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Filed 2/25/21 P. v. Hail CA1/2

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for 

publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or 

ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115. 

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION TWO

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

WILLIAM EDWARD HAIL III,

Defendant and Appellant.

 A158722

 (Sonoma County Super.

 Ct. No. SCR695503)

Defendant William Edward Hail III’s appellate counsel requests that 

this court independently review the record under People v. Wende (1979) 

25 Cal.3d 436 (Wende) regarding the trial court’s post-trial order that Hail 

pay victim restitution totaling $512,540. Hail’s counsel informed him of his 

right to file a supplemental brief and he has not done so. Upon our 

independent review of the record under Wende, we conclude there are no 

arguable appellate issues requiring further briefing and affirm. 

BACKGROUND

We affirmed Hail’s judgment of conviction in an unpublished opinion, 

People v. Hail, filed on February 25, 2021 (A156418), which we are issuing at 

the same time as this opinion.1 There, we discussed the background facts 

regarding the charges against Hail, the evidence presented at trial of 

1 We may cite to A156418 “to explain the factual background of the 

[current] case.” (K.G. v. Meredith (2012) 204 Cal.App.4th 164, 172, fn. 9.)
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regarding his criminal conduct (as well as that of co-defendant Douglas

Jensen, who was convicted of certain charges as part of a negotiated 

disposition of his case, and who is not a party to this appeal) and his 

convictions after a jury trial. We shall not repeat that discussion other than 

to note that in December 2018 Hail was convicted of six counts of financial 

crimes against Jane Doe and John Doe (collectively, the Does), two elderly 

residents of Petaluma, California, and an aggravated white collar 

enhancement was found to be true, after evidence was presented that the 

Does had paid Hail over $700,000 to perform work on their residences under 

certain contracts, but which he either did not perform or did not complete. 

(People v. Hail (Feb. 25, 2021, A156418) at pp. 2-3.) Hail was sentenced to six 

years in prison. (Id. at p. 4.) 

After sentencing, the People filed an extensive analysis of the economic 

losses of the two elderly victims of Hail’s criminal conduct, Jane Doe and 

John Doe (who had passed away before trial), and sought an order that Hail 

pay restitution in the amounts of $281,367.98 to Jane Doe and $403,735.98 to 

the estate of John Doe. These amounts were comprised of the Does’ 

overpayments to Hail, based on evidence presented at trial, and the 

corrective costs to complete the work at their homes that Hail had not 

completed. The People stated that, for Jane Doe, these amounts were 

$260,495.84 and $20,872.14 respectively, and for John Doe, these amounts 

were $296,298.98 and $107,437 respectively. 

In October 2019, the court held a contested restitution hearing after 

repeatedly resetting the date of the hearing for much of 2019. The 

prosecution and co-defendant Jensen, through his counsel, informed the court 

that they had agreed to a stipulation under which Jensen would be jointly 
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and severally liable for a total of $512,450.83 in restitution to the Does.

2 The 

prosecutor explained that Jensen’s counsel had conducted an analysis and 

determined that Jane Doe’s contract-based economic losses were $122,757.94 

and her overpayment to Hail was $79,369.89, a total of $202,127.83. John 

Doe’s contract-based economic losses were $225,683 and his overpayments 

were $84,730, a total of $310,413. The prosecutor stated she had agreed with

this analysis in order to reach an agreement, which she considered to be “a 

reasonable solution to the restitution issue that’s based on the facts and the 

law,” and could argue for more. 

The court said it had reviewed Jensen’s counsel’s analysis, found it 

comprehensive, and considered the parties’ agreement to be a reasonable 

compromise in light of the strengths and weaknesses of the case for 

restitution and in order to bring closure. The court agreed with Jensen’s 

counsel that the Does could pursue economic damages in a civil lawsuit. 

Hail’s counsel told the court that he believed Jensen’s counsel’s 

analysis under the restitution laws was “appropriate,” but moved for a 

continuance for Hail’s expert to study whether the corrective costs in both the 

prosecution’s and Jensen’s counsel’s analyses were appropriate. He said he 

had subpoenaed seven contractors that did corrective work and had an expert 

reviewing certain costs, but that he had released the contractors from 

appearing at the hearing because he understood from the public defender’s 

office that such hearings had been cancelled (for reasons not stated in the 

record). 

The prosecutor opposed Hail’s motion for a continuance. She said it 

had been known for a couple of days that the court would be open to conduct 

2 This total amount of restitution appears to be a slight misstatement, 

as the amounts of restitution proposed to be paid to the Does, and later 

ordered by the court, add up to $512,540. 
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the scheduled hearing, that the hearing was supposed to have occurred for 

the past year, and that the amount of Hail’s actual theft exceeded the 

corrective costs “by hundreds of thousands of dollars.” 

The court said the restitution amounts agreed to by the prosecution 

and Jensen were “more than reasonable for resolution,” “the exposure [of 

Hail] is much higher,” and the parties had had “many, many months to 

prepare, subpoena witnesses, prepare their own side of the case. Waiting 

until the last minute to do anything with the contractors is a little bit 

dilatory.” The court was determined not to “waste everybody’s time” and 

“come back here and arrive at the exact same numbers,” and said that if Hail 

did not stipulate to the amounts agreed to by the prosecution and Jensen, “all 

bets are off and the Court will go through a full analysis. And right now, . . . 

my analysis shows numbers quite a bit higher than that and [I] may consider 

making adjustments between the defendants as to exposure, liability.” 

Hail’s counsel responded that he had only received the corrective costs 

a few weeks before the hearing, submitted on his motion for a continuance 

and indicated that he did not have any witnesses to call. 

The court then denied Hail’s motion for a continuance and invited 

Hail’s counsel to argue the merits of the restitution amounts. Counsel 

declined to argue, and indicated that Hail would object to whatever 

restitution amounts the court ordered. 

The court then said that, in its analysis, Hail was liable for a total 

restitution amount that was close to or over $700,000. The court said that, 

even without hearing expert testimony, it thought Hail’s exposure was “a lot 

more” than the restitution amounts agreed to by the prosecution and Jensen. 

The court ruled that Jensen and Hail were jointly and severally liable for 

restitution to Jane Doe in the amount of $202,127 and to the estate of John 
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Doe in the amount of $310,413, and that this was a just and reasonable 

compromise and fair amounts to the victims given the defendants’ exposure. 

Hail filed a timely notice of appeal from the court’s ruling. 

DISCUSSION

Crime victims are entitled to restitution for losses suffered as a result 

of a criminal act. (Cal. Const., art. I, § 28, subd. (b)(13).) “[V]ictim restitution 

is mandated by both the Constitution and [Penal Code] section 1202.4.” 

(People v. Rowland (1997) 51 Cal.App.4th 1745, 1751.) As summarized by 

one of many appellate courts, “[i]n every case in which a victim has suffered 

economic loss as a result of the defendant’s conduct, the court shall require 

that the defendant make restitution to the victim or victims. (§ 1202.4, 

subd. (f).) The restitution order must be sufficient to fully reimburse the 

victim or victims for every determined economic loss incurred as a result of 

the defendant’s criminal conduct . . . (§ 1202.4, subd. (f)(3)(H)).” (People v. 

Williams (2010) 184 Cal.App.4th 142, 146.) 

“At a victim restitution hearing, a prima facie case for restitution is 

made by the People based in part on a victim’s testimony on, or other claim or 

statement of, the amount of his or her economic loss. [Citations.] ‘Once the 

victim has [i.e., the People have] made a prima facie showing of his or her 

loss, the burden shifts to the defendant to demonstrate that the amount of 

the loss is other than that claimed by the victim.’ ” (People v. Millard (2009) 

175 Cal.App.4th 7, 26.) 

“ ‘The standard of review of a restitution order is abuse of discretion. 

“A victim’s restitution right is to be broadly and liberally construed.” 

[Citation.] “ ‘When there is a factual and rational basis for the amount of 

restitution ordered by the trial court, no abuse of discretion will be found by 

the reviewing court.’ ” [Citations.]’ [Citation.] However, a restitution order 
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‘resting upon a “ ‘demonstrable error of law’ ” constitutes an abuse of the 

court’s discretion. [Citations.]’ [Citation.] ‘In reviewing the sufficiency of the 

evidence [to support a factual finding], the “ ‘power of the appellate court 

begins and ends with a determination as to whether there is any substantial 

evidence, contradicted or uncontradicted,’ to support the trial court’s 

findings.” [Citations.] Further, the standard of proof at a restitution hearing 

is by a preponderance of the evidence, not proof beyond a reasonable doubt. 

[Citation.] “If the circumstances reasonably justify the [trial court’s] 

findings,” the judgment may not be overturned when the circumstances 

might also reasonably support a contrary finding. [Citation.] We do not 

reweigh or reinterpret the evidence; rather, we determine whether there is 

sufficient evidence to support the inference drawn by the trier of fact. 

[Citations.]’ ” (People v. Millard, supra, 175 Cal.App.4th at p. 26.) Where the 

legal basis for a restitution award is under challenge, we conduct de novo or 

independent review. (People v. Brunette (2011) 194 Cal.App.4th 268, 277.) 

We have conducted an independent review of the record under Wende

regarding the court’s restitution orders, including of the People’s extensive 

analysis of the victims’ economic losses. We conclude there are no arguable 

appellate issues requiring further briefing and affirm. 

DISPOSITION

The order appealed from is affirmed.
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STEWART, J.

We concur.

RICHMAN, Acting P.J.

MILLER, J.

People v. Hail (A158722)