Fri, Sep 29th, 2023 - 3:03pm
August 22, 2019 - 1:44pm | By Chris Larson
The North Dakota Supreme Court has issued a ruling in the case of William Hoehn, the man accused of kidnapping Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind's baby.
According to documents filed Thursday, while the conviction was affirmed by the high court, the sentence has been vacated and Hoehn will be, by order of the Supreme Court, re-sentenced.
Documents say that, at Hoehn’s initial appearance he was informed that the conspiracy to commit kidnapping charge is a class A felony punishable by up to twenty years in prison and a $20,000 fine. Approximately three months after Hoehn’s initial appearance and nine months before he pled guilty to conspiracy to commit kidnapping, the State filed a notice of intent to sentence Hoehn as a dangerous special offender.
Hoehn pled guilty to conspiracy to commit kidnapping at a September 2018 change of plea hearing. Tbe documents from the Supreme Court say that, 'at no time during the hearing did the court address with Hoehn the extended maximum penalty that could result from a dangerous special offender finding.' The court accepted Hoehn’s 7 guilty plea to the conspiracy to commit kidnapping. Almost two months later, Hoehn was found to be a dangerous special offender and sentenced to life in prison, according to the ruling documents filed Thursday.
The high court says, in their ruling, that Hoehn should not have received the 'dangerous special offender' designation.
