Opinion ID: 2570459
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: hard 40 issues

Text: During sentencing, the trial court considered both aggravating and mitigating factors pursuant to K.S.A. 21-4635, K.S.A. 21-4636, and K.S.A. 21-4637. The judge determined that there was one aggravating factor and one mitigating factor and thereafter sentenced Saiz to the hard 40, stating: I'll address first count one [first-degree murder]. As to count one, pursuant to the statutes of the state of Kansas, I do find that there are certain aggravated circumstances that exist as defined in the statute, primarily being the defendant knowingly and purposely created a risk of death to more than one person. As to mitigation, the only statutorily defined mitigating circumstance that exists is the age of defendant. There have been some points made of the age of all the defendants. In this case we're dealing with the acts of a child. Society does have some obligation to be concerned and care for our children. Society must also punish violent criminals, in this case a murderer. Society must also deal with this conflict, so must I. Now, it is clear to me from the evidence that has been presented, regardless of the arguments made and theories voiced, that based on the evidence Mr. Saiz went out that night to show himself a man, that he was one to be feared, that he was a man to be dealt with. He has been successful. He is a man to be dealt with. I am afraid of him. Society should be afraid of him, the effects that he may have on all of us. He did not consider himself a child at that time. He desired to be viewed and treated as a man. The evidence is clear to this Court that Mr. Saiz saw two individuals and he shot at them twice with the intent to kill. When that proved impossible, at the moment he saw another human target he brought his weapon to bear fully on that target and he shot to kill Tony Galvan. There's nothing reasonably offered other than youth to suggest that I ignore any of the acts or to suggest that I should not punish each of the acts that happened. It may be that Mr. Saiz's targets were the three people and never necessarily that house. Hitting the house was merely incidental to the effort or the desire to shoot three people. However, it did occur in the commission of another felony, the felony of attempted premeditated murder. I will find based on this that the mitigating factors do not overrule or counterbalance the aggravating factors in this case. I do find that the primary offense is count one, which calls for a forty-year sentence with no post-release supervision. Saiz' argument concerning the imposition of a hard 40 sentence is two-fold: (1) He argues that there was insufficient evidence to support the finding of an aggravating circumstance, and (2) he argues that the finding of one aggravating circumstance (risk of death to more than one person) cannot outweigh, overrule, or counterbalance the court's finding of one mitigating circumstance (age of defendant).
Saiz argues that there was insufficient evidence to support the finding of an aggravating circumstance in this case. Saiz argues that there was insufficient evidence to support the court's finding of the aggravating factor that he purposely created a risk of death to more than one person. Saiz asserts that there is no way he could have hit either Galvan or Delorea as they were hiding behind and under the car. As we discussed earlier, there was sufficient evidence to support the convictions for the attempted murders of Galvan and Delorea. As such, the court correctly considered their risk of death in finding an aggravating circumstance. There was sufficient evidence, when viewed in a light most favorable to the State, by which a rational factfinder could have found by a preponderance of the evidence, the existence of the aggravating circumstance.
The trial court's weighing of the aggravating and mitigating circumstances is within its sound discretion and will not be disturbed on appeal absent an abuse of discretion. State v. Spain, 269 Kan. 54, Syl. ¶ 1, 4 P.3d 621 (2000). Discretion is abused when judicial action is arbitrary, fanciful, or unreasonable, which is another way of saying that discretion is abused only when no reasonable person would take the view adopted by the trial court. State v. Wagner, 248 Kan. 240, 242, 807 P.2d 139 (1991). Saiz asserts that the court only found one aggravating circumstance and that the hard 40 sentence should not have been imposed because no aggravating circumstance outweighed the mitigating circumstance. K.S.A. 21-4635(c) reads in pertinent part: If the court finds that one or more of the aggravating circumstances enumerated in K.S.A. 21-4636 and amendments thereto exist and, further, that the existence of such aggravating circumstances is not outweighed by any mitigating circumstances which are found to exist, the defendant shall be sentenced pursuant to K.S.A. 21-4638 and amendments thereto. The weighing of the aggravating and mitigating circumstances is not a simple matter of counting the number of circumstances on each side. The court may consider the strength of the individual circumstances as well as the number of circumstances shown. A sole aggravating circumstance may be so strong that it outweighs several weaker mitigating circumstances. A single aggravating circumstance may support the imposition of a hard 40 sentence even when there is evidence to support a mitigating circumstance. See Spain, 269 Kan. at 55-60 (affirming hard 40 sentence where court considered only one aggravating circumstance and one mitigating circumstance); State v. Dias, 263 Kan. 331, 338, 949 P.2d 1093 (1997) (affirming hard 40 sentence where there was only one aggravating circumstance and one mitigating circumstance as the heinous, atrocious, and cruel nature of the crime outweighed the fact that the defendant had no prior significant criminal history); State v. Follin, 263 Kan. 28, 48, 947 P.2d 8 (1997) (noting that the weighing of aggravating and mitigating circumstances is not a simple numerical process and affirming hard 40 sentence where the jury found two aggravating circumstances and two mitigating circumstances); State v. Phillips, 252 Kan. 937, 942-43, 850 P.2d 877 (1993) (noting that one aggravating circumstance can be so compelling as to outweigh several mitigating factors and affirming hard 40 sentence where there was only one aggravating circumstance and six mitigating circumstances); State v. Bailey, 251 Kan. 156, 178, 834 P.2d 342 (1992) (holding that the two or three mitigating circumstances in the case were so weak that the hard 40 sentence could have been affirmed even if there would have been only one aggravating circumstance); and PIK Crim.3d 56.01-E (jury instruction used when the jury was to consider the hard 40 sentence informing jury to keep in mind that your decision should not be determined solely by the number of aggravating or any mitigating circumstances that are shown to exist). The trial court in the present case considered the one mitigating circumstance to be weak, as the court found that Saiz considered himself a man and committed the crimes in order to prove that he was a man. The fact that Saiz placed several lives in danger by shooting a shotgun during a drive-by shooting outweighs the mitigating factor of his age. We find no abuse in discretion where the trial court found that the weak mitigating circumstance did not outweigh the aggravating circumstance. Affirmed.