Archer v. State

The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the trial court requiring Defendant to pay $5,240.32 in restitution. Defendant pled guilty to level 6 felony auto theft, and the victim’s vehicle came back heavily spray-painted. The court of appeals reversed, concluding that insufficient evidence supported the restitution order because the record did not show that the spray-paint damage was attributable to the theft. The Supreme Court granted transfer, thus vacating the court of appeals opinion, and affirmed, holding (1) Defendant did not waive her right to appeal the amount of the restitution order; (2) the trial court did not abuse its discretion in ordering Defendant to pay restitution for the spray-paint damage because there was sufficient evidence that the spray-paint damage was a direct result of the underlying theft; and (3) the trial court did not abuse its discretion in determining that Defendant had the ability to pay restitution. View "Archer v. State" on Justia Law