Court Opinion

ID: 9889651
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-10 22:06:43.933989+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:50:02.144847
License: Public Domain

ORIGI AL                                          10/10/2023

                IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA
                                                                                            Case Number: DA 22-0510

                                         DA 22-0510

 STATE OF MONTANA,                                                   FLED
             Plaintiff and Appellee,                                 OCT 1 0 2023
                                                                   BOW:al Greenwood
                                                                 ocIrN Of Supreme Court
       v.                                                             t48 11t ID I EnR na

 ALAN EDWIN ERICKSON,

             Defendant and Appellant.

       The Appellee, State of Montana, requests that the record in the above-entitled case
be supplemented to include an excerpt of the trial transcript from State v. Robert Erickson,
First Judicial Court Cause No. CDC-2021-318, wherein Robert Erickson, the Appellant's
father and co-defendant, was convicted by a jury of animal cruelty. Alan and Robert
Erickson were both charged with animal cruelty relative to the same incident. Alan
Erickson pled guilty to the charges prior to his father's trial and thereafter testified during
his father's trial. The Honorable Kathy Seeley presided over both Robert Erickson's and -
Alan Erickson's trial. The District Court held a combined sentencing hearing where both
defendants were present and represented by counsel. During the sentencing hearing the
court considered and established an amount of restitution. Alan Erickson, in this appeal,
is challenging the District Court's judgment and sentence that ordered him jointly and
severally liable for the same restitution amount as his father. The State requests that it be
allowed to supplement the record with that portion of the transcript in Robert Erickson's
trial wherein Alan testified: The State maintains that supplementation is allowed under
M. R. App. P. 8(6) and to provide a complete record.
       Alan Erickson objects and maintains that M. R. App. P. 8(6) allows supplementation
of the record only in cases where something is omitted from the record of the case at issue.
Further, Alan Erickson's counsel notes that it did not have access to the transcript when
drafting Erickson's brief and, futher, that Erickson's motivation behind his testimony
during his father's trial is an important consideration that is beyond the purview of the
pending appeal.
       We agree. To allow supplementation of the record as the State requests would open
the record to matters not addressed by the District Court or the parties in this proceeding.
Accordingly,
       IT IS ORDERED that the State's motion to seek to supplement the record is
DENIED.
      The Clerk is directed to send a copy to counsel of record.
      DATED this l         day of October, 2023.

                                                                Chief Justice

                                                    P(L.LJ:         N   C/6A

                                             2