HELENA (AP)
The state Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a Billings woman who was given a suspended sentence for embezzling $100,000 from her employer. A jury convicted Shirley Blome of two felonies, theft by embezzlement and forgery, in December 2006. District Judge Ingrid Gus tafson gave Blome a 20-year suspended sentence and ordered her to pay restitution to the auto repair business where she was a bookkeeper. Blome argued on appeal that the prosecution used leading questions during her trial, and that the introduction of a videotaped statement violated a court order barring the state from mentioning that Blome was the subject of an Internal Revenue Service investigation. The state countered that Blome didn't object to the prosecution's questions during the trial, and that her attorney told the court he believed the videotape was admissible. In a decision issued Wednesday, the Supreme Court said state law bars appellate review of alleged errors that weren't objected to at trial. Regarding the videotape, it said it wouldn't find a lower court in error for action "in which the appealing party acquiesced or actively participated."
