Ritch v. State

Michael Lewis Ritch appeals an order of the trial court requiring him to make restitution to his former employer, Columbia Grain & Ingredients, Inc. (Columbia Grain), in the amount of $22,152.95. Because this amount lacks substantial support in competent evidence adduced at the restitution hearing, we reverse with directions to substitute the lesser sum that the evidence did establish. We decline to give a judgment, entered in a civil lawsuit to which the state was not a party, preclu-sive collateral effect.

Charged with theft (of property worth more than $300 but less than $5,000), Mr. Ritch…