Summary
The Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed Jesse M. Dill’s sentence imposing imprisonment followed by postrelease supervision. The court held that a sentencing court may impose statutorily authorized fees and payment conditions as part of postrelease supervision, and found no abuse of discretion because Dill did not tie her undue-hardship or inability-to-pay arguments to the record. The court declined to consider an improper-delegation argument that was argued but not specifically assigned as error.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the district court abused its discretion by imposing administrative, programming, chemical-testing, and treatment-related fees as conditions of postrelease supervision.
- Whether Dill's indigency determination and waiver of appellate costs established undue hardship or inability to pay the postrelease supervision fees.
- Whether the district court improperly delegated authority to a postrelease supervision officer to direct Dill to attend and complete evaluations, counseling, or treatment, where that issue was argued but not specifically assigned as error.
Holdings
- Because postrelease supervision is a form of probation, a court may impose any conditions of postrelease supervision authorized by statute, including the statutory fees and payment conditions challenged by Dill.
- The district court did not abuse its discretion in imposing the fees and payment conditions because Dill failed to present a specific, record-supported argument establishing undue hardship or inability to pay.
- The appellate court would not consider Dill's improper-delegation argument because the alleged error was argued but not specifically assigned as error.
Key quotations
“We now hold that when a court sentences a defendant to postrelease supervision, it may impose any conditions of postrelease supervision authorized by statute.” (350)
“An alleged error must be both specifically assigned and specifically argued in the brief of the party asserting the error to be considered by an appellate court.” (354)
Factual background
The district court accepted Jesse M. Dill's no contest plea to a Class IIIA felony and imposed a determinate sentence of 1 year's imprisonment followed by 18 months of postrelease supervision. The court imposed a $30 administrative enrollment fee, a $25 monthly programming fee, a $5 monthly chemical-testing fee, and costs for evaluations, counseling, or treatment directed by the postrelease supervision officer. Dill's counsel objected based on Dill's prior indigency determination and stated that there had been no further assessment of her ability to pay, but the court overruled the objections.
Procedural history
The Lancaster County District Court accepted Dill's no contest plea to a Class IIIA felony and imposed 1 year's imprisonment followed by 18 months of postrelease supervision. It ordered Dill to pay administrative, programming, chemical-testing, and treatment-related fees. Dill timely appealed after the district court overruled her objections, and the Nebraska Supreme Court granted bypass review.