Arsonist appeals conviction to Montana Supreme Court

A Whitefish man convicted of arson earlier this year for setting fire to his ex-girlfriend’s house has appealed his sentence to the Montana Supreme Court. 

In a Nov. 9 appeal, legal counsel for James Wallace Langley, 35, claims that Langley should have been allowed to withdraw his no-contest plea after Flathead District Judge Robert Allison decided not to follow a plea agreement that defense and prosecuting had reached in the case.

“Langley’s sentence of imprisonment is illegal because it was imposed in violation of [Montana Code],” defense attorney Colin Stephens wrote. “Had the court accepted the plea agreement, Langley would be serving a deferred sentence. Had the court complied with the mandate of [Montana Code], Langley would have withdrawn his no contest plea. Because the court neither imposed the agreed-upon sentence, nor afforded Langley with the opportunity to withdraw his plea, Langley respectfully request this Court vacate his sentence.”

Allison did not follow the six-year recommended deferred sentence in the case and instead sent Langley to the Montana Department of Corrections for 10 years, with five suspended. He is incarcerated in Missoula.

“I don’t know what sort of a sentence would be handed down by a court in this jurisdiction for committing a deliberate act calculated to injure or kill members of the community, but it wouldn’t be a six-year deferred,” Allison said at Langley’s first sentencing hearing in March.

Langley then tried unsuccessfully to withdraw his no-contest plea.

Stephens claims state law requires Allison to allow withdrawal of the plea but Allison disagreed.

“At the change-of-plea hearing the court discussed the fact that it was not bound by the plea agreement with defendant,” Allison wrote in a ruling on Langley’s motion to withdraw his plea. “The court specifically inquired whether, despite the fact that defendant could receive a different sentence, defendant was willing to enter a plea. Defendant indicated that he was.”

Langley has asked to be resentenced under the parameters of the plea agreement or be allowed to withdraw his plea in the case.