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State v. Guilliams5/28/2004
REVIEW GRANTED; RELIEF GRANTED IN PART; REMANDED
Petitioner Clayton Guilliams pled guilty to attempted escape in the second degree. The trial court suspended imposition of sentence, placed Guilliams on three years' probation, and over his objection, ordered him to pay restitution to the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADOC) in the amount of $47,626.55. Guilliams challenged the restitution order in a petition for post-conviction relief filed pursuant to Rule 32, Ariz. R. Crim. P., 17 A.R.S. This petition for review follows the trial court's summary denial of relief, which we review for abuse of discretion. State v. Watton, 164 Ariz. 323, 793 P.2d 80 (1990). Finding some merit to a portion of Guilliams's restitution argument, we conclude the trial court abused its discretion in summarily rejecting his claims, and remand for further findings regarding the restitution order.
Background
The following facts, drawn from the presentence report, are uncontroverted. While employed by ADOC as a maintenance worker in Florence, Guilliams became acquainted with ADOC inmate Steven Hummert and accepted his offer to help him escape. On September 29, 2000, Hummert concealed himself inside a large air conditioner box, which several inmates loaded onto a truck. Guilliams drove the truck off the prison grounds to a predetermined location in Mesa, where he left the vehicle unattended. When he returned fifteen minutes later, Hummert was gone, and an envelope containing an agreed upon $700 cash had been left with the truck. Guilliams drove the truck back to the prison, where he was immediately questioned. He initially denied participating in Hummert's escape but ultimately admitted his involvement. Hummert was apprehended nearly two months later in Oregon.
Pursuant to the plea agreement, Guilliams was convicted of attempted escape, apparently under an accomplice liability theory for the act of assisting Hummert to escape. The plea agreement provided that "the amount of restitution shall be fixed by the Court at the time of sentencing, and shall not exceed the amount of $1,000,000.00." The presentence report suggested that the court order Guilliams to pay $15,147 to the "victim," ADOC. At the sentencing hearing, the trial court suspended the imposition of sentence and placed Guilliams on probation but did not order him to pay restitution at the time, nor did the court impose a fine of any kind. In its sentencing minute entry, the court stated that the restitution amount w as to be determined at a later date.
Guilliams subsequently filed an objection to restitution, contending that ADOC's investigative costs in attempting to locate and recapture H ummert were not economic losses to the victim and, therefore, not compensable through restitution proceedings. Guilliams first claimed ADOC w as not a "victim" as contemplated by A.R.S. § 13-603(C), one of the restitution statutes; he also claimed that investigative costs were consequential damages not subject to a restitution order. The state responded that ADOC w as entitled to restitution for the "significant amounts of time and m oney in the efforts to recapture" Hummert.
ADOC submitted documents showing it had expended $50,827.81 in "travel expenses, apprehension costs, and costs incurred in the search and capture of inmate Steven Hummert." That figure was broken down as follows. ADOC's Criminal Investigations Bureau claimed $20,877.50, a figure that appears to have been calculated by approximating the number of hours department personnel had devoted to the Hummert case from the day he escaped until he was captured, multiplied by a typical hourly wage. Most of those hours were accrued in the fir
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