Opinion ID: 2179437
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Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Claim of Unreasonable Sentence.

Text: Appellate review of the district court's sentencing decision is for an abuse of discretion. State v. Laffey, 600 N.W.2d 57, 62 (Iowa 1999). An abuse of discretion is found when the court exercises its discretion on grounds clearly untenable or to an extent clearly unreasonable. Id. A court considers all pertinent matters in determining a sentence including the nature of the offense, the attending circumstances, defendant's age, character, propensities, and chances of his reform. Id. Defendant argues that, because the district court ordered his sentence to be consecutive to three other convictions, his sentence amounted to a total of ten years and is unreasonable. The State did not address this argument on appeal. Iowa Rule of Criminal Procedure 2.23(3)( d ) requires a sentencing judge to state the reasons for a particular sentence on the record. Although the reasons do not need to be detailed, they must be sufficient to allow appellate review of the discretionary action. State v. Jacobs, 607 N.W.2d 679, 690 (Iowa 2000). The sentencing judge must also give reasons for imposing consecutive sentences. Id. In this matter, the sentencing judge gave several reasons for selecting the sentence that was imposed. These reasons included defendant's criminal history, consisting of incarcerations in two other states and in Iowa three or four times; defendant's past acts of harassment and indecent exposure, which suggested he was a threat to the women in the community; and the sentencing judge's belief that concurrent sentences would not provide maximum rehabilitation. It would appear that the sentencing judge gave sufficient reasons for imposing a period of incarceration and further gave sufficient reasons for ordering consecutive sentences. Defendant's challenge to the sentence imposed is rejected.