Bitz v. State

Summary

The Wyoming Supreme Court reviewed Delvin Lee Bitz's sentence following his guilty plea to taking indecent liberties with a minor. The court held that the district court improperly relied on contested, dismissed charges in the presentence investigation without making the findings required by W.R.Cr.P. 32(a)(3)(C), and improperly considered a victim impact statement from a person who was not the victim of the charged offense. The conviction was reversed and the matter remanded for resentencing.

Holdings

1. A sentencing court may consider uncharged crimes and other information in a presentence investigation report only if the defendant has an opportunity to deny, dispute, or disprove the information and the court complies with W.R.Cr.P. 32(a)(3)(C). When the defendant contests the information and the court intends to rely on it, the court must make a finding based on sufficient evidence that the information is reliable, create a written record supporting the finding, and append that record to the presentence investigation report. The district court's reliance on Bitz's dismissed and denied charges without those findings was an abuse of discretion and violated due process.
2. Under Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 7-21-103, the special statutory status and admissibility of a victim-impact statement are limited to the victim of the particular crime for which the defendant is being sentenced. The district court erred by treating the defendant's daughter's statement as a statutory victim-impact statement when the charged offense involved the defendant's step-daughter, and the error was prejudicial because the court quoted from and relied on the statement in imposing sentence.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the district court abused its discretion and violated due process by relying at sentencing on disputed and dismissed charges without making the findings required by W.R.Cr.P. 32(a)(3)(C).
2. Whether the district court improperly considered a victim-impact statement from a person who was not the victim of the crime to which the defendant pleaded guilty.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded