State v. Bassett

A sentence of bench probation which restricts a defendant's right to travel anywhere a person night be engaged in hunting is impermissibly overbroad.

Defendant appealed special probation conditions because they are not reasonably related to either the protection of the public or to his reformation. Defendant pled guilty to the unlawful taking of a blacktail deer without a license or tag. The trial court revoked defendant’s hunting license and sentenced defendant to five years bench probation. The court included an additional provision that defendant may not be in an area where somebody could be engaged in hunting or where deer or elk live, with some narrow exceptions. Defendant appealed and the Court of Appeals only addressed defendant’s argument of overbreadth of the conditions of probation. The Court of appeals held that the restriction on anywhere that someone might be hunting or where deer or elk live would restrict defendant from virtually all of the non-urban United States, and thus is impermissibly overbroad. In Case No. 114377, Reversed and Remanded. In Case No. 120497, Affirmed.