Court Opinion

ID: 9852832
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:37:34.491514+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:22:35.466363
License: Public Domain

JOHNSON, Judge,
(concurring specially)-
I concur in the judgment. I respectfully disagree with part I of the opinion of the court, which concludes that the district court had authority to consider the motion that gave rise to this appeal. In my view, it is important to address and to decide significant and fundamental issues raised by the state that are not addressed in the opinion of the court but, rather, are assumed to support the district court’s authority to hear the motion.
There is no provision in rule 27.08, subdivision 9, of the Minnesota Rules of Criminal Procedure for a victim of a crime to bring a motion under the second sentence of that rule. (The first sentence of the rule does not apply here because there is no contention that the restitution obligation was “not authorized by law.” See State v. Humes, 581 N.W.2d 317, 319-20 (Minn.1998); State v. Borrego, 661 N.W.2d 663, 666 (Minn.App.2003).) In addition, there appears to be no caselaw allowing a victim of a crime to bring such a motion. The legislature provided means by which crime victims may participate in criminal proceedings, and those provisions are contained in chapter 611A of the Minnesota Statutes. Among them is a mechanism by which an order for restitution may be amended after a sentencing hearing, Minn. Stat. § 611A.04, subd. 1(b), but this court properly has concluded that the conditions of that statute are not satisfied. In my view, a district court’s consideration of a *606motion by a crime victim pursuant to the rules of criminal procedure is inconsistent with the legislative policy decisions that are reflected in chapter 611A.
Furthermore, the district court’s decision is inconsistent with chapter 611A’s provision for the disposition of unclaimed restitution payments. “Restitution payments held by the court for a victim that remain unclaimed by the victim for more than three years shall be deposited in the crime victims account created in section 611A.612.” Minn.Stat. § 611 A.04, subd. 5 (emphasis added). The plain language of this statute provides that if the victims of a particular crime do not wish to receive restitution payments, the money must be used to benefit the victims of other crimes. This legislative policy decision should preclude a district court’s consideration of a request to reduce a restitution obligation because the victim of an offense has disclaimed an interest in the funds.
For these reasons, I join in the court’s decision to reverse the district court’s elimination of Meredyk’s restitution obligation.