High court won't stay review of sentence review
The Montana Supreme Court on Thursday refused to issue a stay in an upcoming review of the sentencing of former Thompson Falls school board member Lance Pavlik, who is serving 10 years in prison for killing two people and injuring two more in a drunken-driving accident on Sept. 8, 2012.
A day after the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole appealed to the high court, the court issued an order giving Sanders County District Judge James Manley until Jan. 12 to file a response to the complaint.
It also denied the board’s request to delay a Jan. 26 hearing before Manley.
The parole board does not want to appear before Manley for a petition filed by Pavlik that claims the Montana Department of Corrections wrongly placed him at the Montana State Prison and denied him access to an alcohol treatment program.
“The crux of Pavlik’s petition is that his incarceration at MSP is illegal because the [Department of Corrections] placed him at [Montana State Prison] based upon an interpretation of the court’s sentence by probation and parole officer Sandy VanSkyock that Pavlik contends was either fraudulent or negligent,” the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole appeal reads.
The board contends that it correctly interpreted the sentence, but that if it did not, the appeal should not be routed through the Sanders County judicial system under Montana law that states: “The district court and its judges have power to issue, hear, and determine ... all writs of habeas corpus on petition by or on behalf of any person held in actual custody in their respective districts.”
“The District Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction under these statutes to consider Pavlik’s habeas petition,” wrote Robert Lishman, special assistant to the Montana attorney general.
Pavlik is housed at the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge.
Pavlik pleaded guilty March 12, 2013, to two counts of vehicular homicide while under the influence and two counts of criminal endangerment.
He was sentenced to the Montana Department of Corrections for 30 years with 20 years suspended. Pavlik appealed his sentence in July, but was denied parole consideration until 2021.
“Release at this time would diminish the severity of the offense,” the board concluded in its report. “No early consideration.”
Pavlik was found to have a 0.245 blood alcohol concentration after the head-on crash just before midnight on Prospect Creek Road outside of Thompson Falls.
Killed were 32-year-old Jeremiah Abel Bennett and his 23-year-old fiancée, Christina Rae Jackson.
Bennett’s two children, 4-year-old Mya and 2-year-old Abel, sustained serious injuries.
Reporter Megan Strickland may be reached at 758-4459 or by email at mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.