IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) - The Idaho Supreme Court has vacated two counts from a former Jefferson County sheriff’s conviction for misuse of public funds.
Under direction from the high court, District Judge Dane Watkins Jr. on Monday vacated two of three felony counts of misuse of public funds against former sheriff Blair Olsen, The Post Register reported (https://bit.ly/2mICzOl ).
A Twin Falls jury found Olsen guilty of the three charges in May 2015 for letting his wife use a county-paid cellphone for personal use from 2010 through 2012.
He was sentenced to serve 15 days in jail and three years on supervised probation.
On Monday, Watkins placed Olson on informal probation to conclude July 10, meaning Olsen no longer has to report to a probation officer or pay service fees. If Olsen successfully completes the probation, the charges will be dismissed from his record.
The Supreme Court in December found that prosecutors erred when aggregating the time the cellphone was used. Prosecutors divided the offense into three counts, one for each year the county paid for the phone.
The Supreme Court ruled that the statute Olsen was convicted under requires that the counts only be aggregated if the amount taken exceeds $300. Not all the years met the $300 threshold, leading the court to vacate two of the counts.
Gary Cooper, Olsen’s attorney, also argued that some of the fines and restitution his client paid should be reimbursed.
Olsen paid a $1,000 fine on two counts and a $500 fine on the third count. He paid a total of $1,023 in restitution.
Watkins found that Olsen was entitled to some reimbursements and encouraged prosecutors and Cooper to work with the clerk’s office to secure the money.
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Information from: Post Register, https://www.postregister.com
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