Opinion ID: 1274135
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Heading: Offset in the Restitution Order

Text: Bonstetter claims NEW Cooperative owes him monies for a bonus, accrued vacation time and salary, and benefits from his 401K plan. It is not clear if he sought extra bonus money for the increased profits from his repayment of the money he stole. At sentencing, the trial court denied Bonstetter's request for such monies. Before we turn to the merits of this issue, we first briefly explore the concept of criminal restitution. The word restitution connotes restoring or compensating the victim for loss. 24 C.J.S. Criminal Law § 1771, at 428 (1999). Unlike other forms of penal sanctions, restitution forces the offender to answer directly for the consequences of his or her actions. See State v. Kluesner, 389 N.W.2d 370, 372-73 (Iowa 1986). The rationale of restitution under criminal law is similar to the rationale of tort under civil law. See State v. Mayberry, 415 N.W.2d 644, 645-46 (Iowa 1987). A wrong has been done. A person has been injured or property damaged. The victim deserves to be fully compensated for the injury by the actor who caused it. State v. Ihde, 532 N.W.2d 827, 829 (Iowa Ct.App.1995) (citing Mayberry, 415 N.W.2d at 645-46). Since restitution is a penal sanction separate from civil remedies, it makes it possible to avoid the necessity of a separate civil action and ensures the efficient use of time and resources in the sentencing process. Matthew Spohn, Note, A Statutory Chameleon: The Mandatory Victim Restitution Act's Challenge to the Civil/Criminal Divide, 86 Iowa L.Rev. 1013, 1034 (2001). As a general rule, restitution depends on the existence of a crime for which the offender was convicted. 24 C.J.S. Criminal Law § 1774, at 431. In Iowa, restitution shall be ordered in all criminal cases in which the defendant pleads guilty or is found guilty. See Iowa Code § 910.2 (1999); Teggatz v. Ringleb, 610 N.W.2d 527, 529 (Iowa 2000); Watts, 587 N.W.2d at 751 (restitution is mandatory in all criminal cases in which the defendant pleads guilty). After conviction, the court must identify the victim entitled to restitution. Wayne R. LaFave, Criminal Procedure § 26.6(c), at 801 (2d ed.1999). A victim is a person who has suffered pecuniary damages as a result of the offender's criminal activities. Iowa Code § 910.1(5). Once the victim is identified, the court must determine what losses may be considered in calculating the amount of restitution. Any damages that are causally related to the criminal activities may be included in the restitution order. 24 C.J.S. Criminal Law § 1776, at 432. Damages not causally related to the crime are improper. Id. A restitution order is not excessive if it bears a reasonable relationship to the damage caused by the offender's criminal act. Ihde, 532 N.W.2d at 829. The relationship must be shown by a preponderance of the evidence. Iowa Code § 910.2. A court is authorized to order criminal restitution pursuant to the statutes. 24 C.J.S. Criminal Law § 1771, at 428. In the absence of such statutes, the court has no power to issue a restitution order. Id. The sentencing judge performs two functions in entering a restitution order. Ihde, 532 N.W.2d at 829, First, the judge determines the damage caused by the defendant's actions. Id. Second, the judge fashions a reasonable method of payment. Id. Restitution serves multiple purposes. It compensates the victim. Teggatz, 610 N.W.2d at 529 (the purpose of restitution is to protect the public by compensating victims of criminal activity). It is rehabilitative in nature. Restitution goes beyond revenue recovery and is designed to instill responsibility in criminal offenders. State v. Izzolena, 609 N.W.2d 541, 548 (Iowa 2000). When the court orders restitution, it must consider the appropriate goal of restitution desired in the particular circumstances of the case before it. In reviewing a restitution award, we must determine if the trial court applied the correct law in fixing damage. State v. Petrie, 478 N.W.2d 620, 622 (Iowa 1991). We must also consider whether there is substantial evidence supporting the damages awarded. See State v. Kaelin, 362 N.W.2d 526, 528 (Iowa 1985). The district court is confined to the statute in determining what damages to include in the restitution order. In this case the trial court determined the amount of restitution under Iowa Code chapter 910. This chapter provides, in part: [T]he sentencing court shall order that restitution be made by each offender to the victims of the offender's criminal activities, to the clerk of court for fines, penalties, ... and, to the extent that the offender is reasonably able to pay, ... court costs ..., court-appointed attorney's fees, or the expense of a public defender when applicable.... Iowa Code § 910.2. The trial court denied Bonstetter's request for an offset because the statute does not authorize a reduction of the damages by a claimed offset by the criminal defendant. The trial court correctly applied the rule of strict statutory construction. The restitution statute in Iowa Code chapter 910 is a penal statute and must be interpreted strictly. See White v. Iowa Dep't of Transp., 407 N.W.2d 606, 608 (Iowa 1987) (in statutes relating to a penal sentence, we apply rules of strict construction). The court must determine the legislative intent, considering the language in the statute, the object sought to be accomplished, and the evil sought to be remedied. State v. Akers, 435 N.W.2d 332, 334 (Iowa 1989) (citing Brown v. John Deere Waterloo Tractor Works, 423 N.W.2d 193, 195 (Iowa 1988)). Strict statutory construction is not to be used to inject doubt when legislative intent is evident through a reasonable construction of the statute. Iowa Code § 4.1(38) (when statute contains no technical terms or terms with particular legal meaning, its language must be construed according to the context and the approved usage of the language); White, 407 N.W.2d at 608. The obvious purpose of Iowa Code chapter 910 is to compensate the victim and serve the functions of deterrence and rehabilitation of the offender. To advance this purpose, the legislature has enacted criminal sanctions that must be ordered by the sentencing judge in accordance with the statute. The statute provides, [r]estitution means payment of pecuniary damages to a victim in an amount and in the manner provided by the offender's plan of restitution. Iowa Code § 910.4. Pecuniary damages are all damages to the extent not paid by an insurer, which a victim could recover against the offender in a civil action arising out of the same facts or event, except punitive damages.... Id. § 910.1(3). Inclusio unius est exclusio alterius, the maxim of statutory construction that the inclusion of one is the exclusion of the other, has force in this case. Under this principle, any other types of damages not outlined in the statute are not recoverable. The statute does not confer authority in the district court to include an offset in a restitution order. The only exception is an allowance for an offset for amounts paid the victim by insurance. Id. § 910.1(2). Other than this exception, the restitution statute clearly excludes from the consideration of the district court the discretion to include an offset in a restitution order. There is no suggestion by the legislature that this statute extends to protect the criminal offender by allowing an offset other than in the insurance context. Such a construction would not comport with the purpose of the statute, and is an unreasonable interpretation. To hold otherwise would reward a lawbreaker by providing a forum to litigate freely all the various claims against the victim. The purpose of the restitution order is to compensate the victim for losses caused by the defendant's criminal activity  not to address civil claims such as the one before us. Because we find the district court correctly applied the law in excluding the requested offset from the restitution order, we affirm.