FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, April 14, 2008
PATRICIA BETTERMAN PAUL RE-SENTENCED IN U.S. DISTRICT COURT
Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Great Falls, on April 14, 2008, before U.S. District Judge Sam E. Haddon, PATRICIA BETTERMAN PAUL, a 50-year-old resident of Helena, appeared for re-sentencing. PAUL was re-sentenced to a term of:
- Prison: 15 months
- Special Assessment: $100
Restitution: $17,868 (this was paid in full in March of 2006 directly to Pondera County)
- Supervised Release: 2 years
PAUL was originally sentenced after having been found guilty of theft from a federally funded agency after a 3-day trial in May of 2006. She was re-sentenced after her original sentence was appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The sentence was reversed and remanded back to U.S. District Court for re-sentencing.
Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that PAUL will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, PAUL does have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for "good behavior." However, this reduction will not exceed 15% of the overall sentence.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Carl E. Rostad prosecuted the case for the United States.
The investigation was conducted by the Inspector General's Office for the United States Department of the Interior.
