Abuse of Discretion in Sentencing. In cases where the district court sits as an intermediate appellate court, the district court reviews the county court judgment for error appearing on the record made in the county court. A sentence imposed within statutory limits will not be disturbed on appeal absent an abuse of discretion by the trial court. An abuse of discretion takes place when the sentencing court's reasons or rulings are clearly untenable and unfairly deprive a litigant of a substantial right and a just result. State v. Hill, supra.
Courts are well advised to rely upon the statutory guidelines for imposing sentences.
State v. Pattno, supra. In this case, the 7-day jail sentence imposed upon Hopkins by the county court is certainly much shorter than she might have received. I misdemeanor is 1 year. The fact that Hopkins' sentence by the county court falls well within the statutory guidelines and is in fact on the lenient side of those guidelines, demonstrates that the sentence was not clearly untenable and did not unfairly deprive Hopkins of a substantial right and a just result. A sentence clearly within the statutory limits is generally not an abuse of discretion.