Opinion ID: 1738471
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Reduced charge as affecting disposition.

Text: In the language quoted above, the trial court said that when this defendant was allowed to plead guilty to the aggravated misdemeanor of Manslaughter, the clemency that could be extended at this level was exhausted. It is not clear what was meant by this statement. Did he mean he could not consider alternatives to incarceration? Clearly under chapter 907, Code Supp.1977, he would have the authority to order such alternatives unless the case fell into the category of crime for which they were prohibited. No one here contends that this defendant was denied such leniency consideration by statute. If the court, on the other hand, meant that he would not consider alternatives, because of the fact that the defendant had entered a plea of guilty for a reduced charge, we must consider the recent case of State v. Thompson, 275 N.W.2d 370 (Iowa 1979). In Thompson, the defendant had originally been charged with second degree burglary but entered a plea of guilty to a reduced charge of third degree theft. The sentencing court stated that: It is the opinion of the court that a reduction of the charge from a class C felony to an aggravated misdemeanor does not justify the court's allowance of probation or deferred sentence. We pointed out in that case that the problem did not involve the sentencing court's discretion under State v. Peckenschneider, 236 N.W.2d 344 (Iowa 1975), nor the duty of the trial court to consider all relevant factors in the exercise of its sentencing discretion under State v. Kendall, 167 N.W.2d 909 (Iowa 1969). Rather, the problem is that in such circumstances a more severe sentence might be imposed merely because of the fact that a higher charge had been filed not because the higher charge had been established. In Thompson we said that: A sentencing court may, within statutory limits, impose a severe sentence for a lower crime on the ground that the accused actually committed a higher crime on the occasion involved if the facts before the court showed the accused committed the higher crime or the defendant admits itwhether or not the prosecutor originally charged the higher crime.. . A sentencing court may not, however, impose a severe sentence for a lower crime on the ground that the accused actually committed a higher crime unless the facts before the court show the accused committed the higher crime or the defendant admits iteven if the prosecutor originally charged the higher crime and reduced the charge. The controlling consideration is whether the accused in fact committed the higher crime, not whether the prosecutor originally charged it. Thompson, 275 N.W.2d at 372. In this case, there was not merely a lack of proving the higher offense, but also an affirmative finding by the trial court that as to the elements of the more serious offense, voluntariness was not present. At sentencing the court said in part that: [F]or there to be a murder, there has to be the intent to kill, and it was never present here. And when the testimony was taken from the various witnesses. . . it developed that this was an accidental death, in the Court's opinion, that arose from an unlawful act . .. And I therefore permitted the plea to the includedrather, to the lesser offense of Involuntary Manslaughter. The finding of the court that certain elements of the higher offense were not present makes the reference to the reduction of charges here even more suspect than in Thompson, where the court made no finding one way or the other whether the facts to substantiate a higher charge were present. We conclude that the case must be reversed and remanded for resentencing on this basis, at which time the sentencing court may give weight to the nature of the offense committed or of a higher offense only to the extent that they are established by the evidence presented.