Title 46, Title 46

When it appears beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant has committed an offense but there is reasonable doubt as to whether the defendant is guilty of a given offense or one or more lesser included offenses, the defendant may only be convicted of the greatest included offen…

(1) The defendant may be found guilty of an offense necessarily included in the offense charged or of an attempt to commit either the offense charged or an offense necessarily included in the offense charged. (2) A lesser included offense instruction must be given when there is a…

The granting of a new trial places the parties in the same position as if there had been no trial.

(1) Following a verdict or finding of guilty, the court may grant the defendant a new trial if required in the interest of justice. A new trial may be ordered by the court without a motion or may be granted after motion and hearing. (2) The motion for a new trial must be in writi…

A docket must be kept by the justice of the peace or city judge, in which must be entered each action and the proceedings of the court therein.

(1) The parties in a misdemeanor case are entitled to a jury of six qualified persons but may agree to a number less than six at any time before the verdict. (2) Upon consent of the parties, a trial by jury may be waived.

(1) At the time of preparing the district court jury list under 3-15-404(6), the clerk of the district court shall prepare a jury list for each justice's, municipal, and city court within the county. Each list must consist of residents of the appropriate county, city, or town. Th…

(1) Before or during trial, a plea of guilty must be accepted, and a plea of nolo contendere may be accepted with the consent of the court and the prosecutor, when: (a) subject to the provisions of subsection (3), the defendant enters a plea of guilty or nolo contendere in open c…

(1) The judgment must be executed by the sheriff, constable, marshal, or police officer of the jurisdiction in which the offender was convicted. (2) When a judgment of imprisonment is entered, a certified copy of the judgment must be delivered to the sheriff or other officer, whi…

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2), all fines imposed and collected by the court must be paid to the appropriate treasurer of the county, city, or town within 30 days of receipt. The judge shall file a copy of any receipt given for a collected fine with the appropriate coun…

All fines obtained from a judgment in a higher court on an appeal from a city court for violation of a city ordinance, tried de novo in the higher court, shall be paid to the county treasurer, who shall, before 31 days after receipt of the sum, forward one-half of the amount to t…

(1) Except as provided in 46-17-203(2)(b) or subsection (4) of this section and except for cases in which legal issues are preserved for appeal pursuant to 46-12-204, all cases on appeal from a justice's or city court must be tried anew in the district court and may be tried befo…

Except as otherwise provided by Title 3, chapter 6, and this part, the proceedings and practice in municipal court shall be the same as in district court.

(1) The fees and fines in municipal court must be the same as the fees and fines provided by law or ordinance, and except as provided in 61-8-726 and subsection (2) of this section, all fees and fines collected by the court must be paid into the city treasury. (2) (a) The municip…

In criminal causes arising under the state law, either party shall be entitled to a jury trial, as provided in justices' courts, except that the police officer shall perform the duties thereto prescribed to the sheriff or constable.

(1) A party may appeal to district court from a judgment of municipal court. (2) Appeal from a municipal court may be limited by requiring by ordinance that a minimum amount in controversy, not to exceed $200, be met before the district court has jurisdiction to hear the appeal, …

As used in this part, the following definitions apply: (1) (a) "Home" means the temporary or permanent residence of an offender consisting of the actual living area approved by the supervising authority. (b) When more than one residence or family are located on a single piece of …

(1) An offender may petition a sentencing court for an order directing that all or a portion of a sentence of imprisonment be served under conditions of home arrest. The term of home arrest may not exceed 6 months. Petitions may be considered and ruled upon by the sentencing cour…

(1) A home arrestee must be confined to the arrestee's home under conditions imposed by the sentencing court, which may include but are not limited to the following: (a) The home arrestee must be confined to the arrestee's home at all times except when: (i) working at approved em…

A person being held under a detainer, warrant, or process issued by some other jurisdiction is not eligible for home arrest. A person convicted of a violent felony offense is not eligible for home arrest. However, this section does not prevent the use of a monitoring device as a …

A person serving a sentence under conditions of home arrest is responsible for food, housing, clothing, and medical care expenses and is eligible for government benefits to the same extent as a person on probation, parole, or conditional discharge.

At least once every 30 days, the supervising authority shall provide all local and county law enforcement agencies with a list of the offenders under home arrest in their jurisdictions. This list must include the following information: (1) the offender's place of home arrest; (2)…

(1) It is the purpose of this section to establish the correctional and sentencing policy of the state of Montana. Laws for the punishment of crime are drawn to implement the policy established by this section. (2) The correctional and sentencing policy of the state of Montana is…

(1) The judgment must be rendered in open court. For purposes of this section, a judgment rendered through the use of two-way electronic audio-video communication, allowing all of the participants to be heard in the courtroom by all present and allowing the party speaking to be s…

All sentences under this chapter shall be imposed exclusively by the judge of the court.

As used in 46-18-101, 46-18-105, 46-18-201, 46-18-225, and this section, unless the context requires otherwise, the following definitions apply: (1) "Community corrections" or "community corrections facility or program" means a community corrections facility or program as defined…

The department of corrections may provide community corrections facilities or programs for the rehabilitation of nonviolent felony offenders, as authorized under Title 53, chapter 30, part 3.

This part may be cited as the "Misdemeanor Expungement Clarification Act".

As used in this part, the following definitions apply: (1) "Expunge" or "expungement" means to permanently destroy, delete, or erase a record of an offense from the criminal history record information system maintained by the department of justice in a manner that is appropriate …

(1) A person convicted of one or more misdemeanor offenses, whether in one court or multiple courts and whether in one case or multiple cases, and who has not had the person's records expunged under this part previously, may petition a district court for an order requiring the ex…

A person may file a petition for expungement in the district court of a judicial district in which the person was convicted of a misdemeanor for which expungement is sought.

(1) A person seeking expungement shall serve a copy of the petition for expungement to every prosecution office that prosecuted an offense for which expungement is being requested. (2) If a victim of an offense subject to a requested expungement exists, the prosecution office res…

Expungement is presumed if the person requesting expungement is not currently being detained for the commission of an offense, is not charged with the commission of an offense, and does not have charges pending for the commission of a new offense, as verified by the prosecution o…

(1) Expungement may not be presumed if the person seeking expungement has one or more convictions for assault under 45-5-201, partner or family member assault under 45-5-206, stalking under 45-5-220, sexual assault under 45-5-502, a violation of a protective order under 45-5-626,…

(1) The court must make its determination for an expungement on a preponderance of the evidence. (2) A presumption in favor of expungement may be overcome upon a determination that the interests of public safety demand dismissal. (3) If a representative of a prosecution office ap…

(1) (a) (i) Upon the acceptance of a plea or upon a verdict or finding of guilty to one or more felony offenses, except as provided in subsection (1)(d), the district court may request and direct the probation and parole officer to make a presentence investigation and report unle…

(1) When multiple misdemeanor offenses are requested to be expunged, the court may order expungement of all, some, or none of the misdemeanor offenses. (2) If an order of expungement is granted: (a) the order must direct, for each offense being expunged, the arresting law enforce…

For purposes of handling expunged records, the department of justice may adopt rules to implement the provisions of this section.

(1) Whenever an investigation is requested by the court, the probation and parole officer shall promptly inquire into and report upon: (a) the defendant's characteristics, circumstances, needs, and potentialities, as reflected in a validated risk and needs assessment; (b) the def…

(1) All presentence investigation reports must be a part of the court record but may not be opened for public inspection. A copy of the presentence investigation report must be provided to the prosecution, the defendant and the defendant's attorney, the probation and parole offic…

Before imposing sentence or making any other disposition upon acceptance of a plea or upon a verdict or finding of guilty, the court shall conduct a sentencing hearing, without unreasonable delay, as follows: (1) The court shall afford the parties an opportunity to be heard on an…

(1) The judgment must set forth the plea, the verdict or finding, and the adjudication. If the defendant is convicted, it must set forth the sentence or other disposition. The written judgment must be signed and must be entered on the record within 30 days after the oral pronounc…

(1) (a) Whenever a person has been found guilty of an offense upon a verdict of guilty or a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, a sentencing judge may defer imposition of sentence, except as otherwise specifically provided by statute, for a period: (i) not exceeding 1 year for a m…

(1) The sentencing judge may also impose any of the following restrictions or conditions on the sentence provided for in 46-18-201 that the judge considers necessary to obtain the objectives of rehabilitation and the protection of the victim and society: (a) prohibition of the of…

(1) On the filing of a petition for revocation showing probable cause that the offender has violated any condition of a sentence, any condition of a deferred imposition of sentence, or any condition of supervision after release from imprisonment imposed pursuant to 45-5-503(4), 4…

(1) Whenever the court has deferred the imposition of sentence and after termination of the time period during which imposition of sentence has been deferred or upon termination of the time remaining on a deferred sentence under 46-18-208: (a) for a felony conviction, the court s…