Steilman v. Michael

• Decision Date: 13 December 2017
• Docket Number: OP 16-0328
• Citation: 407 P.3d 313,2017 MT 310,389 Mont. 512
• Parties: Derrick Earl STEILMAN, Petitioner, v. Reginald MICHAEL, Director, Montana Department of Corrections, Timothy Charles Fox, Montana Attorney General, Respondents.
• Court: Montana Supreme Court

389 Mont. 512

407 P.3d 313

2017 MT 310

Derrick Earl STEILMAN, Petitioner,

v.Reginald MICHAEL, Director, Montana Department of Corrections, Timothy Charles Fox, Montana Attorney General, Respondents.

OP 16-0328

Supreme Court of Montana.

Argued and Submitted: May 17, 2017

Decided: December 13, 2017

For Petitioner: Colin M. Stephens (argued), Nick K. Brooke (argued), Smith & Stephens, P.C., Missoula, Montana

For Respondents: Timothy C. Fox, Montana Attorney General, Jonathan M. Krauss (argued), Assistant Attorney General, Helena, Montana, Colleen Ambrose, Chief Legal Counsel, Montana Department of Corrections, Helena, Montana

OPINION AND ORDER

Justice James Jeremiah Shea delivered the Opinion and Order of the Court.

¶ 1 Derrick Earl Steilman petitions for a writ of habeas corpus. Relying on Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460, 132 S.Ct. 2455, 183 L.Ed.2d 407 (2012), and Montgomery v. Louisiana, ––– U.S. ––––, 136 S.Ct. 718, 193 L.Ed.2d 599 (2016), Steilman argues that his sentence of 110 years imprisonment, without the possibility of parole, for deliberate homicide with the use of a weapon, violates his Eighth Amendment rights because Steilman committed the offense when he was seventeen years old and the sentencing court failed to consider the special circumstances of his youth.

¶ 2 We address the following issues:

Issue One: Whether Miller and Montgomery apply to Montana's discretionary sentencing scheme.

Issue Two: Whether Steilman's sentence qualifies as a de facto life sentence to which Miller and Montgomery apply.

¶ 3 We hold that Miller and Montgomery apply to discretionary sentences in Montana. Regarding the applicability to de facto life sentences in Montana, the dispositive issue in this case is whether the unique circumstances of Steilman's Montana sentence, when viewed in light of his eligibility for day-for-day good time credit and the concurrent sentence he is presently serving in Washington, qualifies as a de facto life sentence to which Miller's substantive rule applies. We conclude that Steilman's sentence does not qualify as a de facto life sentence, and therefore we do not reach the merits of whether the District Court properly considered the special circumstances of Steilman's youth in this case as required by Miller. We deny Steilman's petition.

PROCEDURAL AND FACTUAL BACKGROUND

¶ 4 On the night of September 17–18, 1996, Steilman and his accomplice, Steven Francis, made a pact to kill someone as a show of trust before pursuing a criminal enterprise together that included a planned bank robbery. Steilman and Francis randomly crossed paths with Paul Bischke. Steilman and Francis demanded Bischke's money, then struck him at least four times in the head, face, and arms with a crow bar, killing him. At the time he committed this murder, Steilman was 17 years and 323 days old, six weeks before his eighteenth birthday.

¶ 5 Steilman then moved to Tacoma, Washington, where nearly two years later, on or about September 10, 1998, he killed Jack Davis by beating Davis with a baseball bat. Within a week, Steilman and his then-girlfriend Colleen Wood were arrested in Butte in connection with the Washington homicide. Wood reported that Steilman took her to Davis's apartment to show her Davis's body. Another former girlfriend of Steilman's told law enforcement that he admitted to killing someone and acted "as if it was nothing," but she waited to contact law enforcement because Steilman threatened to kill her. The presentence investigation report provided Steilman dropped out of school before the tenth grade in large part due to drug and alcohol abuse, which started when he was thirteen. The report also provided that Steilman surrounded himself with "friends and acquaintances [who] were almost all using drugs and alcohol and living a criminal lifestyle to support their addictions."

¶ 6 On October 5, 1998, the State charged Steilman with deliberate homicide. The prosecution commenced in Youth Court because Steilman was under eighteen when he committed the first murder. The State moved to transfer Steilman's case to District Court. The Youth Court found: Steilman was seventeen years old when he committed the offense; probable cause existed; the delinquent act constituted deliberate homicide; the gravity of the offense and protection of the community required treatment beyond that afforded by juvenile facilities; the offense was committed in an aggressive and violent manner; and § 41-5-206(3) (1995), MCA, required transfer to the District Court.

¶ 7 Following the transfer to District Court, Steilman was returned to Washington for prosecution of Davis's murder. He pled guilty to first degree murder and was sentenced to 260 months of incarceration plus 24 months for the use of a weapon, totaling 23 years, 8 months. As an inmate of the State of Washington, Steilman was returned on a detainer order to be prosecuted in Montana for Bischke's murder.

¶ 8 On October 1, 1999, Steilman pled guilty to deliberate homicide. On October 15, 1999, the District Court sentenced Steilman to the Montana State Prison for 100 years for deliberate homicide and 10 years for the use of a weapon, to run consecutively. The District Court reasoned that "the gravity and random nature of the murder ...[, Steilman's] commission of another homicide, the punishment permitted by law and the possibility, or lack thereof, of rehabilitation" justified the 110-year sentence. The District Court also ordered Steilman ineligible for parole, remarking the "commission of a senseless, brutal, random homicide demonstrates that [Steilman] is not a suitable candidate for parole or other supervised release."

¶ 9 Steilman's Montana sentence is eligible for day-for-day good time allowance, which, contingent upon his behavior in prison, could make him eligible for release in 55 years. Section 53-30-105, MCA (1995); see Wilcock v. State, No. OP 11-0442, 362 Mont. 544, 272 P.3d 125 (table) (Sept. 13, 2011). Also, the District Court ordered Steilman's 110-year prison term to run concurrent with his 23 years, 8 months Washington sentence. Under Washington law, Steilman is required to serve at least two-thirds of his sentence before he would be eligible for community release.

DISCUSSION

¶ 10 Section 46-22-101, MCA, provides "every person imprisoned or otherwise restrained of liberty within this state may prosecute a writ of habeas corpus to inquire into the cause of imprisonment or restraint and, if illegal, to be delivered from the imprisonment or restraint." Article II, Section 19 of the Montana Constitution guarantees the writ of habeas corpus shall never be suspended. The writ of habeas corpus is available to challenge the legality of the sentence; however, it is not available to attack the validity of the conviction or sentence of a person who has been adjudged guilty of an offense in a court of record and has exhausted the remedy of appeal. Sections 46-21-101(1), -22-101(2), MCA ; Rudolph v. Day, 273 Mont. 309, 311, 902 P.2d 1007, 1008 (1995). The exception for filing habeas petitions to challenge a facially invalid sentence is generally limited to invalidity that "stems from a rule created after time limits for directly appealing or petitioning for postconviction relief have expired." Beach v. State, 2015 MT 118, ¶ 6, 379 Mont. 74, 348 P.3d 629 (citing Lott v. State, 2006 MT 279, ¶ 22, 334 Mont. 270, 150 P.3d 337 ). A petitioner who successfully challenges a sentence by way of habeas corpus, but not the underlying conviction, is not entitled to be released, but only to be resentenced. Lott, ¶ 23. If the illegal portion of a sentence "affects the entire sentence" and we are unable to discern what the district court would have done if it had properly applied the law, we remand for resentencing. State v. Heath, 2005 MT 280, ¶ 7, 329 Mont. 226, 123 P.3d 228.

¶ 11 Issue One: Whether Miller and Montgomery apply to Montana's discretionary sentencing scheme.

¶ 12 The State argues that Steilman's sentence is not facially invalid and habeas relief is not available because the sentencing court had the constitutional authority to impose the sentence. The State contends that Miller's rules only apply to sentencing schemes mandating life without parole for juvenile offenders, and that the "mandatory sentencing rule has no application in Montana." See Beach, ¶ 36. The State further contends that Miller merely requires the sentencing court to follow a certain process before imposing a life without parole sentence on a juvenile, and does not "foreclose a sentencer's ability to make that judgment in homicide cases." Miller, 567 U.S. at 480, 132 S.Ct. at 2469. According to the State, under Miller a sentencing court retains the constitutional authority to sentence a juvenile to life without parole; therefore, as a matter of law, such a sentence cannot be facially invalid under Lott. See Beach, ¶ 38 ; Lott, ¶ 22. We disagree, and are satisfied that Steilman sufficiently calls into question the facial validity of his sentence because Montgomery announced that Miller applies retroactively and effectively overruled our holding in Beach. Montgomery, ––– U.S. at ––––, 136 S.Ct. at 734.

¶ 13 The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article II, Section 22 of the Montana Constitution provide: "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." The U.S. Supreme Court dictates that courts must interpret the Eighth Amendment "according to its text, by considering history, tradition, and precedent, and with due regard for its purpose and function in the constitutional design" and refer to " ‘the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society’ to determine which punishments are so disproportionate as to be cruel and unusual." Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551, 560–61, 125 S.Ct. 1183, 1190, 161 L.Ed.2d 1 (2005) (quoting Trop v. Dulles, 356 U.S. 86, 100–101, 78 S.Ct. 590, 598, 2 L.Ed.2d 630 (1958) (plurality...