State v. Geoffrey A. Regan

Syllabus

The defendant appealed from an order of the Superior Court declaring him a probation violator. The defendant asserted that the trial justice erred in finding him in violation of his probation for not satisfying his restitution payments by the time his sentence was to expire and erred in extending his sentence by delaying imposition of the sentence for the violation in order to monitor his payment progress. The Supreme Court concluded that the trial justice's finding that the defendant was a probation violator for failure to pay restitution in full, without an assessment of the defendant's ability to pay or whether the defendant's failure to pay the full amount of restitution was willful, deliberate, or in defiance of his obligations, was arbitrary and capricious. The Supreme Court acknowledged that a restitution payment obligation, such as the defendant's obligation, need not be linked to the duration of a sentence and, rather, becomes a civil judgment after expiration of a sentence. Thus, the Supreme Court concluded that the Superior Court was without authority to extend the defendant's sentence in order to oversee his payment progress and that the defendant only remained civilly liable to pay restitution. Accordingly, the Supreme Court vacated the order of the Superior Court.