Opinion ID: 1782005
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: application of the guidelines to this case

Text: In the instant case, the defendant was convicted under the Habitual Offender Law, La.R.S. 15:529.1, and was sentenced as a second offender. According to the transcript of the sentencing hearing, the trial judge stated: For the record, the Court has reviewed the provisions of Article 894.1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the sentencing guidelines, and the newly passed sentencing guidelines by the legislature. Because of the prior conviction for the same offense, because this purse snatching occurred in the French Quarter, and it is going to be the sentence of this Court that he serve fifteen years at hard labor with the Department of Corrections. Under the Guidelines, defendant's conviction for this offense, plus his prior conviction for the same type of offense, resulted in a sentencing range of 54 to 66 months (4½ to 5½ years). However, under the Habitual Offender Law, the minimum sentence for a second offense of purse snatching is ten years and the maximum sentence is forty years. La.R.S. 15:529.1; La.R.S. 14:65.1. Here, the 15 year sentence imposed by the trial judge is at the low end of the statutory range. On appeal, the court of appeal first reviewed the sentence imposed by the trial judge for constitutional excessiveness. Finding no merit in defendant's claim of constitutional excessiveness of the sentence, the court of appeal went on to find that the Sentencing Guidelines now establish an additional standard by which a sentence may be reviewed for appropriateness. Smith, 610 So.2d at 155. In performing this review, the court of appeal noted the Guidelines indicate that when the minimum sentence of a sentence enhanced under the Habitual Offender Law, in this case 10 years, exceeds the maximum indicated sentence under the Guidelines, in this case 5½ years, the court should impose the lawful minimum sentence, unless aggravating circumstances justify imposition of a more severe sentence. Id. at 154. Because the court of appeal determined that the occurrence of the instant crime in the French Quarter and defendant's prior conviction are not justifiable reasons under the Guidelines for deviation from the sentence called for in the Guidelines, it held that the trial judge's imposition of a sentence in this case which deviates from the Guidelines constitutes an abuse of the trial judge's discretion. Id. at 155. While we agree with the court of appeal's determination that the sentence imposed is not constitutionally excessive, we find, for the reasons expressed herein, that the court of appeal's interpretation of the Guidelines as mandatory, and its review of the sentence imposed in this case on that basis, to be erroneous. As previously stated, the Guidelines are advisory in nature. All that a trial judge is required to do is consider the Guidelines and state for the record the considerations taken into account and the factual basis for the sentence imposed. La. Code Cr.P. art. 894.1. In this case, the trial judge did so. See supra. Therefore, all that remained for the court of appeal was review of the sentence imposed for constitutional excessiveness. [13] Finding, as it did, that the sentence imposed is not excessive, the court of appeal should have simply affirmed the trial court's decision.