State v. Lafferty

• Decision Date: 17 February 1994
• Docket Number: No. 20375,20375
• Parties: STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Wayne Gardner LAFFERTY, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Idaho Court of Appeals

Page 1337

870 P.2d 1337

125 Idaho 378

STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Wayne Gardner LAFFERTY, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 20375.

Court of Appeals of Idaho.

Feb. 17, 1994.

William J. Litster, Boise, argued, for appellant.

Larry EchoHawk, Atty. Gen., Myrna A.I. Stahman, Deputy Atty. Gen., Boise, for respondent. Myrna A.I. Stahman, argued.

WALTERS, Chief Judge.

Wayne Lafferty appeals from an order revoking his probation and reinstating his sentence of imprisonment. The central issue on appeal is whether the district court properly revoked probation where the record lacked sufficient evidence to show that Lafferty's violation was willful. For the reasons explained below, we affirm.

Facts

Lafferty pled guilty in the Gooding County district court to driving while under the influence of alcohol, his third such offense in five years. I.C. §§ 18-8004, 18-8005(3). At sentencing, the court imposed a unified term of five years, with a minimum period of three years in confinement. I.C. § 19-2513. The court found that Lafferty, a fifty-six-year-old disabled veteran, was an alcoholic whose history and poor attitude offered little hope for alcohol rehabilitation. However, the court determined that it still could accomplish its goal of protecting the traveling public--its primary objective in sentencing Lafferty--by depriving Lafferty of the opportunity to drive. The court decided to suspend the sentence and place Lafferty on probation with the special conditions that he reside at a halfway house in Darlington, Idaho, at his own expense, that he take part in the in-house alcohol treatment programs it offered, and that he not drive for five years.

Two months later, the prosecutor filed a motion to revoke probation. The motion was based on a report that Lafferty had been asked to leave the Darlington house due to his disruptive behavior and his failure to pay housing costs. After an evidentiary hearing, which encompassed both the motion to revoke probation and a request by Lafferty for modification of his sentence under I.C.R. 35, the court found the state had not proved the alleged violation. The court then modified the housing requirement to allow Lafferty thirty days to find another halfway house adequate to meet the court's primary objective of protecting society from Lafferty's dangerous driving.

The Salvation Army's Adult Rehabilitation Program in Boise subsequently accepted Lafferty. He arrived there on a Wednesday and on Thursday morning, went to work in the carpentry unit. Lafferty, who was certified as one-hundred percent disabled, complained of severe pain the next morning and refused to return to work. His counselor, believing Lafferty had been assigned the light duty of hanging hangers and clothes, told Lafferty he could not stay because he would not work. That same day, Friday, Lafferty called his attorney's office and left a message that he was being terminated from the program and would have to leave. Lafferty, however, made no attempt to contact his probation officer directly on Friday, or during the intervening weekend. When no one arrived to pick him up by Monday morning, ¹ Lafferty again telephoned his attorney's office, this time leaving a message requesting that his probation officer be contacted and informed of the situation.

On Tuesday morning, Salvation Army personnel told Lafferty to pack his belongings and then drove him to the Rescue Mission in Boise. From the Rescue Mission, Lafferty obtained a ride to the Veteran's Administration Hospital, also in Boise. While waiting to see his doctor, Lafferty attempted to make a collect, long-distance telephone call to his probation officer in Twin Falls. However, the office refused to accept the charges. Lafferty then dialed a local number belonging to the federal probation office. He spoke to a woman who said she understood his problem, and Lafferty ended the conversation believing that his probation officer was going to be notified. Lafferty saw his doctor that afternoon and was admitted to the hospital for a bladder infection. He spent the night in the hospital and was released the following day, Wednesday. When no one else had come to pick him up at the hospital by 5:00 o'clock that evening, Lafferty asked a friend who was visiting to take him to Lafferty's house in Wendell, Idaho. When Lafferty arrived in Wendell later that evening, however, the renters occupying his house called the sheriff, who in turn contacted Lafferty's probation officer. The sheriff's deputies picked up Lafferty that night and took him to the county jail. The following day, the probation officer filed a report alleging that Lafferty had failed to comply with paragraph 2 of the probation order, which required that Lafferty "not change residence without obtaining written permission from [his] probation officer."

Based on the probation violation report, the prosecutor filed another motion seeking to revoke Lafferty's probation. After an evidentiary hearing, the court found that Lafferty had in fact violated the court's probation order by leaving the Salvation Army without authorization from his probation officer. The court then continued the proceeding for thirty days to allow Lafferty to find a suitable alternative to imprisonment that would meet the court's concern for the public safety. At the subsequent dispositional hearing, Lafferty's attorney described to the court a three-month program at a facility in the Salt Lake City, Utah, area. The court found this alternative unacceptable. The court then revoked probation and ordered into execution Lafferty's original sentence of three to five years' confinement.

On appeal, Lafferty contends that the district court erred by revoking his probation. Specifically, he argues his change of residence was not a "willful violation" of the court's probation order and, therefore, the court's decision to revoke probation was contrary to his right to the fundamental fairness required by the due process clauses of the state and federal constitutions.

As explained below, we agree that the record is insufficient to show a willful probation violation. However, we conclude that the court properly exercised its discretion in deciding to revoke probation, where it first considered whether there existed alternatives to imprisonment that would adequately meet the state's objectives in sentencing Lafferty.

Analysis

We start with the premise that a probationer has a constitutionally-protected liberty interest in continuing his or her probation. Gagnon v. Scarpelli, 411 U.S. 778, 93 S.Ct. 1756, 36 L.Ed.2d 656 (1973); Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471, 92 S.Ct. 2593, 33 L.Ed.2d 484 (1972); State v. Chapman, 111 Idaho 149, 721 P.2d 1248 (1986). Consistent with the principles of due process, a court may revoke probation only upon evidence that the probationer has in fact violated the terms or conditions of probation. Douglas v. Burder, 412 U.S. 430, 93 S.Ct. 2199, 37 L.Ed.2d 52 (1973). Moreover, revocation must be based upon charges sufficiently specific to inform the probationer of the probation condition or conditions alleged to have been violated. Morrissey, 408 U.S. at 489, 92 S.Ct. at 2604; State v. Edelblute, 91 Idaho 469, 424 P.2d 739 (1967). A court's finding that an alleged violation has been proved will be upheld on appeal if there is substantial evidence in the record to support the finding. State v. Kelsey, 115 Idaho 311, 766 P.2d 781 (1988); State v. Hayes, 99 Idaho 713, 587 P.2d 1248 (1978); State v. Barton, 119 Idaho 114, 803 P.2d 1020 (Ct.App.1991).

Once the court properly finds that the probationer has in fact violated probation, it then must determine, in the exercise of its discretion, whether to revoke probation and order a sentence of imprisonment, or to continue probation. State v. Knowlton, 123 Idaho 916, 854 P.2d 259 (1993); State v. Marks, 116 Idaho 976, 783 P.2d 315 (Ct.App.1989). The decision to revoke probation will not be overturned on appeal absent a showing that the court abused its discretion. State v. Hedger, 115 Idaho 598, 768 P.2d 1331 (1989); State v. Hass, 114 Idaho 554, 758 P.2d 713 (Ct.App.1988). In determining whether such an abuse occurred, the appellate inquiry centers on whether the sentencing court acted within the boundaries of its discretion, consistent with any legal standards applicable to specific choices, and whether the court reached its decision by an exercise of reason. Hass, 114 Idaho at 558, 758 P.2d at 717.

A. Did the court properly find that Lafferty had violated a condition of his probation?

In this case, the state's motion to revoke probation sufficiently charged that Lafferty had violated probation by changing his residence without authorization from his probation officer. ² The undisputed evidence in the record establishes that Lafferty moved out of the Salvation Army without consulting his probation officer. We conclude that this evidence is sufficient to support the court's finding that Lafferty violated the probation order. We will not disturb that finding on...