Opinion ID: 1265916
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Above the Law

Text: The justices who dissent from this Court's decision perceive that the majority opinion seeks to place[] itself above the law and `break[ ] down one of the necessary conditions of a decent society' by reading its personal views into the law. Davis, J., dissent at ___, 595 S.E.2d at 301. I cannot fathom why the dissenters would choose such a personal and cutting means of expressing their disapproval of the majority opinion. Likewise, I am struck by the much more extensive recital of the defendant's alleged misdeeds while on probation, which appears with devastating effect in the dissenting opinion, compared to the considerably less emotional recital of those misdeeds appearing in the majority opinion. Suffice it to say that regardless of which version of the facts one reads, the case still boils down to the fact that defendant was sentenced to fifteen to thirty-five years for alcohol and drug use, mixed with some pretty nasty rejection of authority. I do not believe that the recital of the facts contained in either the majority or dissenting opinions demonstrates that incarceration for up to thirty-five years is preferable to another effort to bring the defendant around to a pro-social life. [1] Abuse of discretion, as a term of art, has a harsh ring. As noted, the frustration of the trial judge in his dealings with the defendant is entirely understandable. In my view, the abuse of discretion in this case does not proceed fundamentally from any defect in those efforts. However, contrary to those who dissent, I believe the revocation of probation and execution of sentence constituted an abuse of discretion in all of the circumstances surrounding this case. The ruling here appealed proceeds not from the trial judge's understandable frustration, but from the fact that our law required this case to be treated from its inception as an adult crime. In light of the life experiences of this defendant, that treatment led, more or less inexorably, to a decision to incarcerate this defendant for up to thirty-five years under statutory provisions that, on their face, do not fully accommodate the reality that the underlying crimes in this case were committed by a person barely fourteen years of age who is considered unlikely to re-offend, a person who has been a victim himself of equally or perhaps worse crimes, a person who has demonstrated some ability to improve in a structured situation, albeit not completely, a person whose probation was revoked for violations of probation much less serious than the underlying crimes. Finally, I am mindful of the potential for this young defendant, who was initially sexually victimized at such a tender age, to again be sexually victimized if it is necessary to continue his incarceration. Our law provides at least one more opportunity for the defendant to rehabilitate himself. Again, the case cries out for close scrutiny under every principle of justice. Bypassing that probably last opportunity would clearly be a miscarriage of justice. As Justice Starcher has remarked in pondering this case: A decent society is where a child who has been sexually victimized for years, and who becomes seriously disorderedbut who does work in structured situations to improvegets our help, not a thirty-five year prison sentence.