Opinion ID: 2135158
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Impact of Section 4.13 on Sentencing.

Text: Chrisman argues that Iowa Code section 4.13 requires that he be sentenced for the theft and burglary charges under amended Code sections which would reduce his terms of imprisonment. Section 4.13 contains an ameliorative amendment clause which states: If the penalty, forfeiture, or punishment for any offense is reduced by a re-enactment, revision, or amendment of a statute, the penalty, forfeiture, or punishment if not already imposed shall be imposed according to the statute as amended. For purposes of section 4.13 a penalty is imposed at the time of sentencing. State v. Marvin, 307 N.W.2d 10, 12 (Iowa 1981). Chrisman was sentenced in October 1992. The amended theft and burglary statutes were effective on July 1, 1992. Therefore, if the amended statutes reduce the punishment for his offenses, section 4.13 applies. State v. Bousman, 278 N.W.2d 15, 16 (Iowa 1979). In February 1992 when Chrisman broke into the Farm Service buildings, his actions were deemed burglary in the second degree. Iowa Code § 713.5 (1991). Burglary in the second degree was a class C felony. Id. Under the amended burglary statute Chrisman's act of breaking into an unoccupied structure is burglary in the third degree, a class D felony. 1992 Iowa Acts ch. 1231, § 61 (codified at Iowa Code § 713.6A (1993)). As a class C felony the maximum sentence for second-degree burglary under the 1991 statute was ten years. Iowa Code § 902.9(3) (1991). The maximum sentence for the same criminal conduct reclassified as a class D felony under the amended statute is five years. Iowa Code § 902.9(4) (1993). Similar changes were made in the theft statute. The degrees of theft were altered so that the same conduct is punished less severely under the amendment. In February 1992 the theft of property exceeding $100 but not exceeding $500 was classified as theft in the third degree, an aggravated misdemeanor. Iowa Code § 714.2(3) (1991). However, under the amended theft statute, the theft of property exceeding $100 but not exceeding $500 is deemed theft in the fourth degree, a serious misdemeanor. 1992 Iowa Acts ch. 1060, § 1 (codified at Iowa Code § 714.2(4) (1993)). As a result of this change in the degrees of theft, the maximum sentence under the amended statute for the criminal acts that Chrisman was found to have committed is reduced from two years to one year. Chrisman contends that these amendments have the effect of reducing the punishment for his criminal conduct. The State responds that the amendments redefine the crimes of theft in the third degree and burglary in the second degree but do not change the punishment for these crimes. Therefore, the State argues, section 4.13 does not apply. In State v. Austin, 503 N.W.2d 604 (Iowa 1993), we considered section 4.13 in the context of a theft conviction. In Austin, the defendant was found guilty of third-degree theft, an aggravated misdemeanor. The amendments to the theft statute described above became effective prior to Austin's sentencing. However, the district court sentenced Austin under the old law, resulting in a longer sentence. The State argued in Austin that the amended statute did not affect the penalty for third-degree theft but merely changed an element of the offense. Austin, 503 N.W.2d 604, 605 (Iowa 1993). We concluded that the value of the stolen property under the theft statute was an element used to determine punishment. Id. at 606. Consequently, we held that section 4.13 required that the defendant be sentenced under the amended statute. The State urges us to limit or abandon our holding in Austin. Upon reconsidering it, we now decide to revise the test we employed in Austin in favor of a broader interpretation of the statute that more nearly reflects the legislature's intent in including an ameliorative amendment clause in section 4.13. Our analysis begins with a review of the pertinent principles of statutory construction. In construing a statute the court attempts to identify the legislature's intent and give effect to that intent. Coker v. Abell-Howe Co., 491 N.W.2d 143, 152 (Iowa 1992). To determine legislative intent we consider (1) the language of the statute; (2) the objects sought to be accomplished; (3) the evils sought to be remedied; and (4) a reasonable construction that will effectuate the statute's purpose rather than one that will defeat it. State v. Green, 470 N.W.2d 15, 18 (Iowa 1991). Additionally, an ameliorative provision should be interpreted liberally so as to apply to every case in which it can properly apply. See id. (remedial statute should be liberally construed); State v. Wiese, 201 N.W.2d 734, 737 (Iowa 1972) (ameliorative change in penal law should be extended to every proper case). The language of the statute shows that section 4.13 was intended to give a defendant who had not yet been sentenced the benefit of a reduced punishment enacted after the commission of the offense. Once the legislature has determined that certain conduct warrants a less severe punishment, section 4.13 ensures that the outdated and harsher penalty is no longer imposed. See State v. Flagg, 624 A.2d 864, 866 (Vt.1993). Even in the absence of a provision such as section 4.13, several courts have found a similar legislative intent in the statute mitigating punishment. E.g., In re Estrada, 63 Cal.2d 740, 48 Cal.Rptr. 172, 175, 408 P.2d 948, 951 (1965) (en banc); State v. Clark, 391 So.2d 1174, 1176 (La.1980); People v. Oliver, 1 N.Y.2d 152, 151 N.Y.S.2d 367, 373-74, 134 N.E.2d 197, 202 (1956); State v. Macarelli, 118 R.I. 693, 375 A.2d 944, 947 (1977). We now turn to an examination of the State's position to determine whether the State's desired interpretation of section 4.13 effectuates the legislature's intent. The State would limit the application of section 4.13 to those instances where the legislature has directly changed the punishment for a specified crime. In other words, under the State's interpretation of the statute, a defendant would benefit from a reduction of the maximum sentence for second-degree burglary from ten to five years. However, if the legislature instead reclassified the conduct constituting second-degree burglary so that under the amendment the same conduct was classified as third-degree burglary, the amendment would not benefit a defendant even though a result of the amendment is that the same criminal act is now punished less severely. We believe that such a strict interpretation of the ameliorative amendment clause does not further the legislature's purpose in enacting section 4.13. There are many ways to reduce the penalty for a specific criminal act, only one of which is to directly change the punishment. The punishment can just as effectively be mitigated by redefining a crime so that the same conduct now falls within a less severely punished offense. Note, Today's Law and Yesterday's Crime: Retroactive Application of Ameliorative Criminal Legislation, 121 U.Pa.L.Rev. 120, 139 (1972). Section 4.13 should apply whether the reduction in punishment is accomplished directly or indirectly. See People v. Cloud, 1 Cal. App.3d 591, 81 Cal.Rptr. 716, 721-22 (1969); State ex rel. Abrogast v. Mohn, 164 W.Va. 6, 260 S.E.2d 820, 824 (1979). In determining whether section 4.13 applies here, we focus on whether the same prohibited conduct is punished less severely under the amended statute. In this case, as in Austin, the defendant's prohibited conduct was theft of property exceeding $100 in value but not exceeding $500 in value. Under the amended theft statute such conduct is punished less severely. Therefore, section 4.13 applies and the amended statute allowing a maximum sentence of one year controls Chrisman's sentencing on the theft convictions. Because the district court sentenced Chrisman under the former statute which permitted a maximum sentence of two years, we vacate the sentences entered on Chrisman's theft convictions and remand for resentencing. Section 4.13 is also applicable to the sentences on Chrisman's burglary charges. The prohibited conduct, breaking into an unoccupied building, is punished less severely under the amended statute. Therefore, Chrisman should have been sentenced under that statute. Chrisman also argues that he should have been convicted of burglary as a class D felony rather than as a class C felony. However, section 4.13 is not that broad. It gives a defendant the benefit of a more lenient sentence; it does not require that the characterization of the crime of which he is convicted be changed. See State ex rel. Abrogast v. Mohn, 260 S.E.2d at 823. Although Chrisman should have been sentenced under the amended burglary statute, there was no prejudicial error. Chrisman was adjudicated an habitual offender, a determination he does not challenge. Consequently, he was sentenced as an habitual offender to an indeterminate term not to exceed fifteen years. See Iowa Code §§ 902.8, 902.9 (1991). The amendments to the burglary statute do not affect Chrisman's sentencing as an habitual offender. Therefore, his sentences for the second-degree burglary counts are affirmed. See State v. Sumpter, 438 N.W.2d 6, 9 (Iowa 1989) (improper consideration of victim impact statements did not require vacation of sentence where defendant was not prejudiced).