Opinion ID: 852415
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Appellate Review and Revision

Text: Cardwell requests review and revision of his sentence under Appellate Rule 7(B). In this case, the trial court's sentence was entirely within the range allowed by statute, Ind.Code §§ 35-50-2-5 (2004) (setting the maximum sentence for a Class B felony at twenty years), 35-50-1-2 (providing the trial court with discretion to impose consecutive sentences), and the trial court provided a thoughtful statement of its reasons supporting the sentence. Nevertheless, we think Cardwell's sentence is inappropriate. Accepting the two jury verdicts, the nature of Cardwell's offense is that he intentionally placed a three-year-old's hands under hot water, resulting in very serious burns to both hands, and causing three-year-old S.G. severe pain. He then delayed obtaining medical care. But he also applied aloe gel and bandages to S.G.'s burns, immediately explained the injuries to Gentry, was forthright with Detective Thompson, and accepted responsibility for his actions. S.G. sustained no permanent injuries as a result of these burns. And although Caldwell's convictions are supported by sufficient evidence, we note that his actual knowledge of the water temperature was vigorously contested and that the jury deliberated for a full day before returning guilty verdicts. As to Cardwell's character, the record contains a number of inconclusive factors on which the trial court made no findings. These include whether Cardwell had previously physically abused S.G., and the quality of his involvement with his younger children. Without findings, we will not consider these factors. Finally, although Caldwell's sentence is not required to be compared to Gentry's, Cardwell's behavior as to the second count was substantially the same, or even less culpable than Gentry's. Indeed, Cardwell urged earlier attention but Gentry concluded that it was not necessary. Because the lack of medical attention was the product of a second decision, not essentially bound up in the initial crime, we agree that some additional sentence is appropriate. But the disparity between Cardwell's aggregate thirty-four year sentence and Gentry's one and one-half years is stark. Ultimately, the sentence reflects our collective judgment as to the balance of all of these factors. We think the thirty-four years imposed by the trial court is sufficiently out of the range of appropriate results that we should revise Cardwell's sentence to consecutive terms of nine and eight years, for an aggregate sentence of seventeen years.