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State v. McDanold6/29/2004
Submitted on Briefs: May 4, 2004
Craig McDanold pled guilty in the Seventh Judicial District Court, Dawson County, to aggravated kidnapping, assault with a weapon by accountability, obstruction of justice and possession of explosives. On appeal, he raises three issues. We affirm in part, vacate in part and remand.
The issues are:
1. Did the District Court have authority to order McDanold to pay restitution absent a deferred imposition of sentence?
2. Did the District Court err in ordering McDanold to pay restitution to Steve Berry's parents and the crime victims compensation fund?
3. Did the District Court err in denying McDanold's motion to amend the judgment by changing the designation of the offense in Count III of the Amended Information from assault with a weapon to assault with a weapon by accountability?
BACKGROUND
On November 30, 2000, McDanold met with Lance Deines and two other men in Glendive, Montana, to discuss the recent theft of a safe belonging to Deines. The safe had contained ten grams of cocaine, cash and collector baseball cards. Deines suspected the thief was Steve Berry, who reportedly had come into possession of a quantity of cocaine and had talked to a mutual acquaintance about breaking into Deines' house while Deines was attending a rock concert in North Dakota.
McDanold and another man located Berry and brought him to the back of Deines' house, where they confronted and threatened him, and assaulted him with a baseball bat. Berry admitted he had participated in the theft of the safe. McDanold, Deines and the two other men then forced Berry into Deines' car and drove around Glendive in an attempt to recover the stolen items. McDanold sat next to Berry in the back seat, where he poked Berry with his elbow, hit Berry in the head and burned Berry's hand with a cigarette. Berry eventually helped the men find the safe, but it was broken and empty. Deines then drove the car out of town on Belle Prairie Road. He removed Berry from the back seat and fired a pistol into the air, pointed the pistol at Berry, and threatened him and forced him to beg for his life. Finally, Deines drove everyone back to town, where the men released Berry. This incident is the basis for McDanold's guilty pleas to kidnapping and assault with a weapon by accountability.
In December of 2000, and with help from an accomplice, Deines kidnapped and killed Berry. McDanold--who was living with Deines at that time--was not present when Deines killed Berry, but Deines told him about the murder later that night. When police officers questioned McDanold about Berry's disappearance, McDanold provided false information. This incident is the basis for McDanold's guilty plea to obstruction of justice.
During the same month, McDanold and three others used an explosive compound to blow up an old car outside Glendive. This is the basis for McDanold's guilty plea to possession of explosives.
Thus, of the six felony counts with which the State of Montana charged McDanold, he pled guilty to four and two were dismissed pursuant to a plea bargain. A sentencing hearing was held on December 20, 2002. The District Court sentenced McDanold to 10 years in prison for aggravated kidnapping, 15 years for assault with a weapon, 5 years for obstructing justice and 5 years (suspended) for possession of explosives. The prison terms are concurrent and the 5-year suspended sentence is to run consecutively to the prison terms. The court ordered McDanold to pay restitution to the owner of the damaged car and to the crime victims compensation fund and Berry's parents for funeral expenses and
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