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Bush v. State12/2/2003
ination.
(d) Any order for restitution under this chapter constitutes a judgment by operation of law on the date it is entered. To satisfy the judgment, the clerk, upon request of the victim or the district attorney, may issue execution in the same manner as in a civil action.
(e) The court's determination of the amount of restitution owed under this section is not admissible as evidence in any civil action.
(f) The defendant shall be given credit against his restitution obligation for payments made to the victim by the defendant's insurer for injuries arising out of the same facts or event.
A part of the analytic process for construing a statute is this:
Applicable general principles of statutory construction include: if the language is clear and unambiguous, we must abide by the plain meaning of the statute; if a statute is ambiguous, we may resort to general principles of construction; an ambiguous statute is one whose meaning is uncertain and susceptible of more than one meaning; and in a criminal statute, an ambiguity should be resolved in favor of lenity.
Mazurek v. State, 10 P.3d 531, 540-41 (Wyo.2000) (quoting Pierson v. State, 956 P.2d 1119, 1125 (Wyo.1998)). We analyze statutes with the objective of ascertaining the legislature's intent, commencing with an inquiry into the ordinary and obvious meaning of the words employed according to their arrangement and connection. Misenheimer v. State, 2001 WY 65, 7, 27 P.3d 273, 7 (Wyo.2001)."We construe the statute as a whole, giving effect to every word, clause, and sentence, and we construe together all parts of the statute in pari materia so that no part will be inoperative or superfluous." Id. (quoting Capshaw v. State, 10 P.3d 560, 564 (Wyo.2000)) ( citing Fall v. State, 963 P.2d 981, 983 (Wyo.1998)). We will not construe a statute in a way that leaves any portion meaningless or produces an absurd result. Mazurek, 10 P.3d at 541; Pierson, 956 P.2d at 1125.
State v. Nelson, 2002 WY 99, 6, 49 P.3d 185, 6 (Wyo. 2002).
By its own words, the governing statute articulates that restitution shall be fixed at a "reasonable amount." The district court is required to determine the "pecuniary damage" suffered by the victim. "Pecuniary damage" means: " ll damages which a victim could recover against the defendant in a civil action arising out of the same facts or event, including damages for wrongful death. It does not include punitive damages and damages for pain, suffering, mental anguish and loss of consortium[.]" Wyo. Stat. Ann. ยง 7-9-101 (a) (iii) (LexisNexis 2003).
With respect to restitution, the ABA Standards for Criminal Justice: Sentencing (3rd ed. 1994), provides this guidance:
Economic Sanctions
Standard 18-3.15 Restitution or reparation
(a) For an offense that resulted in a victim's personal injury or loss of money or property, the legislature should authorize sentencing an individual or an organization to make restitution to the victim or to compensate the victim for losses suffered. The legislature should authorize a sentencing court to order payment to a fund for future disbursement if the identities of the victims or the amounts of their claims are not ascertained at the time of sentencing.
(b) In the event of injury or loss that the offender has special capacity to restore or repair, the legislature should authorize sentencing an individual or organization to perform such reparations.
(c) The agency performing the intermediate function should guide sentencing courts in the appropriate use of restitution and reparation.
(i) The sanction sh
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