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State v. Tadewaldt7/22/1996
53 St.Rep. 635
Submitted on Briefs April 11, 1996.
Travis Tadewaldt (Tadewaldt) appeals from the judgment of the Fourth Judicial District Court, Missoula County, entered on his plea of guilty to the felony charge of criminal possession of dangerous drugs and from its underlying orders denying his motions to dismiss. We affirm.
We restate the issues on appeal as follows:
1. Did the District Court err in concluding that § 46-11-504(1), MCA, does not bar prosecution of the drug charge?
2. Did the District Court err in concluding that § 45-9-102, MCA, does not deny Tadewaldt equal protection of the laws or constitute cruel and unusual punishment?
Tadewaldt was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs (DUI) on August 10, 1994. Several months later, he pled guilty to that misdemeanor charge in Missoula Municipal Court. The Municipal Court fined Tadewaldt $350, required him to complete the Montana ACT program and suspended the entirety of a ten-day jail sentence.
Immediately following Tadewaldt's arrest for the DUI offense, several pills were found in his possession which later were identified as Schedule III and IV drugs under § 50-32-101, MCA. On August 22, 1994, the State of Montana (State) charged Tadewaldt in the District Court with criminal possession of dangerous drugs, a felony offense, in violation of § 45-9-102, MCA. Tadewaldt pled not guilty to the criminal possession charge.
After judgment was entered on the DUI charge in Municipal Court, Tadewaldt moved the District Court to dismiss the criminal possession of dangerous drugs charge. He contended that that offense arose out of the same transaction as the DUI and, as a result, § 40-11-504, MCA, barred the subsequent prosecution. The court denied Tadewaldt's motion to dismiss.
Tadewaldt later filed a second motion to dismiss the criminal possession of dangerous drugs charge. He argued that § 45-9-102, MCA, denies him equal protection of the laws and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment because it does not provide for a lesser included or misdemeanor offense for possession of a small amount of drugs. The District Court denied Tadewaldt's motion.
Tadewaldt subsequently withdrew his not guilty plea and pled guilty to the charge of criminal possession of dangerous drugs, reserving his right to appeal the denial of his motions to dismiss. Thereafter, the District Court entered judgment and deferred imposition of sentence for two years subject to specified terms and conditions. Tadewaldt appeals.
1. Did the District Court err in concluding that § 46-11-504(1), MCA, does not bar prosecution of the drug charge?
In his first motion to dismiss the criminal possession of dangerous drugs charge, Tadewaldt argued that § 46-11-504(1), MCA, bars prosecution for that offense. Section 46-11-504, MCA, provides in relevant part:
When conduct constitutes an offense within the concurrent jurisdiction . . . of two courts of separate, overlapping, or concurrent jurisdiction in this state, a prosecution in any other jurisdiction is a bar to a subsequent prosecution in this state under the same circumstances barring further prosecution in this state if:
(1) the first prosecution resulted in an acquittal or in a conviction and the subsequent prosecution is based on an offense arising out of the same transaction. . . .
Thus, a subsequent prosecution is barred under this statute, by its terms, if the following three factors are met: (1) a defendant's conduct constitutes an offense within the jurisdiction of the court where the first pr
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