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Lonis v. State2/18/2000
e policy that an insurance company which suffers a loss, because of a defendant's conduct, is a "victim" entitled to receive restitution under the statute.
Furthermore, Lonis does not claim or deny that he caused the damage which resulted in the restitution award. The court could have awarded restitution directly to the Allens, even though the Allens had already received payment from the insurance company. Thus, even if we assume that the insurance company does not qualify as a "victim," Lonis has no standing to complain that the court ordered the restitution paid directly to the insurance company instead of through the Allens.
Lonis argues that his sentence of five years and nine months with three years suspended is excessive. Lonis points out that he was a first-felony offender for purposes of presumptive sentencing. The most serious offense for which he was convicted, assault in the third degree, is a class C felony. A class C felony is punishable by a maximum term of five years of imprisonment. There is a presumptive term of two years for a second-felony offender and three years for a third-felony offender. Lonis points out that when a first-felony offender is convicted of several crimes, the court is not to exceed the presumptive term for a second-felony offender for the most serious crime unless the court can give a good reason for exceeding that benchmark. Lonis argues that his composite sentence should not have exceeded two years of actual imprisonment.
But we conclude that Judge Zervos gave substantial reasons for imposing the sentence for which he did. At the time of sentencing, Lonis was 36 years old. Judge Zervos pointed out that, although it did not count for purposes of presumptive sentencing, Lonis had a prior felony conviction for possession of hashish with the intent to deliver. Lonis also had several prior misdemeanor convictions. In one of these prior incidents, Lonis, carrying a 15-inch steel socket wrench, approached a man and threatened to kill him. When Lonis was placed under arrest for assault, Lonis resisted arrest and it took three police officers to subdue him. An Alaskan state trooper was injured during the arrest when Lonis repeatedly struck him. The presentence report emphasized that Lonis had a history of assaults on active duty police officers.
Lonis argued at the trial court and continues to argue on appeal that he has never seriously injured anyone with his assaultive behavior. But Judge Zervos directly addressed this contention. He concluded that, although Lonis had never seriously injured anyone physically, if Lonis continued his behavior, it was "just a question of time." He pointed out that Mrs. Allen could easily have been injured severely if she had merely been in a different location in her house. He pointed out that the police had used common sense and restraint in not confronting Lonis when he threatened them with a weapon. The police merely evacuated people from the area and waited Lonis out, rather than taking any chance of escalating the incident. He pointed out that Lonis' behavior of totally losing control of himself and engaging in dangerous and assaultive behavior was a consistent pattern which he had exhibited in the past. He concluded that Lonis was "a dangerous person" for whom rehabilitation was very guarded. Judge Zervos' findings are supported by the record and support the sentence which he imposed.
The order forfeiting Lonis' bail is REVERSED and VACATED. Lonis' convictions and sentence are AFFIRMED.
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