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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF IDAHO

Docket No. 37687

STATE OF IDAHO,

Plaintiff-Respondent,

v.

DAYLE S. WESTRA,

Defendant-Appellant.

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2010 Unpublished Opinion No. 730

Filed: December 2, 2010

Stephen W. Kenyon, Clerk

THIS IS AN UNPUBLISHED

OPINION AND SHALL NOT

BE CITED AS AUTHORITY

Appeal from the District Court of the First Judicial District, State of Idaho, 

Bonner County. Hon. Steven C. Verby, District Judge. 

Judgment of conviction and unified sentence of twenty years, with a minimum 

period of confinement of two and one-half years, for lewd conduct with a minor 

child under sixteen years of age, affirmed.

Molly J. Huskey, State Appellate Public Defender; Spencer J. Hahn, Deputy 

Appellate Public Defender, Boise, for appellant. 

Hon. Lawrence G. Wasden, Attorney General; Lori A. Fleming, Deputy Attorney 

General, Boise, for respondent. 

______________________________________________

Before LANSING, Chief Judge; GUTIERREZ, Judge;

and MELANSON, Judge

PER CURIAM

Dayle S. Westra pled guilty to lewd conduct with a minor child under sixteen years of 

age. I.C. § 18-1508. In exchange for Westra’s guilty plea, the state agreed to recommend a 

unified life sentence, with a minimum period of confinement of ten years. The district court 

sentenced Westra to a unified term of twenty years, with a minimum period of confinement of 

two and one-half years. Westra appeals.

Westra sexually abused his stepdaughter, M.B. for approximately nine years, beginning 

when M.B. was three years old. Westra forced M.B. to perform oral sex on him, ejaculated in 

her mouth, tied her to the bed with cargo straps, and anally and vaginally raped her. He video 
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recorded M.B. as he raped her, told her he would kill her if she disclosed the abuse, and if she 

screamed he put a sock or something in her mouth. M.B. was almost twelve years of age when 

she finally disclosed the abuse to her mother, after having made a plan to run away from home. 

M.B. underwent a sexual assault examination at the hospital, which revealed evidence of recent 

anal penetration, evidence of recent perivaginal contact, and evidence of past hymenal 

penetration--all findings that corroborated the history of ongoing sexual abuse. M.B.’s mother 

advised that Westra had genital herpes and subsequent test results indicated that M.B. also tested 

positive for herpes and hepatitis C.

Sentencing is a matter for the trial court’s discretion. Both our standard of review and the 

factors to be considered in evaluating the reasonableness of the sentence are well established and 

need not be repeated here. See State v. Hernandez, 121 Idaho 114, 117-18, 822 P.2d 1011, 1014-

15 (Ct. App. 1991); State v. Lopez, 106 Idaho 447, 449-51, 680 P.2d 869, 871-73 (Ct. App. 

1984); State v. Toohill, 103 Idaho 565, 568, 650 P.2d 707, 710 (Ct. App. 1982). When reviewing 

the length of a sentence, we consider the defendant’s entire sentence. State v. Oliver, 144 Idaho 

722, 726, 170 P.3d 387, 391 (2007). 

The issue before this Court is not whether the sentence is one that we would have 

imposed, but whether the sentence is plainly excessive under any reasonable view of the facts. 

Toohill, 103 Idaho at 568, 650 P.2d at 710. Having thoroughly reviewed the record in this case, 

we cannot say that the district court abused its discretion. Therefore, Westra’s judgment of 

conviction and sentence are affirmed.