Opinion ID: 853390
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Manifestly Unreasonable Sentence Enhancement

Text: The defendant also contends that the thirty-year habitual offender sentence enhancement of his fifty-year sentence for rape is manifestly unreasonable. Emphasizing that his two prior felony convictions were non-violent class D felonies, he asks that his enhancement be reduced from thirty years to ten years. Upon the jury's determination that the defendant was guilty of rape as a class A felony, criminal deviate conduct as a class A felony, criminal confinement as a class B felony, battery as a class C felony, and criminal recklessness as a class D felony, the trial court imposed the maximum sentence for each count but ordered the sentences served concurrent to each other. Because the jury found that the defendant was a habitual criminal offender by reason of having accumulated two prior unrelated felony convictions, the court was required to impose a habitual offender enhancement upon only one of the convictions, and to specify the conviction thus enhanced. See Greer v. State, 680 N.E.2d 526, 527 (Ind.1997). In the present case, depending upon whether the enhancement was attached to one of the class A felonies or the class D felony, the trial court could have imposed an enhancement ranging from as little as one and one-half years to thirty years, pursuant to the statute which provides: The court shall sentence a person found to be a habitual criminal to an additional fixed term that is not less than the presumptive sentence for the underlying offense nor more than three (3) times the presumptive sentence for the underlying offense. However, the additional sentence may not exceed thirty (30) years. Ind.Code 35-50-2-8(e). [9] The trial court chose to attach the habitual offender enhancement to the conviction for rape as a class A felony, thereby further enhancing its maximum fifty-year sentence for rape to eighty years. Because the presumptive sentence for a class A felony is thirty years, [10] the habitual offender enhancement attached to a class A felony requires an enhancement of thirty years. The defendant argues that his habitual offender enhancement was the same as would have been given to a serial murderer, and is manifestly unreasonable considering that his two prior felony convictions were class D felonies. The State responds that the enhancement was reasonable particularly in light of the brutality of his offenses against M.S. We note that a jury's habitual offender finding reflects not merely its conclusion that a defendant has been twice previously convicted of unrelated felonies, but also that the two prior convictions together with the current offense lead it to find that the defendant is a habitual criminal. Seay v. State, 698 N.E.2d 732, 736 (Ind.1998). This Court is authorized to review and revise a sentence authorized by statute when we find the sentence is manifestly unreasonable in light of the nature of the offense and the character of the offender. Ind.Appellate Rule 7(B). [11] To warrant modification of a sentence as manifestly unreasonable, we must find it to be clearly, plainly, and obviously unreasonable. Thacker v. State, 709 N.E.2d 3, 10 (Ind.1999); Brown v. State, 698 N.E.2d 779, 783-84 (Ind.1998); Prowell v. State, 687 N.E.2d 563, 568 (Ind.1997). In sentencing the defendant, the trial court found that he had a history of non-violent criminal activity consisting of theft in 1998, operating while intoxicated as a D felony in 1995, operating while intoxicated as a misdemeanor in 1994, operating while intoxicated in 1991, and several incidents of driving while suspended prior to 1990. The court found that, with respect to the count charging criminal recklessness, the defendant pointed a rifle at M.S.'s child, who was less than 12 years of age. The court summarized the criminal episode as follows: You, while armed with a deadly weapon, confronted this lady, and struck her, and threatened her and required her to forcibly submit to sexual activities, More than one. Record at 532-33. As mitigating circumstances, the court found that the defendant had earned a G.E.D., that he had served in the U.S. Army during Operation Desert Storm, and that his incarceration would be hardship on his family. Record at 532. Considering the nature of the offenses and the defendant's character as reflected by the trial court's sentencing findings, the court's decision to impose the maximum fifty-year sentences for rape and criminal deviate conduct, and the range of habitual offender enhancements available, we conclude that imposing the maximum habitual enhancement by attaching it to one of the class A felony convictions was clearly and plainly unreasonable. We agree with the defendant that the enhancement should be ten years. This may be implemented by attaching the enhancement to either criminal confinement as a class B felony or battery as a class C felony.