(A) The purpose of this section is to provide for and collect full restitution for victims of those municipal ordinance offenses that are under the jurisdiction of the town’s municipal court in the most expeditious manner. It is the intent of the Town Council that restitution be timely ordered, collected and disbursed to victims, and this section shall be liberally construed to accomplish such intent.
(B) For purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings.
CONVICTION. A guilty verdict, a plea of guilty or nolo contendere that is accepted by the municipal court, and a deferred judgment and sentence which has not been successfully completed, for any violation of this code.
PROXIMATELY CAUSED. A cause which in the natural and probable sequence produced the claimed injury and without which the claimed injury would not have been sustained.
RESTITUTION. A pecuniary loss suffered by a victim and proximately caused by a defendant’s conduct, including, without limitation: all out of pocket expenses, interest, loss of use of money, anticipated future expenses, rewards paid by victims, money advanced by law enforcement agencies, extraordinary public and private investigative costs, money advanced by a governmental agency for a service animal, adjustment expenses, overtime wages for peace officers or other government employees, operating expenses for equipment such as protective clothing, costs to remove, clean up or remediate a place used to manufacture or attempt to manufacture a controlled substance or which contains a controlled substance or which contains chemicals; costs to store, preserve or test evidence of a controlled substance violation; and costs incurred to sell and provide for the care of and provision for an animal disposed of under any applicable animal cruelty law. RESTITUTION does not include damages for physical or mental pain and suffering, loss of consortium, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of future earnings or punitive damages.
VICTIM. A person aggrieved by the conduct of an offender, including, without limitation: a person against whom a violation of this code has been perpetrated or attempted; a person harmed by an offender’s conduct in the course of a scheme, conspiracy or pattern of criminal activity; a person, including an insurer, who has suffered losses because of a contractual relationship with a victim; a victim compensation board that has paid a victim compensation claim; and if any victim is deceased or incapacitated, the victim’s spouse, parent, legal guardian, natural or adopted child, child living with the victim, sibling, grandparent, significant other or other lawful representative. VICTIM shall not include a person who is accountable for the crime or a crime arising from the same conduct, criminal episode or plan. Any VICTIM under the age of 18 is considered incapacitated, unless that person is legally emancipated or the court orders otherwise.
(C) Every order of conviction shall include one or more of the following:
(1) An order of a specific amount of restitution to be paid by the defendant;
(2) An order that the defendant is obligated to pay restitution, but that the specific amount of restitution shall be determined within 91 days following the order of conviction, unless good cause is shown for extending such time period; or
(3) A specific finding that no victim suffered a pecuniary loss and therefore no order for restitution is being ordered.
(D) All restitution shall be paid to the town, which shall distribute the restitution to the victim(s).
(E) The municipal court shall base its order for restitution on information presented by the prosecuting attorney, who shall compile such information through victim impact statements or other means to determine the amount of restitution and the identities of the victims. The municipal court may not order restitution without a hearing at which the prosecution must prove the amount of the victim’s loss and its causal link to the defendant’s conduct by a preponderance of the evidence, and at which the defendant may contest those matters.
(F) An order for restitution may be increased if additional victims or additional losses not known to the judge or the prosecuting attorney at the time the restitution order was entered are later discovered and the final amount of restitution due has not been set by the court; and decreased with the consent of the prosecuting attorney and the victim(s) to whom the restitution is owed or if the defendant has otherwise compensated the victim(s) for the pecuniary losses suffered.
(G) If more than one defendant owes restitution to the same victim for the same loss, the restitution order shall be a joint and several obligation of the defendants.
(H) Any amount paid to a victim under an order of restitution shall be set off against any amount later recovered as compensatory damages by such victim in a civil proceeding.
(I) The municipal court shall order restitution concerning only the portion of the victim’s pecuniary loss for which the victim cannot be compensated under a policy of insurance, self-insurance, an indemnity agreement or a risk management fund. The court, in determining the restitution amount, shall consider whether the defendant or the vehicle driven by the defendant at the time of the offense was covered by: a complying policy of insurance or certificate of self-insurance as required by the laws of the state; self-insurance; or any other insurance or indemnity agreement that would indemnify the defendant for any damages sustained by the victim. The municipal court may award a victim restitution for a deductible amount under a policy of insurance.
(J) A victim’s confidential medical and mental health records in the possession of the prosecuting attorney shall not be provided to the defendant, but may be provided to the judge for an in camera review. To obtain an in camera review of such records, a defendant must show:
(1) That his or her request is not speculative; and
(2) That an in camera review is warranted, because such records may disprove all or part of the prosecuting attorney’s restitution request on the basis that the loss was not proximately caused by the defendant’s conduct, or that such records are otherwise relevant to the allegations pending against the defendant.
(Ord. 2(2014) § 2)