State v. Behrendt

Hill, J.:

I must respectfully dissent on one point. I would hold that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it considered the opportunity costs as a factor to be included in any restitution order. I refer to the losses a retail merchant sustains when deprived by a thief of the opportunity to sell that merchant’s goods at retail.

The calculation of such amounts is straightforward. For example, if a merchant, such as the victim here, was selling beer and a thief stole 100 cases of beer, the thief took not only the beer but also deprived the merchant of ever selling those 100 cases.…