Court Opinion

ID: 9510076
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 21:52:09.410012+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:07:56.585337
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE TRIEWEILER
specially concurring.
I concur with the majority’s opinion as it relates to Issues 1, 2, and 4. I specially concur with the result of the majority’s opinion as it relates to Issue 3; however, I do not agree with the reasons given for that result. Neither do I agree with the majority’s reliance on this Court’s unfounded decisions in State v. Crowder (1991), 248 Mont. 169, 810 P.2d 299, and Stilson v. State (1996), 278 Mont. 20, 924 P.2d 238. On the issue of the adequacy with which separate claims of common scheme have been alleged, I agree with Justice Leaphart’s analysis.
I concur with the majority’s conclusion that Savaria’s sentence did not violate the prohibition against multiple punishments for the same crime for the reasons given by the District Court when it imposed Savaria’s sentence. Savaria was punished for multiple offenses without regard to any common scheme. Each count of the State’s information alleged a separate theft by Savaria of property with a combined value in excess of $500. Savaria pled guilty to all seven counts of felony theft. Whether or not each count was the result of a separate common scheme is irrelevant. Section 45-6-301(7)(b), MCA, provides that a person convicted of theft of property exceeding $500 in value may be punished by a term of ten years in prison. Section 45-6-301(8), MCA, provides that amounts involved in thefts committed pursuant to a common scheme may be aggregated, but also that amounts involved in thefts committed during the same transaction may be aggregated for purposes of determining the value of the property stolen. Therefore, whether the aggregate amount alleged in each count was the result of a common scheme, or the cumulative total of various items taken in the same transaction, makes no difference. Savaria pled guilty to seven separate incidents of theft involving items with a combined value in excess of $500. For that reason, the District Court did not err when it sentenced him separately to the maximum term allowable for each conviction.
For these reasons, I concur with the result of the majority opinion although I do not agree with all that is said therein.