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State v. Watson8/3/2001
APPEAL FROM: District Court of the Nineteenth Judicial District, In and for the County of Lincoln, The Honorable Michael C. Prezeau, Judge presiding.
Submitted on Briefs: May 3, 2001
Justice Terry N. Trieweiler delivered the Opinion of the Court.
The Appellant, Phillip Carl Watson, plead guilty to assault on a peace officer, a felony in violation of § 45-5-210, MCA, in the District Court for the Nineteenth Judicial District in Lincoln County. Following two evidentiary hearings, the District Court sentenced Watson to 50 years in the Montana State Prison, with 40 years suspended. The District Court conditioned Watson's parole during the suspended portion of his sentence by ordering him not to socialize with females under the age of 19. Watson objected to the condition on the grounds that it bore no rational relationship to a conviction for assault on a peace officer. The District Court denied Watson's objection. Watson now appeals from the District Court's order which denied his objection and requests that the condition be stricken from his sentence. We reverse the District Court's sentencing condition.
The following issue is presented on appeal:
Did the District Court err when it denied Watson's objection to sentence and request for reconsideration?
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
While incarcerated in the Lincoln County Detention Facility awaiting a probation revocation hearing on an unrelated offense, Phillip Watson threw a metal plate "frisbee style" at a deputy who had entered his cell. Initially charged with assault, a felony pursuant to § 45-5-202, MCA and criminal mischief, a misdemeanor pursuant to § 45-6-101, MCA, Watson was later charged by Amended Information with assault on a peace officer, a felony in violation of § 45-5-210, MCA and criminal mischief on October 23, 1997.
On June 23, 1998, the parties filed a plea agreement in which Watson agreed to plead guilty to the charge of assault on a peace officer. In exchange, the State agreed to move to dismiss the alternative charge of attempted assault on a peace officer, the misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief, and a charge of assault on a peace officer stemming from a separate incident. On July 1, 1998, Watson plead guilty to one count of assault on a peace officer pursuant to the terms of the plea agreement.
The District Court conducted evidentiary hearings concerning Watson's sentence on November 25, 1998, and December 11, 1998. The District Court found that Watson was a persistent felony offender pursuant to § 46-18-501, MCA and, utilizing the sentencing guidelines set forth in § 46-18-502(1), MCA, sentenced him to 50 years in the Montana State Prison with 40 years suspended. In addition, the District Court outlined the terms and conditions of probation. Among those conditions was the restriction at issue on appeal:
The Defendant shall not socialize with any female under the age of nineteen (19) except when in counseling or in other professional settings. The Defendant shall not call or write any females under the age of nineteen (19).
On December 17, 1998, following the oral pronouncement of the sentence but before the sentence had been reduced to writing and signed by the District Court, Watson objected to the restriction in a pleading entitled Objection to Sentence and Request for Reconsideration. Watson argued that there was no rational basis for the condition because it bore no relation to the charged offense. The State opposed Watson's objection on December 18, 1998.
On January 5, 1999, the District Court issued an order denying Watson's objection to the sentencing provision
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