Opinion ID: 1577908
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Alleged Vindictiveness in Sentencing.

Text: Mitchell also argues that a disparity in the length of the sentences ordered by the district court in his first and second trials evinces vindictiveness on the part of the court in violation of constitutional due process guarantees. At the end of his first trial, Mitchell was sentenced to two consecutive terms not to exceed twenty-five years each. A third term was ordered to run concurrently with the other two twenty-five-year sentences. A fourth termfor indecent contact with a childwas also ordered to run concurrently with his other sentences. When explaining his reasoning for sentencing Mitchell to what amounted to a period not to exceed fifty years, the district judge explained: The Court did not have any option as to whether incarceration would be granted or not, but the reasonthe reasons for the consecutive sentences are as follows: The Court has reviewed ... the presentence investigation report, including the prior criminal record. And basically the reason for the consecutive sentences are because of the prior criminal record which include prior sexual offenses regarding children. Number two, the seriousness of these offenses. And those are the reasons. Protect the community, seriousness of the offenses, and prior criminal record. After being convicted of the three counts of sexual abuse in the second degree in his new trial, Mitchell was sentenced by a different district judge to three consecutive terms not to exceed twenty-five years each. His additional sentence for indecent contact with a child was also ordered to run consecutively to his other three sentences, meaning he was sentenced to a total period not to exceed seventy-seven years. In sentencing Mitchell, the court explained: The reasons for the sentences arethe sentences are mandatory on each count. The reason for the consecutive sentence on each Count and based on the former conviction in 1999 of indecent contact with a child are the facts that you have been convicted of sex abuse charges, one of which was here in Scott County and the other which was in Dade County, Florida in 1986, and also the facts and circumstances surrounding each Count for which you were convicted in this case. Mitchell is correct in asserting that an increase in sentence length between a first and second trial is a red flag for possible judicial vindictiveness in sentencing. Ordinarily, judges are given broad discretion in sentencing an offender. See State v. Rodenburg, 562 N.W.2d 186, 187 (Iowa 1997). However, because the imposition of a harsher sentence upon reconviction for the purpose of punishing a defendant for exercising his rights in seeking to have the conviction set aside is a flagrant violation of due process of law, the utmost scrutiny must be applied to ensure that the second sentence was not the product of vindictiveness. Connelly v. Comm'r of Corr., 258 Conn. 374, 780 A.2d 890, 896 (2001). While we have not had the opportunity to fully develop standards under which a claim of vindictiveness can be examined, the United States Supreme Court's many statements on this issue provide appropriate guidance for our current and future consideration. See Callender v. Skiles, 591 N.W.2d 182, 187 (Iowa 1999); see also Stephen G. Murphy, Jr., Comment, Limits on Enhanced Sentences Following Appeal and Retrial: Has Pearce Been Pierced?, 19 Conn. L.R. 973, 974-85 (1987) (discussing the progression of the Court's jurisprudence in the vindictive sentencing area). The Court's first pronouncement in this area came in North Carolina v. Pearce, where it laid out the baseline approach to judicial vindictiveness questions: Due process of law, then, requires that vindictiveness against a defendant for having successfully attacked his first conviction must play no part in the sentence he receives after a new trial. And since the fear of such vindictiveness may unconstitutionally deter a defendant's exercise of the right to appeal or collaterally attack his first conviction, due process also requires that a defendant be freed of apprehension of such a retaliatory motivation on the part of the sentencing judge. In order to assure the absence of such a motivation, we have concluded that whenever a judge imposes a more severe sentence upon a defendant after a new trial, the reasons for his doing so must affirmatively appear. Those reasons must be based upon objective information concerning identifiable conduct on the part of the defendant occurring after the time of the original sentencing proceeding. And the factual data upon which the increased sentence is based must be made part of the record, so that the constitutional legitimacy of the increased sentence may be fully reviewed on appeal. 395 U.S. 711, 725-26, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 2080-81, 23 L.Ed.2d 656, 669-70 (1969) (footnote omitted). Pearce led most courts that construed it to extend a presumption of vindictiveness in cases in which a sentence increased after a retrial arising from a successful challenge to a prior conviction. See Wasman v. United States, 468 U.S. 559, 565, 104 S.Ct. 3217, 3221, 82 L.Ed.2d 424, 430 (1984). Mitchell claims he was entitled to this presumption in this case. Since Pearce, however, the Court has shaped the contours of this due process protection, clarifying the Pearce rule. See Connelly, 780 A.2d at 896-98 (summarizing Court holdings related to the vindictiveness standard). Most importantly, in Texas v. McCullough, the Court observed: Beyond doubt, vindictiveness of a sentencing judge is the evil the Court sought to prevent rather than simply enlarged sentences after a new trial. The Pearce requirements thus do not apply in every case where a convicted defendant receives a higher sentence on retrial. Like other judicially created means of effectuating the rights secured by the [Constitution], we have restricted application of Pearce to areas where its objectives are thought most efficaciously served. Accordingly, in each case, we look to the need, under the circumstances, to guard against vindictiveness in the resentencing process. 475 U.S. 134, 138, 106 S.Ct. 976, 978-79, 89 L.Ed.2d 104, 110 (1986) (citations omitted); see also Alabama v. Smith, 490 U.S. 794, 799, 109 S.Ct. 2201, 2204-05, 104 L.Ed.2d 865, 872-73 (1989). In McCullough, the Court determined that the Pearce presumption was inapplicable, partially because different sentencers [(a jury and then a judge)] assessed the varying sentences that McCullough received. Id. at 140, 106 S.Ct. at 979, 89 L.Ed.2d at 111-12. Subsequent interpretations of the McCullough approach to questions of judicial vindictiveness in sentencing have resulted in the conclusion that when a different judge sentences a defendant after a retrial, and that judge articulates logical, nonvindictive reasons for the sentence, there simply is no sound basis to presume that the sentence is the product of judicial vindictiveness. Connelly, 780 A.2d at 901; see also State v. Robbins, 123 Idaho 527, 850 P.2d 176, 180-81 (1993); State v. Colwell, 127 Idaho 854, 908 P.2d 156, 161 (Ct.App.1995); State v. Forsyth, 233 Mont. 389, 761 P.2d 363, 384 (1988), overruled in part by State v. Curtis, 241 Mont. 288, 787 P.2d 306, 313 (1990); People v. Best, 127 A.D.2d 671, 511 N.Y.S.2d 897, 898 (N.Y.App.Div.1987); Commonwealth v. Mikesell, 371 Pa.Super. 209, 537 A.2d 1372, 1380-81 (1988). However, this does not mean that the examination of an increased sentence is toothless, for if a defendant is able to show actual vindictiveness on the part of the second judge, he or she may still prevail on a claim of judicial vindictiveness. See Smith, 490 U.S. at 799-800, 109 S.Ct. at 2205, 104 L.Ed.2d at 873; Connelly, 780 A.2d at 898; Robbins, 850 P.2d at 181; Colwell, 908 P.2d at 161-62; Forsyth, 761 P.2d at 384; Best, 511 N.Y.S.2d at 898; Mikesell, 537 A.2d at 1381. We believe that the standards elucidated by the Supreme Court and other state appellate courts for cases in which two different judges sentence a defendant accurately balance the due process interests of the criminal defendant and the systemic realities of our court system. Although a defendant must still be protected from vindictiveness in sentencinga goal achieved by assuring the absence of actual vindictivenessthe type of concerns first identified in Pearce are simply less likely to arise when a different judge sentences a defendant at each stage. To conclude otherwise casts unwarranted opprobrium over our judicial system and implies that a common goal within the judicial ranks is to save face at all costs. See McCullough, 475 U.S. at 139, 106 S.Ct. at 979, 89 L.Ed.2d at 111. Although we reserve the right to check the sentencing power of our district courts, we refuse to undermine that power in a case of this type absent the presentation of evidence that actual vindictiveness has already done so. Mitchell alleged vindictiveness in his sentencing based on the increase between his first and second sentence. As we have already noted, in a case such as this one, in which two different judges have produced the disparity in sentencing, a presumption of vindictiveness does not apply. For that reason, we must further consider whether his second sentence was tainted by actual vindictiveness. Mitchell does little to advance such an argument, but even if he did, we believe the record contains no indication of actual vindictiveness. Instead, the judge posited logical, non-vindictive reasons for his sentence and acted well within the discretion normally accorded the court in sentencing. Connelly, 780 A.2d at 901. The mere fact that two judges viewed the situation differently and ordered different sentences does not indicate actual vindictiveness. See id. at 900-01. Thus, Mitchell's claim of vindictiveness in sentencing fails.