CALIFORNIA CRIMINAL LAWYER MARY PREVOST: RESTITUTION FOR THE COSTS OF INVESTIGATION
RESTITUTION FOR THE COSTS OF INVESTIGATION
There are some good cases on why courts can't order restitution for the costs of investigation or prosecution. (Baker, 39 Cal.App.3d 550; Torres, 59 Cal.App.4th 1.)
This California Court of Appeal throws this settled area into confusion, claiming that as part of the court's power to devise probationary conditions, the costs here of determining whether the trash involved hazardous waste and cleaning up that waste could be ordered paid as a condition of probation.
The California Court of Appeal claims to distinguish Baker and Torres, saying that in those cases, the order was for potentially unlimited costs and here it was limited to a specific amount. Huh?
People v. Tarris; 2009 DJ DAR 17767; DJ, 12/23/09; C/A 4th, Div. 2
