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330 Mont. 34

State v. Housel

Montana Supreme Court

Decided April 15, 2005

Montana Supreme Court · decided 2005-04-15

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 2005-04-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 6 later decisions — most recently March 2021

6 state decisions

40200520102020decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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¶1On December 9, 2004, the defendant was sentenced to Twenty (20) years in the Montana Women’s Prison, with Ten (10) years suspended, for the offense of Forgery (Common Scheme), a felony.

¶2On April 1, 2005, the defendant’s application for review of that sentence was heard by the Sentence Review Division of the Montana Supreme Court.

¶3*35The defendant was present and was represented by Mathew Stevenson, who appeared telephonically. The state was not represented.

¶4Before hearing the application, the defendant was advised that the Sentence Review Division has the authority not only to reduce the sentence or affirm it, but also increase it. The defendant was further advised that there is no appeal from a decision of the Sentence Review Division. The defendant acknowledged that she understood this and stated that she wished to proceed.

¶5Rule 17 of the Rules of the Sentence Review Division of the Supreme Court of Montana provides that “the sentence imposed by the District Court is presumed correct, and the sentence will not be reduced or increased unless it is deemed clearly inadequate or excessive.” (§46-18-904(3), MCA).

¶6The Division finds that the reasons advanced for modification are insufficient to hold that the sentence imposed by the District Court is inadequate or excessive.

¶7Therefore, it is the unanimous decision of the Sentence Review Division that the sentence shall be affirmed.

¶8Done in open Court this 1st day of April, 2005.

¶9DATED this 13th day of April, 2005.

Chairperson, Hon. Gary L. Day, Member, Hon. John Whelan and Member, Hon. Randal I. Spaulding.
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