Montana Supreme Court news for Dec. 24, 2014
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Patricia Izzi
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Woman appeals probation stipulations
A Polson woman convicted in 2009 of stealing from a local business has asked the Montana Supreme Court to overturn conditions of her 20-year probation sentence that don’t allow her to have a checking account or hold a job where she must handle cash, among other prohibitions.
A public defender for Patricia Izzi, 52, of Polson asked that eight conditions of her 20-year probation sentence be dropped because they were not pronounced orally by a Lake County District Court Judge in a 2013 hearing. Izzi’s attorney argued in a Dec. 11 brief to the high court that not having the judgment pronounced aloud infringed upon Izzi’s rights.
The attorney further argues that eight of the 31 total conditions of Izzi’s sentencing violate her right to travel and “involve the loss of the most basic of liberties—to be able to earn a living.”
Attorneys zeroed in on two specific conditions that prevent Izzi from having a bank account and or hold a job that requires her to handle cash.
“Condition #26 requires that Ms. Izzi keep all of her income in cash at all times. She will not be allowed for the next two decades to ever be permitted to keep her money in a safe place,” the public defender wrote. “She cannot deposit her paychecks. Condition #31 hinders Ms. Izzi’s ability to even obtain paychecks. While most employers offering cash-handling positions will not hire Ms. Izzi anyways due to her record, even an employer willing to give her a chance will be unable to do so because of this condition. Not only do these conditions substantially increase Ms. Izzi’s loss of liberty and future sacrifices of property, they are inapposite to the primary purpose of her suspended sentence: paying back her restitution.”
According to court documents, Izzi was ordered to repay thousands of dollars she stole by writing company checks for personal expenditures in 2007 and for opening credit cards in her boyfriend’s name. Two deferred sentences for the crimes were revoked in 2009 partly because Izzi was not meeting requirements that she be employed and pay restitution. Izzi has since been conditionally released from the Department of Corrections.
Incest case under review
The Montana Supreme Court has ordered a Lake County District Court judge to review possible evidence and determine if it may have been relevant in the 2013 conviction of Brian Johnston for incest, sexual abuse of children and solicitation.
Public defender attorneys for Johnston, 39, of Polson, asked that the district court judge conduct an in-camera review of Johnston’s victims’ Department of Public Health and Human Services files. The judge denied the appeal and Johnston was sentenced to 100 years in the Montana State Prison, with stipulations that he would remain in jail for 88 years before becoming eligible for parole.
According to court documents, the conviction stemmed from an incident where a 12-year-old girl reported sexual abuse by her father that began about a year after he was released from prison. Her 10-year-old sister also confirmed instances of sexual abuse.
Johnston was convicted previously in 2005 for failing to register as a sexual or violent offender.
State prosecutors argued that the information within the DPHHS files are confidential and that prosecutors should not be required to turn the files over because they are not in the possession of the prosecutor’s office.
The Supreme Court disagreed, saying that prosecutors and the judge were the only ones with subpoena power to access the confidential files.
“Johnston’s motion was sufficient to invoke his right to potentially exculpatory information in the DPHHS files,” Justice Jeremiah James Shea wrote. “Once he invoked that right, it was the trial court’s duty to conduct an in-camera review to ascertain whether there was any exculpatory evidence in the files.”
