State v. Gudmundsen

• Decision Date: 13 September 2022
• Docket Number: DA 21-0340
• Citation: 410 Mont. 67,517 P.3d 146
• Parties: STATE of Montana, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Leah Verna GUDMUNDSEN, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: Montana Supreme Court

410 Mont. 67
517 P.3d 146

STATE of Montana, Plaintiff and Appellee,
v.
Leah Verna GUDMUNDSEN, Defendant and Appellant.

DA 21-0340

Supreme Court of Montana.

Submitted on Briefs: August 3, 2022
Decided: September 13, 2022

For Appellant: Rachel G. Inabnit, Law Office of Rachel Inabnit, PLLC, Missoula, Montana

For Appellee: Austin Knudsen, Montana Attorney General, Katie F. Schulz, Assistant Attorney General, Helena, Montana Marcia Jean Boris, Lincoln County Attorney, Libby, Montana

Justice Jim Rice delivered the Opinion of the Court.

410 Mont. 68

¶1 Leah Verna Gudmundsen (Gudmundsen) appeals the sentence imposed by the Nineteenth Judicial District Court, Lincoln County, following revocation of her suspended sentence. She challenges the District Court's denial of credit for elapsed time served on probation. We address the following issue:

Did the District Court violate § 46-18-203(7)(b), MCA, by denying credit for elapsed time served on probation without basing the denial on specific probation violations?

¶2 We reverse and remand for application of a credit toward Gudmundsen's revocation sentence for elapsed time served.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

¶3 Gudmundsen was arrested on March 21, 2019, and charged with two counts of criminal possession of dangerous drugs under § 45-9-102, MCA, and one count of criminal possession of drug paraphernalia under § 45-10-103, MCA. Pursuant to a September 5, 2019 plea agreement, Gudmundsen pled guilty to a single count of criminal possession of dangerous drugs in exchange for dismissal of the two other charges. She was sentenced, on October 21, 2019, to five years with the Montana Department of Corrections, with all time suspended. The conditions of her probation required Gudmundsen to abstain from drug and alcohol use and submit to regular drug testing, participate in chemical dependency treatment, obtain permission from her probation officer prior to purchasing real property or an automobile, and to be "cooperative and truthful" in all interactions with probation officers.

¶4 From her October 2019 sentencing through January 2020, Gudmundsen repeatedly tested positive for methamphetamine. In March 2020, she purchased a vehicle without her supervising officer's permission. No further probation violations were recorded until a series of incidents beginning in August 2020 involving Gudmundsen's failure to report to her supervising probation officer.

¶5 On October 23, 2020, Gudmundsen was arrested on a new charge

410 Mont. 69

of criminal possession of dangerous drugs. Gudmundsen entered an outpatient treatment program in November 2020, which she continued, and participated...