Opinion ID: 1160538
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Assuming the validity of the majority's findings, is this court warranted in invoking its statutory power to reduce the sentence in this case?

Text: It is evident that we disagree with the majority's conclusion that DePiano's crime was not of the typical sort envisaged by § 13-4037(B) and with the majority's further conclusion that her presumptive sentence was inappropriate because she allegedly acted out of depression and despair. Even if the findings of the majority were correctly made at the appellate level, DePiano's presumptive sentence should not be reduced under § 13-4037(B). The majority concedes that we should use our power to reduce a sentence under A.R.S. § 13-4037(B) only with great caution. (Maj. op. at 31, 926 P.2d at 498, citing State v. Patton, 120 Ariz. 386, 388, 586 P.2d 635, 637 (1978); State v. Killian, 91 Ariz. 140, 142, 370 P.2d 287, 289 (1962)). The majority notes, we will only reduce a sentence if it clearly appears to be too severe. (Maj. op. at 31, 926 P.2d at 498, citing State v. Herrera, 121 Ariz. 12, 15, 588 P.2d 305, 308 (1978)). The power of this court to modify sentences should further be tempered by the realization that a defendant appears in person before the trial judge, rendering that judge, in most instances, more able than ourselves to evaluate the defendant and his circumstances. ( See maj. op. at 31, 926 P.2d at 498, citing Patton, 120 Ariz. at 388, 586 P.2d at 637). Having noted the limited scope of the statute, the majority states: Such cases [warranting reduction] will be rare. Indeed, until today, we had not seen such a case in years. Maj. op. at 31, 926 P.2d at 498. Perhaps this statement is intended to dissuade defendants from flooding Arizona appellate courts with requests for discretionary reduction of their sentences. A deluge of such requests is certainly otherwise readily foreseeable, for we can discern nothing concrete in the majority opinion that would distinguish this case from thousands of others in which severe sentences have been and are being imposed. Arizona admittedly has a stern and complex sentencing regime with many mandatory sentences, enhanced sentences, aggravated sentences, flat-time sentences, and hard-time sentences. The majority's determination that statutorily authorized presumptive sentences are excessive because the crimes are not typical or because they were committed by depressed people offers no rational distinction between this case and many others. Thus, we may expect future claims for sentence reductions to be based on equally nebulous grounds. Nor does the present case fit the narrow band of cases in which this court has exercised its statutory discretion in the past to reduce a sentence under § 13-4037(B). The facts of those cases granting relief under A.R.S. § 13-4037(B) stand in marked contrast to this one. For example, we have reduced a sentence as excessive because it exceeded the applicable statutory limits. State v. Jennings, 104 Ariz. 159, 160, 449 P.2d 938, 939 (1969). We have reduced sentences in cases which involved juvenile or youthful offenders. State v. Telavera, 76 Ariz. 183, 186-87, 261 P.2d 997, 999-1000 (1953) (seventeen-year-old defendant); State v. Fierro, 101 Ariz. 118, 121, 416 P.2d 551, 554 (1966) (seventeen-year-old defendant); State v. Flores, 108 Ariz. 231, 232, 495 P.2d 461, 462 (1972) (eighteen-year-old defendant); State v. Seelen, 107 Ariz. 256, 262, 485 P.2d 826, 832 (1971) (nineteen-year-old defendant). This court has also reduced sentences as excessive based on the errors and omissions of the sentencing court. State v. Killian, 91 Ariz. 140, 145, 370 P.2d 287, 292 (1962) (reducing a sentence for possession of marijuana largely because the trial court had been misled to believe that defendant was guilty of an unrelated rape); State v. Tuggle, 101 Ariz. 216, 219, 418 P.2d 372, 375 (1966) (remanding a case for resentencing because the sentencing court did not consider as mitigation defendant's age at the time of the crime (eighteen), his rehabilitation, and his restitution to both the victims and the state). All of the foregoing cases in which sentences were reduced arose during the time when Arizona had indeterminate sentencing and trial judges had almost unlimited discretion in imposing sentences. Since presumptive determinate sentencing went into effect with the 1978 code, there have been only three reductions of sentencing under § 13-4037(B). One sentence was reduced because it exceeded the statutorily authorized punishment, State v. Kerr, 142 Ariz. 426, 435, 690 P.2d 145, 154 (App. 1984). One set aside a $137,000 fine imposed on a defendant who had been convicted of a theft of under $500. State v. Marquez-Sosa, 161 Ariz. 500, 504, 779 P.2d 815, 819 (App. 1989). The third such case was a contempt case rather than a criminal prosecution. Hamilton v. Municipal Court, 163 Ariz. 374, 380, 788 P.2d 107, 113 (App. 1990). In contempt cases, there are no statutory guidelines for sentencing, and the court of appeals concluded that 120 hours of incarceration for failure of a lawyer to make a court appearance was excessive under the facts. Id. Cases in which sentences have been reduced are extremely rare and have involved youthful defendants, mistakes or omissions at the trial level, relatively minor or nonviolent offenses, sentences beyond the statutory range, or other extenuating circumstances which show an abuse of discretion or clear error at the trial level. In this case, defendant is not youthful, but is, instead, a mature adult. She was twenty-nine years old when she committed the instant offense. Her crime was a very serious one which threatened to end the lives of two small children. The sentence imposed was within the permissible range and was the presumptive sentence which the legislature has deemed appropriate for acts of child abuse. No appellate court in Arizona has ever reduced a sentence for child abuse under § 13-4037(B). We would not do so now. Until today, this court has maintained an appropriately high level of restraint under § 13-4037(B), as demonstrated by the very few cases in which sentences have been reduced in the past. Today's case stands as a disturbing anomaly amid that line of decisions and invites wholesale requests for appellate resentencing under the statute, assuming the statute survives. For the foregoing reasons, we respectfully dissent from Part III of the majority opinion. ROBERT J. CORCORAN, J. (Retired), concurs.