State v. Martinez

Summary

The Montana Supreme Court reversed Allen Martinez's misdemeanor criminal mischief conviction for spitting inside a highway patrol vehicle, holding the State presented no evidence his spit 'injured, damaged, or destroyed' the vehicle under § 45-6-101(1)(a), MCA, because it caused no physical harm, loss, substantial impairment, or pecuniary loss — it merely necessitated cleanup and diminished neither the vehicle's value nor its usefulness. Because the evidence was legally insufficient, the Court directed a judgment of acquittal on that count rather than a new trial. The Court also reversed the imposition of $925 in fines and fees, finding the District Court's ability-to-pay determination clearly erroneous where the court asked no questions at sentencing and relied on a PSI listing assets as '$ N/A' with no monetary value assigned to Martinez's VA income. Chief Justice Swanson specially concurred, agreeing the conviction should be reversed but disputing the majority's statutory interpretation — particularly its pecuniary-loss requirement for misdemeanors and its conflation of subsections (1)(a) and (1)(b).