Cases | Benton v. State, 711 A.2d 792 (Del. 1998) | 2018
The defendant embezzled funds from her employer and was convicted of felony theft and falsifying business records. The employer’s insurer paid the maximum limits on a bond, and the employer signed a release of its claim under the bond against the insurer. The trial court ordered the defendant to pay restitution for, among other things, accounting fees incurred in investigating her embezzlement. On appeal, the defendant claimed that: (1) the trial court erred by ordering her to pay restitution in an amount exceeding the State’s evidence at trial; (2) there was insufficient evidence to support the order; (3) under the terms of a general release, the trial court was prevented from ordering restitution to her employer; (4) the order was an excessive fine under the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution; and (5) the trial court failed to consider her inability to pay. The court held that: (1) the trial court correctly concluded that Del. Code Ann. tit. 11, § 4106 authorized it to order restitution for accounting fees incurred by the victim’s employer; (2) the record reflected that each component of the restitution order was established by a preponderance of the evidence; (3) the trial court properly held that the employee’s release of its insurance carrier’s obligation under the bond did not preclude entry of an order for full restitution, as the terms of the release demonstrated that it was a special release of the insurer; (4) the Excessive Fine Clause was not violated, as the restitution order was not punitive or for the benefit of a sovereign, and was based directly on actual losses caused by the defendant’s criminal acts; and (5) the defendant failed to raise the issue of inability to pay at the restitution hearing and failed to carry her burden of demonstrating plain error.