State v. Wallace

Dennis Wallace appeals from a district court order denying his I.C.R. 35 motion for correction of an “illegal” sentence. The principal issue on appeal is whether the omission of the word “determinate” from the original order of commitment constitutes a clerical error correctable at any time. A secondary issue is whether the “lenity doctrine” requires modification of the determinate sentence to an indeterminate sentence. For the following reasons, we affirm.

The pertinent facts are as follows. In 1984, Dennis Wallace pled guilty to a charge of grand theft by embezzlement in Twin Falls County.…