State v. Richard Peart, 290 P.3d 706

Peart was convicted of incest in Cascade County after admitting to sexual acts with his stepdaughter and having pornographic images on his devices.
The State sought a 100-year sentence with a parole restriction under a mandatory minimum for under-12 victims; Peart faced a 50-year suspension option proposed by the State.
Peart refused to cooperate with the PSI process, preventing up-to-date psychosexual evaluation and limiting information for sentencing.
The PSI and evaluator reports were prepared using Peart’s 2001 records due to his noncooperation, affecting the risk assessment and sentencing deliberations.
The District Court imposed 100-year sentence with no suspension, found Peart to be a sexually violent predator, and denied parole for a lengthy period; Peart appeals claiming ineffective assistance of counsel at sentencing and no sentencing recommendation.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether trial counsel’s performance at sentencing was ineffective.	Peart (Peart) contends counsel failed to test the State's case at sentencing.	Peart argues lack of cross-examination and no witnesses or alternative recommendations harmed outcome.	No, not shown to prejudice Peart; counsel’s actions did not meet Strickland prejudice.
Whether trial counsel’s absence of an alternative sentencing recommendation was ineffective.	Peart asserts that counsel’s failure to offer a recommendation caused a harsher sentence.	Counsel’s silence did not establish prejudice given the record and factors supporting the sentence.	No prejudice shown; sentencing factors supported the severity regardless of a recommendation.

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) (establishes the two-prong deficient performance/prejudice test for ineffective assistance)
U.S. v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648 (1984) (limited presumption of prejudice in extreme cases where counsel's performance is complete or nearly absent)
Bell v. Cone, 535 U.S. 685 (2002) (presumption of prejudice requires complete ineffectiveness in some contexts)
Whitlow v. State, 2008 MT 140 (Mont. 2008) (applies Strickland to Montana ineffective-assistance claims)
St. Germain v. State, 2012 MT 86 (Mont. 2012) (quality of sentencing-related evidence and cooperation considerations)
Riggs v. State, 2011 MT 239 (Mont. 2011) (applies Strickland; discusses prejudice assessment for sentencing claims)
Worthan v. State, 2010 MT 98 (Mont. 2010) (requires showing that counsel’s deficiencies would have likely changed the outcome)
Rosling v. State, 2012 MT 179 (Mont. 2012) (principles for reasonable probability of different sentencing outcome)