Opinion ID: 1764966
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: The suspended sentences are legal

Text: The sentences meted out by the trial court in this case were legal because La.C.Cr.P. art. 893 does not restrict a judge's discretion to impose a suspended sentence unless the crime resulting in his sentence was committed after his first conviction. Article 893, in pertinent part, provides that, after a defendant has been convicted of a non-capital felony, a sentencing judge may suspend for the first conviction only the imposition or execution of any sentence   . It is undisputed that the defendant had not been convicted of a felony before October 26, 1981. On that morning, the trial court in one brief, uninterrupted proceeding, accepted the defendant's guilty pleas and imposed the sentences. Although there were multiple charges, the pleas were taken contemporaneously and the sentences were all imposed at the same time. In fact, essentially one guilty plea was entered and one sentence imposed with respect to all charges. The concurrent three year suspended sentences were identical except that a fine of $3,500 was levied in connection with one charge. From the record presented, we cannot deduce that any one of the defendant's convictions preceded the other. Even if we could, we do not think it is the legislative aim of Article 893 to base probation eligibility solely on such nice temporal distinctions. Rather our examination of Article 893 in comparison with other statutes with similar objectives indicates that the crucial inquiry is whether a defendant has been convicted of a felony before he committed the offense resulting in the sentence under consideration. Article 893 shares characteristics and objectives with the multiple offender statute, La.R.S. 15:529.1, and various repeated offense statutes. E.g., La.R.S. 14:67 (theft); 14:99 (reckless motor vehicle operation); 40:966 (marijuana possession). The common legislative aim of such statutes is to serve as a warning to first offenders, to afford them an opportunity to reform and to protect society by deterring the commission of future crimes. State v. Neal, 347 So.2d 1139 (La.1977); State v. George, 218 La. 18, 48 So.2d 265 (1950). Annotation, 24 A.L.R.2d 1247 (1952). Each statute is designed to accomplish these objects, at least in part, by limiting the judge's sentencing discretion after a first conviction and by erecting a threat of enhanced punishment for subsequent convictions. Likewise, upon a defendant's conviction for a second felony offense, Article 893 operates to divest the sentencing judge of his discretion to suspend the defendant's sentence and place him on probation. The consistent application of our multiple offender statute and our repeated offense statutes over the years has been that prior convictions, in order to be available for imposition of a greater punishment as a subsequent offender, must precede the commission of the principal offense, that is, the latest prosecution in point of time. Indeed, this is the greatly preponderant interpretation of similar statutes throughout the nation, regardless of the phraseology of the statute (or whether it specifies that the earlier conviction(s) must precede the latest offense), whenever enhanced penalties are provided for a subsequent offense, whether with reference to multiple offender statutes or to other statutes creating a greater degree of criminal liability for a repeater offense. State v. Neal, supra, at 1141, 24 A.L.R. 1247. In fact, the multiple offender statute was amended in 1956 to avoid a contrary interpretation by this court. See State v. Williams, 226 La. 862, 77 So.2d 515 (1955); Act No. 312 of 1956. The multiple offender statute has ever since provided that the offender shall be deemed a second offender only if the crime resulting in the second conviction shall have been committed after his first conviction. La.R.S. 15:529.1(B). The only deviation from the general rule seems to be our DWI statute which was amended in 1978 to provide that [o]n a second conviction, regardless of whether the second offense occurred before or after the first conviction, the offender shall be given enhanced punishment. La.R.S. 14:98. The exception proves the general rule that, unless otherwise expressly provided, the offender shall be deemed a second offender only if the crime resulting in the second conviction shall have been committed after his first conviction. One practical reason for the rule is that, if a defendant's status as a second offender was not determined as of the date that he committed the second felony but the date he was found guilty of the second offense, or the date he pleaded guilty as a second offender, or the date he was sentenced as such, it would be within the power of district attorneys by delaying the filing of the charges and prosecution of the case, to fix the accused's status as a second offender at practically any time he desired. State v. Dreaux, 205 La. 387, 17 So.2d 559, 560 (1944). This demonstrates that it is the defendant's own act in violation of a statute making it a felony that establishes his status at that time as a second offender and not the uncertain date left largely in the discretion of the district attorney ... when he will be charged, tried, and sentenced for the commission of the crime. Id. at 560-561. Under Article 893, a sentencing judge is never required to suspend a sentence based on a felony conviction. If the defendant is a first offender, however, he is authorized to exercise his discretion in the best interest of the public and of the defendant in deciding whether to suspend the sentence and place the defendant on supervised probation. Art. 893. The general rule is that a defendant is a first offender until he has proved incorrigible after a previous conviction. See La.R.S. 15:529.1; State v. Neal, supra . As a threshold condition to the exercise of broad judicial discretion which may lead to suspension of sentence and probation, whether the defendant has demonstrated such incorrigibility seems more relevant than whether a defendant faces more than a single charge in his first prosecution. The latter eventuality may depend entirely on fortuitous circumstances or the prosecutor's discretion. Consonant with an absence of any expression of a legislative intention to vary the general rule, and with the general purpose of suspended sentences and probation, the most reasonable legislative intent to ascribe to Article 893's provision that a defendant is eligible for a suspended sentence for his first conviction only, is that a conviction shall be deemed a defendant's first conviction for sentencing purposes unless the crime upon which it is based occurred after a previous felony conviction. We conclude, therefore, that the sentences imposed by the trial judge in this case were legal and permissible. The sentences are affirmed. AFFIRMED. WATSON, J., concurs in the result. MARCUS, J., dissents and assigns reasons. LEMMON, J., dissents and will assign reasons.