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Date: 07-31-2020
Case Style:
STATE OF MONTANA v. ANTHONY SCOTT
Case Number: 2020 MT 178
Judge: Ingrid Gustafson
Court: IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA
Plaintiff's Attorney: Timothy C. Fox, Montana Attorney General, Jeffrey M. Doud, Assistant
Attorney General, Helena, Montana
Scott D. Twito, Yellowstone County Attorney, Victoria Callender, Deputy
County Attorney, Billings, Montana
Defendant's Attorney:
Call 918-582-6422 for free help finding a great criminal defense lawyer.
Description:
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¶4 On September 12, 2018, a jury convicted Scott of two counts of distributing
dangerous drugs in September 2017. The State sought to designate Scott as a PFO based
on two prior felony convictions—a 2014 conviction in Montana for burglary under
§ 45-5-401, MCA, and a 1994 federal conviction for bank robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C.
§ 2113(a). At sentencing, the argument assumed the PFO designation applied and that the
District Court was required to impose a PFO sentence enhancement unless it found
incarceration wholly inappropriate. The District Court did not find such and sentenced
Scott to the minimum PFO sentence enhancement—five years at the Montana State Prison.
The written judgment erroneously reflects Scott as a PFO for sentencing purposes under
repealed statute § 46-18-501, MCA. Scott appeals the legality of his sentence and seeks
resentencing.
3
STANDARD OF REVIEW
¶5 This Court reviews a criminal sentence imposing over a year of incarceration for
legality. State v. Thomas, 2019 MT 155, ¶ 5, 396 Mont. 284, 445 P.3d 777. A PFO
designation is a question of law which we review for correctness. Thomas, ¶ 5.
DISCUSSION
¶6 Whether Scott’s 1994 federal bank robbery conviction is reasonably equivalent to
a Montana robbery conviction to qualify as a predicate violent offense under
§ 46-1-202(18), MCA, to impose a persistent felony offender sentence enhancement.
¶7 Prior to July 1, 2017, all felony offenses could authorize a PFO sentence
enhancement. Under the old law—§ 46-18-501, MCA, now repealed—the State could
seek a PFO designation if an offender had one prior felony conviction within five years of
the commission of the present offense, or had been released from a commitment imposed
for the prior felony conviction within the last five years. In 2017, the Legislature repealed
§ 46-18-501, MCA, and revised the other definition of PFO found in § 46-1-202(18), MCA.
The new PFO definition requires two predicate felony convictions before the State may
seek a PFO designation upon a third felony conviction. Further, one of the three felonies
must be a sexual or violent offense as defined in § 46-23-502, MCA. Section 46-1-202(18),
MCA. The State concedes the 2017 version of the PFO statute applies to Scott’s case and
the District Court erroneously referenced the repealed statute in its written judgment.
¶8 Pursuant to the PFO definition contained in § 46-1-202(18), MCA (2017), in order
to be designated a PFO, Scott must have two prior felony convictions occurring on dates
other than the present offense; Scott must have either been convicted or released from
4
custody on one of the felony convictions within five years of his most recent conviction;
and one of Scott’s felony convictions must have been for a sexual or violent offense as
those terms are defined under Montana law. Scott does not dispute he had two prior felony
convictions. Scott agrees his 2014 burglary conviction occurred within five years of his
convictions herein. The State concedes Scott’s felony convictions do not qualify as a
sexual offense. The remaining determination is whether either of Scott’s prior felonies
qualify as a violent offense.
¶9 The Legislature has provided a list of Montana offenses that qualify as violent
offenses and the State concedes none of Scott’s Montana offenses are on that list. See
§ 46-23-502, MCA. For an offense from another jurisdiction to qualify as a violent offense
under Montana law, the offense must be “reasonably equivalent to” one of Montana’s
enumerated violent offenses under § 46-23-502(13), MCA. Scott asserts the only plausible
violent offense to compare the bank robbery conviction to is robbery under § 45-5-401,
MCA. The State concedes Scott is correct in this regard—“the only issue that must be
resolved by this Court is whether Mr. Scott’s federal bank robbery conviction is reasonably
equivalent to a Montana robbery conviction to qualify as a predicate violent offense.”
¶10 Scott argues his 1994 conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a) does not show him to
have committed a violent offense but rather covers non-violent conduct akin to burglary.
The State contrarily argues the bank robbery conviction is reasonably equivalent to
Montana’s robbery statute.
5
¶11 Section 45-5-401, MCA, provides:
(1) A person commits the offense of robbery if in the course of committing
a theft, the person:
(a) inflicts bodily injury upon another;
(b) threatens to inflict bodily injury upon any person or purposely or
knowingly puts any person in fear of immediate bodily injury; or
(c) commits or threatens immediately to commit any felony other than
theft.
¶12 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a) provides:
Whoever, by force and violence, or by intimidation, takes, or attempts to
take, from the person or presence of another, or obtains or attempts to
obtain by extortion any property or money or any other thing of value
belonging to, or in the care, custody, control, management, or possession
of, any bank, credit union, or any savings and loan association; or
Whoever enters or attempts to enter any bank, credit union, or any savings
and loan association, or any building used in whole or in part as a bank,
credit union, or as a savings and loan association, with intent to commit in
such bank, credit union, or in such savings and loan association, or
building, or part thereof, so used, any felony affecting such bank, credit
union, or such savings and loan association and in violation of any statute
of the United States, or any larceny[.]
¶13 The State asserts Montana’s robbery statute is broader than the federal bank robbery
statute. In examining these statutes, we conclude bank robbery under the federal statute is
not reasonably equivalent to robbery under § 45-5-401, MCA. Robbery under Montana
law requires either a violent act, or threat of a violent act, or theft-plus—theft + another
felony. Whereas, bank robbery under the federal statute only requires a felony be
committed in a bank. In order to commit a non-violent robbery in Montana under § 45-5-
6
401(1)(c), MCA, a person must “in the course of committing a theft . . . commit[] or
threaten[] immediately to commit any felony other than theft.” Bank robbery, however,
only requires entering the bank and committing any felony affecting such bank, thus
making the federal statute on its face different than Montana’s robbery statute. By way of
example, if an individual enters a jewelry store with the intent to steal a $1,600 watch,
under Montana law, that individual cannot be convicted of robbery under § 45-5-401,
MCA, because the individual did not commit a separate felony in the course of committing
the theft of the watch. However, if an individual enters a bank with the intent to steal a
$1,600 watch from a safety deposit box in essentially the same manner, that alone is
sufficient to convict that individual of bank robbery under 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a) because he
or she entered the bank with the intent to commit “any felony.” A person does not have to
actually commit a felony offense under the federal bank robbery statute, whereas, to be
convicted of robbery under Montana law, a person has to actually commit a felony offense.
Thus, the federal bank robbery statute is not reasonably equivalent to the offense of robbery
under Montana law.
¶14 The Dissent misconstrues the issues on appeal. Scott asserts his sentence to be
illegal as the District Court designated Scott as a PFO using a repealed and inapplicable
PFO definition, which the State concedes. The District Court cited to repealed statute
§ 46-18-501, MCA, and did not consider the new PFO definition and how it related to the
State’s PFO notice. Although the State asserted Scott objected to the PFO notice on
procedural rather than substantive grounds, it did not argue Scott waived his right to
7
challenge the PFO designation and legality of his sentence.1
Rather, the State argued the
District Court’s error to be harmless—arguing 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a), on its face, was
reasonably equivalent to § 45-5-401, MCA, such that Scott’s sentence was legal. Further,
the State’s amended PFO notice did not set forth the violent conduct it was required to
prove when it sought to use an offense which we have found not to be reasonably equivalent
to Montana’s robbery statute to impose a PFO sentence enhancement. Scott conceded his
previous convictions existed, he did not concede the issue of whether those convictions
made him eligible for a PFO sentence enhancement.
¶15 While we find that on its face the federal bank robbery statute is not reasonably
equivalent to Montana’s robbery statute, the federal bank robbery statute does—in part—
prohibit violent conduct which could potentially be used as a predicate offense for a PFO
sentence in Montana. In this case, however, the State presented no evidence that Scott’s
1994 federal bank robbery conviction was for any kind of violent conduct and merely
presented the District Court with the December 16, 1994 Judgment showing Scott was
indeed convicted of federal bank robbery in the Eastern District of Washington—a fact
which Scott has not denied. Consequently, for the District Court to legally have the
authority to designate Scott as a PFO, the State must have proven that Scott’s federal bank
robbery involved violent conduct. The State never attempted to prove such a thing,
1 Perhaps had the District Court not cited a repealed statute as authority or had not used the prior
PFO definition to designate Scott a PFO, it would have made that argument, but instead the State
conceded error.
8
however, and therefore there was no evidence before the District Court that Scott had been
convicted of a previous sexual or violent offense as required by § 46-1-202(18), MCA, for
the PFO designation to apply. The District Court was without power to designate Scott a
PFO because, as we have repeatedly held, “[a] district court ‘has no power to impose a
sentence in the absence of specific statutory authority.’” State v. Beam, 2020 MT 156, ¶ 9,
400 Mont. 278, ___ P.3d ___ (quoting State v. Hatfield, 256 Mont. 340, 346, 846 P.2d
1025, 1029 (1993)).
¶16 “‘Persistent felony offender’ means an offender who has previously been convicted
of two separate felonies and who is presently being sentenced for a third felony committed
on a different occasion than either of the first two felonies. At least one of the three felonies
must be a sexual offense or a violent offense as those terms are defined in 46-23-502.”
Section 46-1-202(18), MCA. The State has the power to designate a defendant as a PFO,
and generally must inform the defendant it intends to seek a PFO designation at or before
the omnibus hearing. Section 46-13-108(1), MCA. If a defendant objects to the allegations
found in the State’s PFO notice, the presiding judge “shall conduct a hearing to determine
if the allegations in the notice are true.” Section 46-13-108(3), MCA. In this case, Scott
did object to the State’s PFO notice, arguing the State did not have good cause to file the
notice after the omnibus hearing. The District Court ultimately found good cause for the
late notice during the sentencing hearing and sentenced Scott as a PFO.
¶17 While Scott objected to the State’s PFO notice on timeliness grounds, he admitted
that he had indeed been convicted of both the 2014 Montana burglary and 1994 federal
9
bank robbery. He did not, however, admit to any violent conduct in the commission of the
bank robbery which could potentially permit the offense to be considered to be reasonably
equivalent to the offense of robbery or any other violent crime prescribed by § 46-23-
502(13), MCA.
2
The District Court did not inquire further into the circumstances of either
offense and the State brought forth no evidence other than the simple fact of Scott’s
convictions for those offenses. The State’s predicate “violent offense” of federal bank
robbery was based on a statute which is not reasonably equivalent to Montana’s robbery
statute—an enumerated offense eligible for PFO treatment. The State therefore had a
burden to demonstrate Scott’s federal bank robbery conviction was a violent offense due
to its own circumstances and could not simply rely on the conviction itself. Much like it
2
In 2017, the Montana Legislature changed the definition of a PFO. 2017 Mont. Laws ch. 321,
§§ 23, 40. The Legislature’s ameliorative revisions to the PFO definition included requiring at
least two previous felonies to qualify for a PFO designation—raising the threshold from one—
and, relevant here, further requiring that at least one of the felonies at issue “must be a sexual
offense or a violent offense as those terms are defined in 46-23-502.” Section 46-1-202(18), MCA
(2017). Due to the 2017 revisions to the PFO statutes, there is now also a heightened burden for
the State to demonstrate that a defendant has committed a “sexual or violent offense” before a PFO
designation may be imposed. While we have previously articulated what could be termed an
“object or lose it” approach to challenges to PFO designations, see State v. Shults, 2006 MT 100,
¶ 22, 332 Mont. 130, 136 P.3d 507, such an approach was taken when the State merely needed to
provide a reliable criminal history record showing a defendant had been previously convicted of a
felony. In this case, Scott readily admitted to both of his previous felony convictions set forth by
the State in its PFO notice. He did not, however, admit to any violent conduct and neither offense
put forth by the State in its notice was, on its face, a sexual or violent offense. On appeal, Scott
has—correctly—alleged his sentence was illegal because the District Court relied on the State’s
notice that did not establish Scott had committed a sexual or violent offense and then used a
repealed statute and inapplicable PFO definition as authority for imposition of a PFO
enhancement. We have previously noted that “we will review a criminal sentence on appeal
despite a defendant’s failure to object at sentencing if the defendant alleges the sentence is illegal
or exceeds statutory mandates.” Thomas, ¶ 7 n.1 (citing State v. Lenihan, 184 Mont. 338, 343, 602
P.2d 997, 1000 (1979)). We therefore find Scott has not waived his right to challenge the PFO
designation imposed by the District Court.
10
is the State’s obligation to bring a defendant to trial and a defendant has no obligation to
bring himself to trial under a speedy trial analysis, State v. Zimmerman, 2014 MT 173,
¶ 27, 375 Mont. 374, 328 P.3d 1132, a defendant has no obligation to set forth the sexual
or violent circumstances of his prior convictions for purposes of a PFO designation. It is
the State who must prove that a previous conviction involved sexual or violent conduct.
¶18 Because we review PFO designations for correctness as a matter of law, Thomas,
¶ 5, we cannot uphold a PFO designation based on a silent record such as the one here.
¶19 As we conclude Scott’s 1994 bank robbery conviction was not reasonably
equivalent to robbery under Montana law, it may not be used as a predicate violent offense
under § 46-1-202(18), MCA, to impose a persistent felony offender sentence enhancement,
and it is appropriate to reverse and remand to the District Court for resentencing.
CONCLUSION
¶20 Scott’s 1994 federal bank robbery conviction is not reasonably equivalent to the
offense of robbery under Montana law and may not be used as a predicate violent offense
under § 46-1-202(18), MCA, to impose a persistent felony offender sentence enhancement.
Outcome: Reversed and remanded for resentencing.
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Defendant's Experts:
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