Case Name: STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. David Lamar NIELD, Defendant-Appellant
Court: Idaho Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Idaho
Decision Date: 1984-06-06
Citations: 106 Idaho 665
Docket Number: No. 15218
Parties: STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. David Lamar NIELD, Defendant-Appellant.
Judges: SHEPARD and BAKES, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Idaho Reports
Volume: 106
Pages: 665–675

Head Matter:
682 P.2d 618
STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. David Lamar NIELD, Defendant-Appellant.
No. 15218.
Supreme Court of Idaho.
June 6, 1984.
Gaylen L. Box, Pocatello, for defendant-appellant.
Jim Jones, Atty. Gen., Lynn E. Thomas, Sol. Gen., Steven W. Berenter, Deputy Atty. Gen., Boise, for plaintiff-respondent.

Opinion:
DONALDSON, Chief Justice.
The appeal to the Court of Appeals involved a review of the sentence imposed upon the defendant, David Lamar Nield, for a sexual assault upon a ten-year-old girl. The defendant was sentenced by the district court to the custody of the Board of Corrections for an indeterminate period not exceeding ten years. Before the Court of Appeals, the defendant contended that the district judge did not adequately state the reasons for the sentence imposed, and that the sentence was excessive.
We granted the Petition for Review pursuant to I.A.R. 118(b)(2) to review the sole issue of whether a district court must state of record the reasons for the sentence imposed. In all other respects, the decision of the Court of Appeals remains undisturbed.
The Court of Appeals examined this issue in view of their previous decision in State v. Tisdale, 103 Idaho 836, 654 P.2d 1389 (Ct.App.1982), wherein the Court of Appeals required that the sentencing court "indicate of record his reasons for the sentence then imposed." Id. at 838, 654 P.2d at 1390. In applying the Tisdale standard to the case at bar, the Court of Appeals stated that the district court's oral statements made on the record at the conclusion of the hearing and in the presence of the defendant, were sufficient to satisfy the Tisdale standard.
In reaching this decision, the Court of Appeals erroneously failed to consider Tisdale to have been overruled by this Court in State v. Osborn, 104 Idaho 809, 663 P.2d 1111 (1983). In Osborn we stated, and again we reiterate, "that while the setting forth of reasons for the imposition of a particular sentence would be helpful and is encouraged, it is not mandatory." Id. at 810, 663 P.2d at 1112; see also State v. Brewster, 106 Idaho 145, 676 P.2d 720 (1984). Henceforth, this is the law of Idaho, and all cases holding otherwise are hereby overruled.
Consistent with these views, we hold that the sentencing judge was not mandated to set forth the reasons for the imposition of the defendant's sentence. Thus, the sentence imposed by the district court is affirmed and, consistent with the holding of the Court of Appeals, the judgment of the district court in all other respects is affirmed.
SHEPARD and BAKES, JJ., concur.