State v. BottensState v. Bottens
The state appeals from the district court’s order granting a reduction of Erik Delbert Bottens’ sentence for sexual battery of a minor child sixteen or seventeen years of age. The district court reduced Bottens’ sentence after granting a motion to reconsider a previous denial of his Rule 35 motion. We reverse the order of the district court and remand for reimposition of Bottens’ original sentence.
I.
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
In April 1999, Bottens pled guilty to one count of sexual battery of a minor child sixteen or seventeen years of age,
On February 16, 2000, the district court denied Bottens’ Rule 35 motion. On February 28, counsel for Bottens filed a motion to reconsider the order denying the Rule 35 motion. The district court granted Bottens’ motion to reconsider and held a hearing on April 13. Subsequently, the district court entered an amended judgment, imposing a fixed sentence of fifteen months with credit for time served. The state filed this timely appeal, arguing that the district court acted improperly because it lacked jurisdiction to hear Bottens’ motion.
II.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
Issues of subject matter jurisdiction present questions of law over which appellate courts exercise free review.
State v. McCarthy,
III.
ANALYSIS
The district court did not have jurisdiction to hear Bottens’ motion to reconsider because it was an improper successive motion. Rule 35 states, in pertinent part, “no defendant may file more than one motion seeking a reduction of sentence under this Rule.” We held in
State v. Hickman,
119
Bottens argues that our decision in Hickman should be read for the proposition that the decision to consider or to grant a motion for reconsideration after denial of a Rule 35 motion is a matter of discretion for the district court. In Hickman, as in this case, the defendant filed a motion to reconsider after the district court denied his Rule 35 motion to reduce his sentence. The district court heard the motion, but did not reduce Hickman’s sentence. On appeal, Hickman argued that the district court abused its discretion by failing to reduce his sentence. The state argued that Hickman’s motion should have been considered an improper renewed motion under Rule 35. This Court addressed the issue as follows:
[T]he Rules specifically provide that only one Rule 35 motion to reduce sentence may be filed. Consequently, his motion was prohibited under the Rules and the court could have summarily denied it. Such a summary disposition would not have entitled Hickman to appeal under I.A.R. 11(c)(9), because it would not have been an order entered after judgment affecting substantial rights of the defendant, since Hickman had no right to file what was essentially a renewed Rule 35 motion.
The district court, however, in the exercise of its discretion, entertained the motion to alter or amend....
Id.
at 9,
Bottens also cites our opinion in
State v. Lenwai,
Such motions actually are renewed motions under Rule 35 and are not permitted, State v. Hickman,119 Idaho 7 ,802 P.2d 1219 (Ct.App.1990), but where the court nonetheless entertains such a motion and denies it on its merits, the court’s exercise of discretion in that regard may be asserted as an issue on appeal. Hickman,119 Idaho at 9 ,802 P.2d at 1221 ; I.A.R. 11(c)(9).
Id.
at 261 n. 1,
In the instant case, the district court responded to the state’s objection that Bot-tens’ motion to reconsider was improper under Rule 35 stating:
I determined that the hearing would proceed on the merits because it would be more expeditious than to hear what would most likely be a post-conviction relief petition for ineffective assistance of counsel because of a mix-up in transition between the public defender’s office and Mr. Siebe’s office, as a result of which the motion lay fallow. And for that reason, because it’s a matter of discretion and notwithstanding the language of the rule, if the Court nevertheless proceeds to hear it on the merits, it will not deem that an abuse of discretion providing there’s a — a just basis for doing so.
We disagree and today clarify
Hickman. Oar
review of
Hickman
and
Lenwai convinces
us that the language Bottens and the district court relied upon was not intended to confer jurisdiction upon trial courts to consider or to grant successive motions under Rule 35. That interpretation contradicts the plain language of the rule. Instead, we interpret the wording in
Hickman
and
Lemvai
to be an attempt at deference to the trial court, where this Court upheld the trial court’s decision only because any error in doing so did not change the ultimate outcome. Today we make explicit that a motion to reconsider the denial of a Rule 35 motion
Because of our holding above we need not address the issues of whether the motion to reconsider was timely filed or whether the district court lost jurisdiction to rule on Bot-tens’ motion to reconsider because it failed to do so within a reasonable time.
IV.
CONCLUSION
Accordingly, the district court did not have jurisdiction to consider Bottens’ motion to reconsider or to grant a reduction in sentence. We reverse the order of the district court and remand for reimposition of Bot-tens’ original sentence.