27 results for 'judge:"McKinnon"'.
J. McKinnon finds that the trial court properly instructed the jury that it could conclude defendant was in actual physical control of his vehicle while intoxicated for the purposes of a DUI count even if he was unconscious. It was also proper to allow the state to rebut a closing argument in which counsel argued the state was dishonest in deciding not to introduce a photo of defendant asleep across the bench seat of his truck. However, the imposition of a $5,000 fine violated the constitutional proportionality requirement since it did not take into account defendant's ability to pay. Reversed in part.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: DA 21-0413, Categories: Sentencing, Dui, Jury Instructions
J. McKinnon finds that New York's fair report privilege, not Montana's, applies to a Montana resident's defamation claim against the New York Post. Statements published by the Post were fair and substantially accurate reports of underlying court proceedings, so the trial court erred in holding that a jury would have to decide their fairness and accuracy. The Post article made clear that allegations that the resident kept a harem, committed sexual assaults, engaged in bribery and planned a murder were contained in civil complaints. The fair report privilege protects reporting even if the allegations prove to be false, reporters are not required to independently investigate allegations made in an official proceeding, and colorful or hyperbolic characterizations of proceedings are protected if substantially true. Reversed in part.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: March 12, 2024, Case #: DA 22-0512, Categories: Defamation, Choice Of Law, First Amendment
J. McKinnon finds that defendant's unpreserved prosecutorial misconduct claims that the state improperly vouched for the victim's credibility and made inappropriate emotional appeals to the jury do not warrant plain error review. Also, probation restrictions prohibiting him from alcohol, drugs, gambling, casinos and bars were standard conditions and within the trial court's sentencing discretion. Affirmed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: March 5, 2024, Case #: DA 22-0030, Categories: Prosecutorial Misconduct, Sentencing, Sex Offender
J. McKinnon holds that the trial court erred in admitting an uncharged act of sexual assault to show a common scheme with charged counts of sexual assault. The uncharged acts could not prove a common motive or plan since they occurred after the charged acts. Also, the jury was improperly instructed on the mental state required for sexual assault. Reversed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: February 27, 2024, Case #: DA 22-0547, Categories: Evidence, Sex Offender, Jury Instructions
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J. McKinnon finds the trial court improperly ruled in favor of a state trooper who claimed he was constructively discharged. The trooper failed to exhaust a collective bargaining agreement's grievance process for the constructive discharge claim prior to resigning. Reversed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: February 13, 2024, Case #: DA 22-0424, Categories: Employment, Labor / Unions
J. McKinnon finds that the district improperly denied a request for waiver of court costs and fees by a wife seeking dissolution and a parenting plan. The district court erred in requiring her to provide more information than required by the Department of Justice on the fee waiver form and she is entitled to waiver as an indigent.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: January 30, 2024, Case #: OP 23-0734, Categories: Civil Procedure, Family Law
J. McKinnon finds that the trial court properly upheld the Department of Revenue's determination that a tax incentive for new oil wells ran contiguously for 18 months after the start of production, even though production at the subject wells was intermittent. Also, a new owner that took over the wells after that period was not entitled to the tax incentive. To qualify for the tax incentive, production must start back up after a five-year period of nonproduction. Affirmed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: January 23, 2024, Case #: DA 23-0280, Categories: Energy, Tax
J. McKinnon finds that the trial court gave the jury in defendant's sexual intercourse without consent trial the wrong definition of "knowingly" for the "without consent" element. It said the crime involves an act with a high probability that the other person does not consent. Instead, the crime requires that he knowingly had intercourse without the other person's consent. Reversed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: December 27, 2023, Case #: DA 21-0372, Categories: Sex Offender, Jury Instructions
J. McKinnon finds that the trial court properly admitted hearsay statements that defendant's stepdaughter made to a doctor about the cause of her injuries, as they were made to a medical provider for the primary purpose of medical care and were nontestimonial. However, the trial court erred in admitting hearsay statements she made to a sexual assault nurse examiner that were testimonial because they were made as part of a police investigation, but the error was harmless because the statements were identical to other admissible evidence. Affirmed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: December 27, 2023, Case #: DA 21-0587, Categories: Confrontation, Drug Offender, Sex Offender
J. McKinnon finds that the lower court properly found that the state could withdraw from its plea agreement sentencing recommendation based on alleged crimes defendant committed while in custody. Furthermore, defendant waived any challenge to the untimeliness of the state's persistent felony offender notice by entering a guilty plea to assault. Affirmed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: October 31, 2023, Case #: DA 22-0306, Categories: Sentencing, Assault, Plea
J. McKinnon finds that the youth court properly allowed the continued detention of a youth based on a late-filed charging petition. Good cause supported the exception to the deadline. The youth had repeatedly offended against her family and community, her physical and mental health required constant supervision and the state was unable to find a suitable placement outside of detention. Affirmed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: September 26, 2023, Case #: DA 21-0653, Categories: Juvenile Law
J. McKinnon finds that the trial court properly determined which tracts in an easement dispute were the dominant and servient estates. Ambiguous descriptions of the extent of an alleged easement-by-reference made it impossible to enforce. Affirmed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: September 20, 2023, Case #: DA 23-0054, Categories: Property
J. McKinnon holds that the trial court properly sentenced defendant to 50 years, with 15 suspended, for aggravated kidnapping, rape and partner assault. The constitution requires a trial court to present aggravating sentencing factors to a jury, but not mitigating factors. Also, defendant's level three sexual offender designation was supported by abundant evidence, and his trial counsel's performance was not insufficient. Affirmed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: September 19, 2023, Case #: DA 21-0202, Categories: Sentencing, Sex Offender, Kidnapping
J. McKinnon finds that the district court failed to consider the 17-year-old defendant's youthfulness, impulsiveness and low risk of reoffending before denying his motion to transfer his sexual assault case to youth court. It relied only on the seriousness of the offense without consideration of the nature of the offense, which is required by statute. Reversed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: DA 21-0618, Categories: Juvenile Law, Sex Offender
J. McKinnon finds that the trial court gave a mother adequate notice through counsel of upcoming parental rights termination hearings, so her absence from the hearings was not a violation of her due process rights. Her rights were properly terminated because she did not comply with all the provisions laid out for reunification, including the visitation component. Affirmed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: August 22, 2023, Case #: DA 22-0568, Categories: Family Law, Due Process
J. McKinnon holds that the trial court properly dismissed an inmate's claim that a clothed pat-down search violated his Eighth Amendment rights. He presented no evidence that the filmed encounter was for the guard's sexual gratification or to humiliate the inmate, and the brief search was performed randomly on multiple inmates in the same manner. Affirmed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: August 8, 2023, Case #: DA 22-0579, Categories: Search, Cruel And Unusual Punishment
J. McKinnon finds that defendant's petition for post-conviction relief on sex offense and incest convictions is untimely. He had one year after discovering the alleged 2016 recantation of one victim's allegations, but he did not file his petition until 2020. Affirmed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: August 8, 2023, Case #: DA 22-0389, Categories: Sex Offender
J. McKinnon finds that the trial court erred when it responded to jury questions outside of defendant's presence before convicting him of resisting arrest. The questions were about substantive law and defendant was entitled to object, offer alternative responses or add to the record. Reversed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: July 11, 2023, Case #: DA 21-0466, Categories: Jury, Resisting Arrest
J. McKinnon finds that the trial court was within its discretion during defendant's DUI and threats trial to admit his sex offender status under the transaction rule. The statement a deputy made about his status was inextricably intertwined with defendant's statements during his arrest that he knew where the deputy, his wife and child lived and went to church. However, pretrial supervision costs were improperly imposed without considering defendant's ability to pay. Affirmed in part.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: July 11, 2023, Case #: DA 21-0405, Categories: Evidence, Threats, Dui
J. McKinnon finds that defendant was improperly convicted of failing to register as a sex offender for a sexual assault he committed in 1994. A 2007 amendment to the Sexual or Violent Offender Registration Act that created stricter registration requirements imposes an unconstitutional ex post facto punishment for the earlier crime. Retroactive application of the amendment, which extended the registry requirement beyond the 10-year period in place at the time of conviction, imposes collateral consequences that defendant did not envision when he negotiated a guilty plea under the Act as it existed in 1994. Reversed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: June 14, 2023, Case #: DA 20-0197, Categories: Constitution, Sentencing, Sex Offender
J. McKinnon finds that the trial court admission of evidence from jailhouse informants did not compromise defendant's right to counsel. The informants were not state agents since they did not benefit from an agreement with the state or receive instructions from the state when they elicited information from defendant about two murders and one attempted murder. Also, though detectives did not discourage the informants from eliciting information, they did not encourage the behavior either. Affirmed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: June 13, 2023, Case #: DA 19-0471, Categories: Murder, Witnesses
J. McKinnon finds that the trial court properly relied on undisputed facts to conclude that the former HR Director for the state corrections department was fired for legitimate, non-retaliatory reasons. The good cause discharge was supported by evidence that she had made secret recordings of meetings with other corrections officials and made inconsistent statements during an investigation. Affirmed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: May 30, 2023, Case #: DA 22-0562, Categories: Employment
J. McKinnon finds that the trial court properly denied defendant's speedy trial claims in a burglary trial. Much of the 573-day delay was attributable to his late request for new counsel and his late filing of a motion to dismiss, while delays from the Covid-19 pandemic added 100 days. However, the trial court relied on incorrect information when it classified him as a registered violent offender for sentencing. Reversed in part.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: May 30, 2023, Case #: DA 21-0381, Categories: Burglary, Sentencing, Speedy Trial
J. McKinnon finds the trial court properly entered summary judgment in favor of the reproductive health clinic as to its constitutional challenge of new legislation restricting a woman’s right of privacy to seek abortion care from a qualified health care provider of her choosing, absent a clear demonstration of a medically acknowledged, bona fide health risk. The state failed to demonstrate that abortions performed by Advanced Practice RNs present a medically acknowledged, bona fide health risk. There is no genuine dispute of fact that abortion care is identical to care APRNs already lawfully provide in Montana and that it can safely be provided by APRNs. Affirmed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: May 12, 2023, Case #: DA 22-0207, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Health Care