less than $50. ¶ 5 On April 29, 1999, Goebel was arrested by a Mineral County deputy sheriff, without a warrant, for his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine. A complaint for this offense was filed in the Mineral County Justice Court, but no charges were ever filed in the District Court of Mineral County, nor was Goebel arrested, either by his probation officer or by a warrant issued by a court, for allegedly violating his probation. On May 24, 1999, Goebel was indicted on federal charges of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. The charges in Mineral County were dismissed.
¶ 6 Goebel was released under certain conditions on the federal charges on June 3, 1999. Later that same day, he was taken into custody by his probation officer pursuant to § 46-23-1012, MCA. On June 8, 1999, Goebel's probation officer filed a report alleging that Goebel had violated the terms and conditions of his probation because he had used marijuana, because he failed to pay court-ordered restitution, and because he had been arrested on the federal possession charges. The following day, the Mineral County Attorney filed a Petition for Revocation of Suspended Sentence. The District Court set bond for Goebel at $50,000.
¶ 7 Goebel appeared in District Court on June 10, 1999, to answer the charges in the petition. At that time, he acknowledged his rights and requested court-appointed counsel. On June 17, 1999, Goebel moved the court for a continuance of the hearing on the petition and on July 8, 1999, he again moved for a continuance "until the Federal charges have been resolved." The court granted Goebel's motion.
¶ 8 On September 29, 1999, the United States District Court dismissed the federal charges against Goebel. And, on October 20, 1999, Goebel moved the District Court for the dismissal of the petition against him because the State failed to comply with the provisions of § 46-23-1012(4) and (5), MCA, regarding the probation violator prison diversion program. In response, the State argued that the probation violator prison diversion program is discretionary, not mandatory, and that the Legislature did not intend "to replace the existing process of adjudicating probation violations judicially."
¶ 9 After oral argument on the matter, the District Court, on December 27, 1999, ruled that a hearing under the probation violator prison diversion program is mandatory in every case in which a probation officer alleges an offender violated probation and that "[f]ailure to follow that step is [the] basis for dismissal in this instance." Hence the court dismissed the petition and the DOC appeals.
¶ 10 The grant or denial of a motion to dismiss in a criminal case is a question of law which we review de novo. State v. Diesen, 2000 MT 1, ¶ 11, 297 Mont. 459, ¶ 11, 992 P.2d 1287, ¶ 11 (citing State v. Reams (1997), 284 Mont. 448, 450, 945 P.2d 52, 54). Our standard of review of a conclusion of law being plenary, we review a district court's denial of a motion to dismiss to determine whether the court's conclusion of law is correct. Diesen, ¶ 11 (citing City of Helena v. Danichek (1996), 277 Mont. 461, 463, 922 P.2d 1170, 1172).
¶ 11 Whether the District Court erred when it dismissed the State's petition to revoke Goebel's suspended sentence because the DOC failed to hold a hearing pursuant to § 46-23-1012(4), MCA, within 36 hours of Goebel's arrest.
¶ 12 Section 46-23-1012, MCA, provides:
The Legislature added subsections (4) and (5), regarding the probation violator prison diversion program, to the statute in 1999. But the 1999 Legislature made no changes to § 46-23-1013, MCA, which provides:
¶ 13 Goebel argued before the District Court that the petition against him should be dismissed because the State failed to comply with § 46-23-1012(4), MCA, by not...
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