Opinion ID: 1119833
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 26

Heading: form of weapons enhancement charges

Text: Rhoades contends that the prosecution's decision to charge weapons enhancements as separate counts in the indictment was prejudicial, in that it would lead a jury to believe that Rhoades was charged with additional crimes. He argues that I.C. § 19-2520, which allows enhanced sentences for the use of a firearm or deadly weapon in the commission of certain felonies, does not create a separate substantive crime, and should not be permitted to be present in the information in a format which could lend the impression that it constitutes a separate crime. The statute specifically provides that a person convicted of certain enumerated felonies who displayed, used, threatened, or attempted to use a firearm or other deadly weapon while committing the crime, shall be sentenced to an extended term of imprisonment. I.C. § 19-2520. In order to impose this additional term, the defendant must be separately charged in the information or indictment and admitted by the accused or found to be true by the trier of fact... . The trial court followed the explicit language of the statute. This was not error.