State of North Dakota v. Mackenzie Marie Harstad

Summary

The North Dakota Supreme Court held that restitution for unrecovered personal property located in a vehicle when it was stolen was not directly related to the defendant’s conviction for possessing the stolen vehicle. Applying N.D.C.C. § 12.1-32-08(1), the court found no immediate and intimate causal connection between the defendant’s criminal conduct and the loss of the personal property. The court reversed the judgment and remanded for recalculation of restitution excluding that property.

Holdings

1. A defendant convicted of possessing a stolen vehicle may not be ordered to pay restitution for unrecovered personal property that was in the vehicle when it was stolen when the record does not establish an immediate and intimate causal connection between the defendant's possession of the vehicle and the loss of that personal property.
2. The district court abused its discretion by including the value of the unrecovered personal property in the restitution award, and the restitution amount must be redetermined without those items.

Questions Presented

1. Whether restitution may be ordered for personal property that was inside a vehicle when the vehicle was stolen but was not recovered, when the defendant was convicted only of possessing the stolen vehicle.
2. Whether the unrecovered personal property was directly related to, or a direct result of, Harstad's criminal conduct under N.D.C.C. § 12.1-32-08(1).

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded