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Olson v. State4/21/1999
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT
[No. 4041 - April 21, 1999]
Appeal from the District Court, Third Judicial District, Anchorage, Gregory J. Motyka, Judge.
Frank L. Olson was convicted of violating a domestic violence protective order. This crime is a class A misdemeanor , and District Court Judge Gregory J. Motyka sentenced Olson to the maximum sentence: 365 days' imprisonment. Judge Motyka also revoked Olson's probation from two 1995 domestic violence offenses - second-degree stalking and fourth-degree assault . The Judge imposed the 485 days' imprisonment that had previously been suspended from those two 1995 offenses. Thus, Olson's composite sentence is 850 days in prison.
Olson appeals this composite sentence, contending that it is excessive. For the reasons explained here, we affirm the sentence.
As just noted, Olson was convicted in 1995 of two offenses - second-degree stalking and fourth-degree assault - for terrorizing and threatening an ex-girlfriend. Olson had repeatedly harassed this girlfriend since their breakup in 1989, and Olson's convictions for stalking and assault were merely his most recent criminal convictions based on this course of harassing conduct.
Olson had a lengthy criminal history even without the convictions stemming from his relationship with this girlfriend. Indeed, at the time of Olson's 1995 convictions for stalking and assault, Olson had already been convicted of one felony and twenty-eight misdemeanors during the previous eleven years. The two 1995 convictions were Olson's thirtieth and thirty-first criminal convictions.
For the 1995 stalking conviction, Olson was sentenced to 365 days' imprisonment with 120 days suspended (245 days to serve). For the assault conviction, Olson received 365 days, all suspended.
In the years following 1995, Olson's criminal behavior continued. In 1996, Olson was convicted of reckless driving and driving with a suspended license. In 1997, Olson was convicted of driving while intoxicated, driving with a suspended license, and leaving the scene of an accident.
On October 3, 1997, Olson was served with a domestic violence restraining order involving a different woman, M.J.. The restraining order prohibited Olson from contacting M.J.; the order also barred Olson from visiting her residence and other specified locations.
The following month (November 1997), Olson was charged with two new driving offenses: felony driving while intoxicated, and driving with a suspended license. Olson was released on condition that he remain within sight of a third-party custodian. Another condition of release barred Olson from drinking alcoholic beverages.
On December 19th, while on bail release, Olson eluded his third-party custodian and went to a bar, where he consumed alcohol. Later that day, M.J. observed Olson at several locations in Anchorage. Believing that Olson was purposely following her, M.J. went to her sister's apartment and notified the police. The police arrived and found Olson crouched behind a truck that was parked next to the sister's apartment building. Based on this conduct, Olson was arrested and charged with violating the domestic violence protective order.
At trial, Olson suggested that he had been on his way to a friend's house, looking for a ride home. The jury rejected this explanation and convicted Olson of violating the protective order.
At Olson's sentencing, both M.J. and her father submitted victim-impact statements. They told Judge Motyka that Olson had been threatening and harassing their family for over a year. They also informed the Judge that they had suf
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