Opinion ID: 853705
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Sentencing Statement

Text: Bonds is correct that the trial court's sentencing statement must identify all significant mitigating circumstances. Hammons v. State, 493 N.E.2d 1250, 1254 (Ind.1986). A trial court's sentencing statement is reviewed for an abuse of discretion. Harris v. State, 659 N.E.2d 522, 527 (Ind.1995). The trial court expressly considered the fact that Bonds' incarceration would create hardship for his family. Bonds suggests that the trial court did not give this circumstance enough weight. However, [t]he trial court is not required to give the same weight to proffered mitigating circumstances as the defendant does. Thacker v. State, 709 N.E.2d 3, 10 (Ind.1999). Bonds also points to his expression of remorse and acceptance of responsibility as a mitigating circumstance that the trial court failed to take into consideration. Bonds' statement: I'm sorry that the familyI'm remorseful for all what happened. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time because I didn'tI didn't tell nobody; I didn't pay nobody. I was just going to talk to the guy about getting my mother's car back. I'm sorry about what all happened. I just don't know what went wrong is at best an equivocal statement that he was involved in Webster's death but is well short of a full acceptance of responsibility. It certainly does not qualify as a significant mitigating circumstance that the trial court was required to take into account. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in failing to find Bonds' expression of remorse as a significant mitigating circumstance. See, e.g., Wooley v. State, 716 N.E.2d 919, 931 (Ind.1999) (rejecting defendant's apology to the victim's family as significant mitigating circumstance); cf. Wilkins v. State, 500 N.E.2d 747, 749 (Ind. 1986) (finding no error in trial court's failure to address mitigating circumstances that were highly disputable in nature, weight, or significance).