Brimer v. State, 785 S.W.2d 458 (Ark. 1990)

Cases | Brimer v. State, 785 S.W.2d 458 (Ark. 1990) | 2018

The defendant pled guilty to theft of property in connection with her misappropriation of approximately $100,000 from her employer. The trial court ordered, among other things, that she pay restitution in the amount of $135,000 at the rate of $200.00 per month for twelve years, at which time a civil judgment would be entered for the outstanding balance. The defendant appealed, arguing that the trial court did not allow her to offer testimony to prove the amount for which she should be required to make restitution, and that the trial court also erred in ordering her to make restitution payments for a period in excess of the maximum time authorized by law. She also made three $200.00 payments totaling $600.00 to the county clerk toward the original order of restitution. The Supreme Court of Arkansas reversed and remanded the judgment because the maximum sentence for the Class C felony for which the defendant pled guilty was ten years, and the trial court sentenced the defendant to make restitution payments over a twelve year period. In addition, the trial court did not allow the defendant to offer testimony about the amount of restitution she owed. On remand, the defendant was resentenced to ten years suspended imposition of the sentence, $20,000 in restitution, and entry of an $83,000 civil judgment in favor of the victims. Over the next six months, the defendant failed to make any payments under the restitution order or on the civil judgment. The prosecutor filed a petition to revoke the defendant’s suspended imposition of sentence, and the victims sought to garnish the defendant’s wages. The trial court concluded that the defendant was confused about the matter and declined to revoke the suspended imposition of the sentence. Nevertheless, the defendant appealed, requesting a credit toward the order of restitution in the amount of $600.00, representing the amount the defendant paid toward the first order of restitution. The Supreme Court of Arkansas concluded that the matter was not appealable.