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High court affirms trial court’s restitution order
The Supreme Court affirmed yesterday the trial court’s restitution order in Commonwealth v. Mendiola, 2017 MP 10.
Patrick P. Mendiola had appealed the amount of restitution imposed by the trial court as a part of his sentence for his role in an attempted burglary of copper wire.
Mendiola brought two issues on appeal: whether there was enough evidence to support the trial court’s valuation of the copper wire; and whether the trial court abused its discretion when it failed to consider the salvage value of the damaged copper wire in calculating restitution.
The high court affirmed the trial court’s restitution order, finding no merit as to Mendiola’s two issues.
With regard to Mendiola’s first issue, after reviewing the evidence submitted to the trial court, the high court concluded there was no clear error in the trial court’s valuation of the copper wire.
With regard to Mendiola’s second issue, the Supreme Court broadly reviewed other jurisdictions, finding only a few jurisdictions that considered salvage value when calculating restitution, and only in specific situations.
Moreover, even the jurisdictions that did consider salvage value still acknowledged the broad discretion trial courts have when determining the appropriate amount of restitution. The high court concluded the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it declined to deduct the salvage value of the damaged copper wire from the restitution amount.
The high court’s full opinion is available at http://www.cnmilaw.org/supreme17.html.
For further information, contact the Supreme Court at 236-9715. (PR)
