Judge finds Missoula defense attorney guilty of theft, after unusual trial (2024)

Missoula courthouse employees found themselves taking the stand Friday during a single-day trial to determine whether a former public defender is guilty of theft for tossing her ex-husband’s cellphone in the trash following an emotional district court hearing last December.

Flathead County Justice of the Peace Paul Sullivan found Scotti Ramberg, a Missoula defense attorney, guilty of the single misdemeanor charge of theft of lost property that prosecutors accused her of in April. Sullivan was substituted into the Missoula County Justice courtroom to replace local Justice of the Peace Alex Beal.

In an interview after the verdict, Ramberg said she’s considering appealing the ruling.

Taking the stand after five state’s witnesses that included a clerk of court, a bailiff, a former security guard and the county sheriff’s detective who oversees courthouse surveillance, Ramberg admitted to much of what Deputy Missoula County Attorney Chase Carter had worked to establish Friday morning. During the Dec. 22, 2023 incident, she was angry after losing a hearing regarding a custody dispute and she picked up her ex-husband’s phone after he left it behind, and tossed it in the trash on her way out of the courtroom.

The case, however, boiled down to whether her actions last December had “the purpose of depriving the owner permanently of the use or benefit of the property.” Ramberg’s defense attorney, Alyssa Aklestad, argued it was unrealistic to think her ex-husband wouldn’t have been able to easily recover the phone once he realized it was missing.

As it happened, a bailiff heard it loudly fall into the trash can, pulled it out and returned it to its owner when he came back. Failing that, Aklestad suggested her ex-husband could have easily tracked it down using the Find My iPhone app. Ramberg testified that she only wanted to “hurt his feelings” after a difficult outcome in court.

Questioned by her attorney, she also suggested if she wanted to “permanently deprive” him of his phone, she would have put it on airplane mode, boarded an airplane and given the phone a factory-reset at cruising altitude before throwing it in the ocean after she landed.

Carter rejected that argument, though, noting that when she threw a coffee cup in the trash, she wasn’t expecting that item to be recovered.

“Common sense tells us that we don’t throw things of value away, we only throw things in the trash when we’re done using them,” he said during his closing statements.

Justice of the Peace Sullivan agreed: “I simply can’t get past the point that it was a garbage can, that we place other garbage with the intent of destroying it in there,” he said. “And I’m unpersuaded that you were thinking any further ahead than throwing the phone away.”

Sullivan declined to side with the state’s sentencing recommendation, however, and instead suspended the six-month jail term, on the condition Ramberg remains law-abiding during that time. Ramberg must also pay $235 in fines.

“What I think happened is you had a very human reaction to a very upsetting day,” Sullivan said.

Besides the high profile of the defendant, the case was unusual for bringing a relatively minor charge all the way to a trial. Dozens of observers joined the Zoom feed throughout the day, and Sullivan acknowledged the charged atmosphere as he handed down the sentence.

“I have a suspicion that this case is about more than this case,” he said. “I feel that there are more moving pieces here.”

Speaking afterward, Ramberg said even with a conviction, the terms of her sentence were still better than the plea deal that prosecutors offered. She argued that the county attorney’s office specifically targeted her to get her removed from cases she was serving on as a public defender.

Ramberg was employed by the Office of Public Defender before the charges were filed, but has since worked for the agency only on a contract basis. She's not sure if she'll be able to retain that job following her conviction, she said.

Carter declined to comment on either of Ramberg’s accusations. Speaking after the trial, he said only that the county attorney’s office appreciated Justice Sullivan taking the time to travel from Kalispell and oversee the case.

Ramberg was also the defendant in a lawsuit that alleged she created a pair of companies to file fraudulent liens on a vacant house that wasn’t hers, and then rented out the property to one of her clients when she was still a public defender.

That complaint, filed in May 2023 by the property owner, was withdrawn in October following an out-of-court settlement.