Montana § 52-3-816 - County Attorney Duties -- Report To Attorney General And Legislature -- Attorney General Report

§ 52-3-816. County Attorney Duties -- Report To Attorney General And Legislature -- Attorney General Report

County attorney duties -- report to attorney general and legislature -- attorney general report. (1) (a) If the department receives a report of an allegation of exploitation of a victim pursuant to 52-3-811 that would constitute a crime under 45-5-804 or the crime of theft of identity in which the victim is an incapacitated person or vulnerable adult pursuant to 45-6-332 , and the department determines the report to be credible following an investigation, the department shall forward materials pertaining to the allegation to the county attorney where the alleged victim resides. If the alleged perpetrator is not identified, the county attorney shall request the department to provide the name or other available information to assist in identifying the alleged perpetrator. (b) The duty to provide records to the county attorney under subsection (1)(a) remains throughout the course of an investigation or the prosecution of a case involving the exploitation or theft of identity of an incapacitated person or vulnerable adult. (2) On or before July 1 of each year, each county attorney shall report to the attorney general. The report to the attorney general must include, for each report from the department: (a) a unique case identifier; (b) the date that the initial report or allegation was received by the county attorney; (c) the date any charges were filed; (d) the date of any decision to decline to prosecute; (e) if charges are filed against a defendant, whether a conviction was obtained and, if a conviction was obtained, the sentence imposed by the court; (f) the number of referrals made to the county attorney pursuant to subsection (1); and (g) the number of reports presented that have not resulted in a prosecution or a declination of prosecution within 2 years of the date of the initial report received by the county attorney, and the basis for not making a decision on whether to prosecute or decline prosecution in the matters reported. (3) The attorney general shall create a form for county attorneys to use when submitting reports required by subsection (2). The form must allow collection of the information required by subsection (2) on an aggregated, cumulative basis for a 5-year period until charges are filed or a decision is made to decline to prosecute. (4) The attorney general shall report to the law and justice interim committee each year by September 1 in accordance with 5-11-210 . Except as provided in subsection (4)(e), the report must provide by county: (a) aggregated information regarding the status of the cases reported in subsection (3) by the county attorneys, except for those cases pending review of the county attorney or uncharged cases still under investigation, including data on the total number of cases reported; (b) the number of cases declined for prosecution; (c) the number of cases charged; (d) after consideration of the information provided by the department pursuant to 52-3-817 , any county attorney who failed to provide a complete report required by subsection (3); and (e) any action in the past fiscal year that the attorney general took under the authority of 2-15-501 based on the reports submitted as required in subsection (2). A report made pursuant to this subsection (4)(e) may not include the name of the county.