State v. Pippin, 496 N.W.2d 50 (N.D. 1993)

Cases | State v. Pippin, 496 N.W.2d 50 (N.D. 1993) | 2018

A search of the defendant’s home revealed items stolen from homes of burglary victims. The defendant pled guilty to possession of stolen property and the defendant’s former husband pled guilty to fifteen counts of burglary. The trial court ordered the defendant and her former husband jointly and severally liable for $106,105.54 in restitution representing costs of repair and cleaning of the victims’ homes, in addition to unrecovered cash and personal property. On appeal, the defendant claimed that the damages were not “directly related” to her crime of possession of stolen property and that the expenses were not a “direct result” of commission of the crime. The supreme court reversed the restitution order and remanded for a new restitution hearing and order. The order was improper as it related to the defendant because there was not an immediate and intimate causal connection between her criminal conduct and the damages ordered.