Court Opinion

ID: 9615037
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:30:35.307867+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:03:41.746124
License: Public Domain

BISTLINE, Justice,
dissenting.
PART I.
The sentencing of Jeremy Broadhead should have brought to the minds of those present the teachings of Paul, Romans, Ch. 12, verse 19: “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” As is readily seen, vengeance was the foremost and pervasive element in the sentence which the district judge fashioned for Jeremy Broad-head, and in addition to vengeance there must be included the judge’s obvious distaste for patricide, even though there is no such crime as patricide. The word patricide is not found in the Idaho Criminal Code. It is not found in American Jurisprudence, nor is it found in Corpus Juris Secundum. It is not found, per se, in the sentence which was imposed upon Jeremy. But it is implicitly found in the court’s sentencing remarks wherein the court concluded that this particular homicide was a violation of the Biblical commandment “Honor thy father;" self-evident from the court’s view that killing one’s father was not just another first degree murder, but a “terrible thing” and in the same breath an “incredible thing with absolutely no mitigation for what he did.”
After expressing condolences to Jeremy’s mother, and to members of the Broad-head family,1 the Judge opened his sentenc*153mg remarks, the culmination of which would be imposition of the sentence which he surely had already reached. Those remarks clearly reflected what direction the sentencing would take:
Miss Estep, I’m sorry for you. I know this is a terrible thing that’s gone through your life.
And Mr. Broadhead and the members of the Broadhead family, I’m twice as sorry for you, because it’s — this is an incredible thing.
The Bible says, ‘Honor they father and mother.’ See what happens when the— that simple injunction is violated, and here we are today.
The inference readily drawn from those remarks is that although patricide is not a crime per se, but any unlawful killing of another is a crime, the Judge considered patricide as a crime more terrible than murder. Immediately following those remarks, the Judge proceeded toward handing down the decision as to whether Jeremy should be sentenced as a minor or as an adult. Four factors were laid out which the Judge saw as making “adult sentencing inappropriate.’’
First of all, the very fact that the defendant is 14 years old, that he is a child;
Second that’s been brought out, and I don’t know if anybody really questions it, is that prison is not a good setting for a 14-year-old;
Third, that the defendant would be best helped by a therapeutic environment; and
Fourth, something that’s been unsaid but, I think, something that’s recognized in all of our minds, is that the defendant would be at risk from other inmates at the penitentiary because of his age.
(Emphasis added.) On the other side of that ledger the Judge gave faint recognition to only one factor: “that the penitentiary has procedures in place and would do its best to protect the defendant from that risk.”
There followed a short digression concerning “what is in the best interests of Jeremy Broadhead.” Having asked himself that question, the Judge failed to answer it, and to this very day it remains unanswered. Instead the Judge diverted himself with a meaningless hypothetical question and answer: “And if this were a case where Jeremy was 14 years old and had stolen his dad’s car and he was before me on that, that [14 years of age] would be the factor that I ought to consider, but that’s not what he’s here for.” Jeremy Broadhead had previously pleaded guilty to the crime of second degree murder.2
The Judge then paused to state the reason for Jeremy’s presence in court:
Jeremy Broadhead is here because he committed an act of murder. And under the laws of this state he is treated as an adult and is sentenced as an adult for that crime, unless I specifically find that adult sentencing is inappropriate.
(Emphasis added.) To that point in time the Judge had not at all delved into any analysis or explanation as to what he concluded would be in Jeremy’s best interest, other than the above remarks made while pondering over the decision whether to treat Jeremy as the child which he was, or as an adult who had perpetrated a terrible and incredible murder. There is nothing in the record which discloses the Judge’s view as to what could and would be in the best interests of Jeremy Broadhead. Additionally, to that same point in time, the Judge had not yet declared himself as intending to allow Jeremy to be proceeded against as a child, or as an adult. Having not done so, he did not do so, and no reasons or reasoning were provided to show a reviewing court the basis for sentencing 14-year-old Jeremy as though he were an adult. This is very noticeable, because the court itself had previously enumerated four reasons which militated against adult sentencing.
*154And so it was, as a matter of continuity, that immediately after observing that Jeremy was not in court on a charge of stealing his dad’s car, the Judge went on to say, as one aspect pertinent to “any adult sentencing situation,” which included rehabilitation 3:
This court, after all, if you go back in history, is here for one purpose, and that is ultimately that when Jeremy killed his father, that his father’s brother did not come and kill him. That’s one of the purposes of this court, is vengeance, is society’s vengeance, society’s punishment____
(Emphasis added.)4
With, and even without, due regard for the disciple Paul’s admonition, but with due regard for the law, the proposition that vengeance belongs to the court as the executor of community consensus is not acceptable. Deterrence is proper and a permissible component in sentencing, but vengeance and deterrence are neither synonymous nor interchangeable. The purpose of deterrence, as an element in sentencing, is to send a message to those who might contemplate committing crimes, the threat of which message is that it is better to forget such notions or be prepared to go to prison.
That murder in Idaho has become over-rampant is not questioned. One need only compare the statistics of the past twenty years to the statistics of the twenty years which preceded the last twenty. All murders, whether or not constituting a patricide, are terrible and incredible. The United States Supreme Court in Godfrey v. Georgia, 446 U.S. 420, 428-29, 100 S.Ct. 1759, 1765, 64 L.Ed.2d 398, stated, “A person of ordinary sensibility could fairly characterize almost every murder as outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible and inhuman.” When one reads of exacting vengeance, one is reminded of committees of vigilantes, who in the early days of the West took the law into their own hands, and dispensed justice as they envisioned it.
Vengeance clearly appeared to be the keystone of both of the Judge’s decisions, the first of which was to sentence the fourteen year old as though he were an adult; the second was to confine him in prison for a full fifteen years before he would be allowed to request any leniency, provided, however, only if he had developed into a responsible person. This latter condition was attached notwithstanding the fact that Jeremy would be for fifteen years deprived of a “therapeutic environment.” His environment would be just the opposite, one of both repression and depression.
Having come out strongly for vengeance the Judge proceeded to justify his decisions. First provided was the suggestion above set forth which seemed to imply that if the court failed to exact vengeance, the deceased father’s brother might to do. Continuing on,
Now, looking at all of those factors, I come to the conclusion that although it might be in Jeremy’s best interests that he be sentenced as a youth under the YRA, that it nevertheless is entirely appropriate that he be sentenced as an adult because of these other factors, because of the terrible thing that he did. It was such a bad crime, it was such a horrible crime that he can’t be treated as a child.
There is absolutely no mitigation for what he did. I suppose, perhaps, in the subjective sense, in looking at it through Jeremy’s eyes, he did it for the reasons that were explained very ably by the■ psychologists and the psychiatrist.
But looking at it objectively, there was no reason for this crime. If ever this was a case where the crime had a victim, this is the case where there was a victim.
*155I don’t know what the victim would say to me if he could talk to me. I suppose he probably would say, it’s my son.
But you have to be punished, Jeremy.
Now, looking at these circumstances, I think that the fact of the matter is that the defendant’s not an evil person; the defendant is a person who did something evil. And there has to be a punishment component to this sentence.
The psychologists have been very honest with us, I think, very up front with us. They say, well, we don’t think that he is any more of a risk to society than any other person would be, but we5 don’t know that. All we do know is that he has killed somebody before.
So I think that there has to be a consideration of protection of society from a person who has demonstrated by his own acts that he kills.
The issue of deterrence, people talk about for years — have talked about for a long time is, does a sentence deter a crime of violence of this type, a senseless crime of this type? And they suggest that it probably will never deter this type of crime. And so I really don’t think that deterrence is a factor that’s a major consideration.
The last thing is the issue of rehabilitation.
(Emphasis added.)
At this stage of the sentencing, although the Judge had virtually ruled out deterrence as a factor of major consideration, never discounted or ruled out was vengeance as constituting the purpose of courts. Next examined was the possibility of giving consideration to rehabilitation:
I look at that, the question of rehabilitation. I feel that a prison sentence is probably going to do — we’re talking just on that issue, the prison sentence is going to do more harm than good.
But I just feel that it’s so important that this case is — that this type of a crime is so bad there’s no excuse for it. That the overwhelming considerations in this case are punishment and protection of society.
Now, the — Mr. Flanagan has suggested an alternative of imposing a prison sentence but leaving the way open after time at St. Anthony’s, and perhaps a 180-day — 120-day rider, the court retain jurisdiction to consider some other alternative.
So what are we talking about there, practically speaking? We’re talking about sometime between six months from now and two or three years from now the court being asked to reconsider the sentence.
Well, I think I’d be putting a false hope in Jeremy’s mind to say that I’m going to change the sentence at that time. I don’t think that that’s a reasonable alternative because I, again, go back to the same thing, that this is too terrible a crime.
I don’t anticipate that I would put Jeremy on probation ever, so I don’t think that — I am not going to consider that alternative.
(Emphasis added.) Then the Judge delivered the sentence: “I am imposing a life sentence. I am going to make the first 15 years of the sentence fixed. The balance of the sentence will be indeterminate.”
The transcript of that hearing is convincing that the Judge’s sentence was based on the perception that judges are the manifestation of all society, and perhaps as well the messenger of a Divine Providence. The conclusion inexorably drawn is that the Judge truly believed that it was his obligation, as the spokesman representing society and the bereaved family, to inflict a sentence on Jeremy which exacted a full measure of vengeance. This is understandable. The Judge was overwhelmed by the magnitude of this murder and greatly ag*156itated by implications of it being an incredible patricide. Having just heard the impassioned eulogy of the deceased delivered by Claire Broadhead, the Judge’s state of mind entitled him to recuse himself from further participation; another district judge could have stepped in. In dealing out vengeance the Judge was unmindful that vengeance truly belongs to the Lord. To the court belongs the responsibility to impose a sentence which is consonant with a defendant’s fault, but which does not include the exacting of vengeance.
This sentencing bears a remarkable similarity to the sentencing of James 0. Bakker. United States v. Bakker, 925 F.2d 728 (4th Cir.1991). When one keeps well in mind the Judge’s clear focus on exacting vengeance, and his apparent contempt for the crime of patricide being committed in the society or community of present times, it follows as does day follow night that “the court’s own sense of religious propriety had somehow been betrayed.” Bakker, 925 F.2d 741. As was done in Bakker, at the very least the sentence should be vacated and the cause remanded to the district court for resentencing by another district judge. There is also no lack of precedent which allows that this Court, with the collegial input of five members, can modify the sentence and thus put an end to further proceedings. State v. Ledbetter, 83 Idaho 451, 364 P.2d 171 (1961); State v. Shideler, 103 Idaho 593, 651 P.2d 527 (1982).
PART II.
The Court has decided to uphold the indeterminate life sentence imposed on fourteen year old Jeremy Broadhead, fifteen years of which he must serve before any possibility of parole. Jeremy was only twenty-six days beyond his fourteenth birthday when his father was killed by gunshot wounds inflicted by Jeremy. Counsel for Jeremy in a well prepared brief has carefully explained the circumstances attendant to this tragedy, but all to no avail, first in the trial court and now in this Court. Because it accurately and succinctly gives an account of the sentencing, it is in order to provide to the readers those passages of counsel’s brief which are critical to a proper understanding of the circumstances which existed on February 24, 1989:6
At the time of his arrest, Jeremy Broad-head had just turned 14 years of age, having reached 14 only 26 days before, on January 30, 1989. At such time, Jeremy was an eighth grader at the Meridian Middle School. Prior to the arrest in this case, Jeremy had never been arrested or had any personal exposure to the criminal justice system.
Subsequent to his arrest, Jeremy Broadhead stated to the Ada County law enforcement officers that he shot his father.
On October 11 and 12 of 1989, a sentencing hearing was held before the Honorable George D. Carey. The defense presented a number of witnesses.
Kathy Clarkson, Appellant’s seventh grade Spanish teacher, testified that Jeremy was an average student. However, during the middle of February, some two weeks prior to the murder, Jeremy’s grades began to fall drastically. Furthermore, she testified that Jeremy was well liked and well adjusted at school.
John R. Crespin [assistant wrestling coach at Meridian Middle School] testified that Jeremy was an excellent athlete and had gone undefeated during the 1988 and 1989 wrestling season. Furthermore, he indicated that Jeremy was an extremely coachable athlete and contributed a great deal more than wins to the team by continually assisting others in their wrestling endeavors.
*157Judy Estep, Jeremy’s mother, testified that she [and] John Steven Broadhead had two children, Brandon and Jeremy Broadhead. Furthermore, she indicated that during the time she was married to the deceased, they lived between 13 and 15 different locations. On May 26, 1982, Ms. Estep was divorced from the deceased [and] was awarded custody of Brandon and Jeremy Broadhead and moved to Pocatello, Idaho.
In November of 1986, [she] married Kenneth L. Estep and moved to Arbon Valley, Idaho. She testified that her new husband and she often had arguments over Jeremy.
In June of 1988, Jeremy, then 13 years of age, moved to Boise to reside with [his father]. On October 14, 1988, Jeremy took [his father’s] pickup and drove it to American Falls. Ms. Estep and Brandon found Jeremy, who appeared to be very upset. At that time, Jeremy was told he would return ... to Boise [and live with his father].
Three mental health experts, ... testified relative to Jeremy’s mental condition preceding, during, and subsequent to the death of John Steven Broadhead.
Kathryne Beck testified that she was a psychiatric social worker in private practice. Furthermore, she stated that she had seen Jeremy twice, and had reviewed the police reports in preparation for her testimony.
Ms. Beck stated that she believed the Defendant felt trapped. She also stated that it was not her opinion that Jeremy was a ‘cold-blooded murderer.’ Ms. Beck stated Jeremy was seeking relief for himself and was living in emotional isolation.
It was also her opinion that Jeremy did not understand the consequences of his acts, and that the Youth Service Center, located at St. Anthony, would be the most appropriate form of incarceration for Jeremy.
Craig Beaver testified he was a psychologist with a Ph.D., who had seen Jeremy twice, reviewed the police reports, and spoke with Dr. Estess in preparation for testifying. He indicated that the results of his testing demonstrated that Jeremy did not exhibit a violent profile, and furthermore, the testing revealed that Jeremy’s perceptions were quite inaccurate.
Dr. Beaver testified that it was his opinion that Jeremy was not emotionally a 14-year old and that his emotions were that of a person of a younger age. He also stated that a correlation existed between Jeremy’s testing results and the testing results of an individual that ultimately commits suicide.
Although Dr. Beaver did not definitively say that Jeremy would not commit another murder, he did state that the murder was very much tied to the family dynamics and Jeremy’s childhood.
Finally, Dr. Beaver stated that he would recommend a sentence for Jeremy which encompassed a therapeutic environment, as well as substantial peer support.
Michael Estess, a psychiatrist, testified that he had seen Jeremy on at least a half dozen occasions, and had reviewed the police reports as well as conducted numerous interviews with other individuals involved in the case prior to his testifying.
He stated that Jeremy was immature for his age. It was his opinion that when Jeremy killed his father, Jeremy thought more in child-like terms than he did in adult terms.
Dr. Estess described the murder as a tragedy and a desperate attempt by Jeremy to give release to his internal ruminations, as well as to solve his problems. He felt Jeremy’s ability to understand the nature of his acts was impaired by his uselessness, depression, and emotional turmoil.
Furthermore, Dr. Estess stated that it was his opinion that a correlation existed between Jeremy’s mental state and that of an individual who ultimately commits suicide.
Dr. Estess did not feel that Jeremy presented a threat to society. He recommended, in regard to incarceration, that Jeremy be held in an environment that nurtured adolescence, such as the Youth *158Service Center. He specifically stated that any incarceration should be at a facility other than the Idaho State Correctional Institute.

The State did not call any witnesses or present any evidence to rebut the testimony of the Defendant’s three mental-health experts.

George Miller, the Deputy Warden of Operations for the Department of Corrections in Idaho, testified to the conditions under which the Defendant would be imprisoned should he be sentenced to the Idaho State Correctional Institute. He indicated that Jeremy would be placed in protective custody ... [meaning] that Jeremy would eat alone in his cell, and exercise for one hour each day alone.
Although Jeremy would be able to receive his G.E.D. through a correspondence course, a teacher would not be present, and he would not be allowed to utilize the education building.
Daily, Jeremy’s only contact would be with a correction officer. Monthly, Jeremy would have contact with at least one mental-health worker, and one nurse ... [and] He ... [might] have contact with a religious coordinator, depending upon the number of volunteers.
Mr. Miller testified that he would be allowed two, three-hour visits each week with his immediate family.
Finally, he stated that the youngest prisoner ever housed at the Idaho State Correctional Institute was 16 years of age.
Curt Friedenauer, the director of the Idaho State Youth Service Center, testified that, after reviewing the presentence investigation, which had been provided to him through a court order, it was his opinion Jeremy was an appropriate candidate for the Youth Service Center.
He indicated that the Youth Service Center encompassed programs which were peer oriented through a group process. Furthermore, he indicated that, daily, Jeremy would receive, at a minimum, one and one-half hours of counsel-ling. He stated that schooling was available five days a week, 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and that the Youth Service Center had available five separate vocational programs.
Appellant’s Brief, 1-6 (emphasis added).
The trial judge was not persuaded by the testimony of the psychiatric social worker, the psychiatrist, the psychologist, the Department of Corrections Deputy Warden and the director of the Idaho State Youth Service Center. Their testimony, collectively, did not include a vengeance factor. They did not contend that some measure of punishment was not in order. While Jeremy had committed a murder, those witnesses were firmly of the belief that Jeremy was a good candidate for therapeutic treatment as to be much preferred over imprisonment. Although the Judge also entertained the view that Jeremy would be “at risk” in being confined as an adult, he nevertheless decided in favor of confinement, not just being locked up, but the equivalent of solitary confinement. Rather than allow himself to succumb to the twin voices of reason and compassion, the trial judge elected to deposit Jeremy in the Idaho State Correctional Institute for no less than fifteen years.
The rationale displayed in this Court’s opinion, that the sentence is not unreasonable, is entirely unconvincing: “It was a reasonable view of the facts for the trial court to conclude that a fifteen year fixed term was necessary to protect society.” At 147, 814 P.2d at 407. The district court judge’s attempts to support the sentencing rationale, undoubtedly sincere, are nevertheless not persuasive. First, there is the tendered explanation that the purpose of the fixed fifteen years is “so that the State will be able to, at the end of the fixed portion of the sentence [fifteen years], better determine when it would be in the best interests of society for Jeremy to be placed on parole and placed back in society.” This may be semantically appealing at first blush, but what if after Jeremy has been closely confined for fifteen years in prison it is concluded that the best interests of society would have been better served by accepting the advice of educated and *159trained experts in the field, and placing Jeremy at once on probation and pursuing rehabilitation? The prison isn’t going to disappear, so if Jeremy’s probation and/or rehabilitation were to prove unsuccessful, those iron doors could still swing open to receive him. To cage a fourteen year old like an animal can hardly be condoned as being in a child’s best interests, a possibility which may not have occurred to the Judge. Sentencing did not have to be imposed immediately following the taking of testimony and argument of counsel. A wiser course would have been for the court to defer its pronouncement so as to make a more considered determination.
A second reason advanced in purported support of the severe sentence, as the majority points out, was that “there has to be a consideration of protection of society from a person who has demonstrated by his own acts that he kills.” Frankly, this statement itself is overkill put to an indefensible usage. To say that a person “kills” is to say that the person habitually kills, that the person kills often. Absent any discussion or analysis as to why Jeremy killed, not just a person, but his father, it defies reason and logic to label him as a youth who “kills.” Jeremy killed but one person. The district judge seemed to be basing his extraordinary sentence on his belief, perhaps only a hunch, that because Jeremy took the life of his own father, he was destined to become an habitual killer, perhaps even a serial killer. Not a scintilla of expert testimony was introduced which would intimate that this child, if unrestrained, would be a threat to society as a whole. To the contrary, the expertise of the psychiatrist and the psychologist established a then-present truthful inability to make a guaranteed prediction whether Jeremy would or would not be likely to murder some other person. Their best judgment was that he would not. The State on the other hand, had presented no expert testimony whatever to the effect that Jeremy would be likely to do so. In the Court’s view the positive testimony weighed against the negative goes for naught, and the Court sub silentio endorses the overstated view of the sentencing court, “Jeremy Broadhead kills.” Little or no attention was directed by the trial court, and in turn this Court to the fact that Jeremy has been shown to have killed one person, and, as a singularly notable fact, that one person was his father. Entirely missing is any evidence that, but for this one incident, Jeremy was given to any acts of violence. Yet he was labelled by the district court as a boy who kills. The trial judge’s illogical reasons for imposing the harsh sentence make clear that the sentence was not based on “a reasonable view of the facts.” Alternatives in sentencing were rejected out-of-hand; best interests of a fourteen year old were disregarded.
The majority also rejects Jeremy’s assertion that the sentence was cruel and unusual punishment. Again, the rationale behind that rejection is unconvincing. It consists of a discussion of three cases where special treatment was given to youthful offenders sentenced as adults because of their tender years. Thompson v. Oklahoma, 487 U.S. 815, 108 S.Ct. 2687, 101 L.Ed.2d 702 (1988); People v. Dillon, 34 Cal.3d 441, 194 Cal.Rptr. 390, 668 P.2d 697 (1983); Naovarath v. State, 105 Nev. 525, 779 P.2d 944 (1989). Despite the special treatment, the majority decides that these cases give no support to a special standard for youthful offenders on sentence review.
Second, the majority compares Jeremy’s sentence to sentences in other Idaho cases where a young person committed a murder. In all of these cases (except for State v. Enno, 119 Idaho 392, 807 P.2d 610 (1991), which involved an 18-year-old), the defendants received less severe sentences even though they were older than Jeremy and some of them had prior criminal records. Nevertheless, the majority concludes that the sentence was not out of proportion to the offense committed. One can only ask, why bother to compare sentences at all if, after finding that the sentence at issue is more severe than in comparable cases, the conclusion is nevertheless that the sentence is not out of proportion?
Justice Johnson in authoring today’s opinion for the Court has provided a generally fair and dispassionate collection of the *160facts, circumstances, and certainly applicable case law. Particularly appreciated is the incorporation into the Court’s opinion an excerpt of that which I wrote in State v. Adams, 99 Idaho 75, 577 P.2d 1123 (1978), “In modifying sentence, the Court has given great weight to the age of a defendant, his capacity for strict accountability for his conduct, his status as a first offender or a habitual criminal, his conduct when compared to others similarly charged, and the impact of incarceration on the defendant, his family, and the community at large.” Those factors add up to five in number. Each and every one is important, and deserving of discussion as applied to the Jeremy Broadhead sentence. Applying those factors to what we have before us, the better course to take would be a modification of the sentence, for reasons heretofore alluded to in Part I hereof. Being fully aware that this Court, as presently constituted, has yet to make its first modification of a trial court’s sentence, it is in order to remember the philosophy of this Court as evidenced less than ten years ago.
This is readily available in State v. Shideler, 103 Idaho 593, 651 P.2d 527 (1982), cited by Justice Johnson at 144, 814 P.2d 404. Shideler, was a unanimous opinion authored by Justice McFadden, in which this Court did not act precipitately, but with due deliberation. Shideler, as is so with Jeremy Broadhead, did not put the State to the expense of a trial. Although he too faced multiple charges arising out of his involvement in an armed robbery, the weapon being a shotgun, he entered a guilty plea. That weapon was fired at a vehicle which pursued him and his accomplice following the bank robbery. The district court sent him to prison to serve an indeterminate twenty-year term. Shideler, although fully mature as contrasted to Jeremy’s fourteen years, “could not recall having any motive for the crime” and added “that for at least a year prior to the robbery and up to the time of the robbery, that he was in poor mental health.” Unlike Jeremy, Shideler was experiencing marital problems with his second wife. Unlike Jeremy, who was constantly confined for approximately nine months while being processed, Shideler had been released on bond at one period. His family and his employer “all agreed further that Shideler was not a hardened criminal.” In Jeremy’s case, as was so in Shideler’s, it was a first felony for each. In Shideler’s case, unlike Jeremy’s, there was a considerable abuse of prescription drugs, Quaalude, Valium, Empirin 3's and 4’s, Darvon, and Darvoset-N100.
This Court’s unanimous opinion observed that:
This was the defendant’s first felony with no prior history of any criminal activity and this court has ‘recognized that the first offender should be accorded more lenient treatment than the habitual criminal.’ State v. Owen 73 Idaho 394, 402, 253 P.2d 203, 207 (1953) (overruled on other grounds). Besides this being his first felony, the record discloses that the defendant has accepted responsibility for his acts, and that his family and employer have shown considerable interest in his future. We conclude that the defendant’s character and the circumstances surrounding the case are compelling in nature, and sufficiently outweigh the gravity of the crime and the protection of the public interest to require us in the furtherance of justice to reduce the sentence of imprisonment from an indeterminate term not to exceed twenty years to an indeterminate term not to exceed twelve years. State v. Nice, 103 Idaho 89, 90, 645 P.2d 323, 324 (1982). See State v. Dunnagan, 101 Idaho 125, 609 P.2d 657 (1980).
Shideler, 103 Idaho at 595, 651 P.2d at 529. What the Court did in Shideler it can and should do here in Jeremy’s case. The plight of a fourteen year old lad being sent off to prison presents an even far more compelling circumstance than did Shideler, where this same Supreme Court took cognizance of the defendant’s character and age as weighed against the gravity of the crime and the protection of public interest to require that in the furtherance of justice the sentence be appropriately reduced.
*161PART III.
At one point in the delivery of the sentence being imposed, the Judge stated, “If ever there was a case where the crime had a victim, this is the case where there was a victim.” But, in reality, when all of the background of this case is considered, who was the victim? Steve Broadhead was the slain person, but the real and greater victim is Jeremy. The son lives on to endure a life which many will consider to be worse than death. To so say is not to preach, which is not our function as judges, any more than it is for us to make the calls and decisions which are properly those made by persons who have become experts in chosen fields, in this case psychologists, psychiatrists, and also those persons who have dedicated themselves to the service of youth. The sorriest aspect of this tragedy lies in becoming aware that although the history developed post-mortem is overwhelming that the relationship of father and son had deteriorated and was daily continuing to worsen, something that the experts who were called in post-mortem could have foreseeably predicted, but the experts were not called. Although there is an abundance of information in the record and transcript, nor is there any mention that either Jeremy’s father, mother, stepfather, grandparents, uncle, aunt, or anyone had ever suggested that Jeremy was entitled to and desperately in need of professional counseling. Apparently there was none.7 As the Judge remarked, “and here we are today.”
Clearly, Jeremy was a product of not just a broken home, but of a broken family. No one who has worked himself through the voluminous presentence report will challenge that assertion. The one positive in Jeremy’s life, where family and family relationships are concerned, is the strong bond of love which existed between Jeremy and Brandon, his brother who was six years Jeremy’s senior. Notwithstanding that age difference, in connection with the divorce of their parents, Brandon displayed an exceptionally astute assessment of where that divorce and their mother’s second marriage left them:
Q. How would you describe your relationship with Jeremy?
A. He is my brother, you know, I love him. He is my brother. I don’t know, me and my brother have always been real close. You know, out of all of the family, me and him were always right there.
Q. Did you speak with him about why he had come over from Boise to American Falls, and taken Steve’s pickup?
A. Right during that time?
Q. Or anytime had you spoken with him about it?
A. No, not really. You know, those things just didn’t matter, you know. I mean, it didn’t matter where we were going, really. Do you know what I am saying? I mean, it was just, I don’t know, the way I looked at it, it was just me and him anyways.
Q. What do you mean by that, Brandon?
A. What?
Q. That it was just you and Jeremy?
A. I don’t know. It was like that’s all it was, it was just me and Jer, you know. In my mind, maybe I am wrong; I don’t know.
Q. Explain to the court what you mean. Expound on that a little bit.
A. Well, you know, our parents had gotten a divorce; that was kind of difficult to handle. I mean, it wasn’t, but it was. And, you know, Jer and I were always together even after splitting us apart, you know, trying to get us to go this way or this way, and me and Jer were still there together. You know, we were there for each other all the time.
Q. Did he talk about the problems he was having with Steve?
*162A. It was nothing major. It was like, you know, just things that, I don’t know, it is hard to explain. He just wasn’t relating, you know.
Q. What do you mean by that?
A. God. They just — I don’t know. I don’t know what I mean exactly, I mean, I do, but it is hard to explain.
Q. Attempt to.
A. Well, you know, I mean, it was like — I don’t know. It was just minor things like they would just, I don’t know, neither one of them, nobody really understood what we were going through it seemed like to me.
Q. Excuse me, understood what?
A. What we were going through.
Q. You and Jeremy?
A. Yeah. We were just trying to get through and get by. I mean, this is not even relating to what you are asking me. It is getting kind of far off base.
Q. I guess, Brandon, did you have problems with Steve?
A. Oh, kind of, not really. I mean, you know, he was my dad.
Q. How would you describe your relationship with him?
A. Oh, it was good, but it was light. We kept fairly light conversations. It seemed like we never really got real deep. He was never really into what I was thinking, and I was never really understanding what he was thinking, you know. It was like I would go spend a weekend, we would go do things, keep the conversation really light, and then I would go home. I mean, we weren’t, you know.
Q. In regard to Jeremy, is there anything you can tell the court that you think would assist the court in sentencing Jeremy?
A. As far as what I think they should do?
Q. Just as far as Jeremy and why Jeremy did what he did.
A. I don’t know. We were both just, Jeremy — this is Jeremy, he just kept everything inside so much. You know, he was like, I don’t know.
Q. Did he have problems expressing his feelings?
A. Oh, yeah, definitely. We both did. Maybe we both still do; I don’t know. I mean, yeah, I have always learned to keep my feelings inside, you know.
Q. Is Jeremy that way?
A. Yeah. More so than me, I would say.
The marriage of Judy to Steven Broad-head was in December of 1966 and lasted to May of 1982. A first separation was almost four years before Jeremy was born. During the existence of the marriage the family changed locations between thirteen to fifteen times. The 1982 divorce resulted in Judy having custody of the two boys; they moved from Boise to Pocatello. Steve was lavish in purchasing gifts for the children, including motorbikes, at a time when Jeremy was only seven years old. A new relationship, which came about when Judy married Ken Estep, a bachelor with no experience with children, was unfortunate. The new father figure was a disciplinarian of the old school variety, and there were as many arguments between Judy and Ken as to rearing Jeremy as there had been when Steve was the father figure. The new family relationship became worse in volume and intensity, plus there were arguments worsened by Ken Estep’s drinking habits. That relationship ended when Steve called directly to Jeremy and requested that he come to Boise when summer vacation started. Judy agreed that Jeremy could go for the weekend, but Steve did not return him. Judy acquiesced, although retaining legal custody, she allowed Jeremy to stay with Steve in Boise.
CONCLUSION
Had the Judge at sentencing been evenly concerned as to Jeremy’s best interests as he was with vengeance, a far less severe sentence could have been imposed, and justice would just as well have been served. The testimony of the expert witnesses should have been the light leading the way to the correct path. The Judge listened to the expert witnesses; he was well aware of *163their credentials, their lack of bias, and their desire to be of aid to the Court when the Judge would perform his function; but more important than all that, one thing which the transcript teaches us is that the Judge believed them to be credible witnesses. That was exemplified in his own remarks.
Where mentioning only psychologists, it is abundantly clear that the Judge had in mind psychiatric expertise as well, and he went on to tell those assembled in the courtroom, “The psychologists [plural] have been very honest with us, I think, very up front with us.” Earlier he had conceded that when Jeremy shot his father, “he did it for the reasons that were explained very ably by the psychologists and the psychiatrist.” It cannot be said otherwise that those remarks constituted the Judge’s assessment of that expert testimony — credible—and so found specifically by the further observation that he found those witnesses to be “very honest” and “very up front” in their explanation as to Jeremy’s mental processes in coming to the conclusion that putting his father away was the only avenue of escape. But, the remaining question is, having heard and accepted that expert testimony, did the Judge use it? The answer, all too plainly, is that he did not. The Judge synopsized that evidence 100 percent correctly: “They say, well, we don’t think that he is any more of a risk to society than any other person would be.”
That in turn begs the question: Is the Judge, who is the personification of the Court, at liberty to reject expert testimony coming from the mouths of witnesses, whom he has adjudged to be “up front” and “very honest with us”? There is in Idaho an ingrained rule which applies to the circumstances under discussion. Called the Pierstorff rule or Pierstorff doctrine, it is as stated by the Chief Justice in Systems Associates, Inc. v. Motorola Communications & Electronics, Inc., 116 Idaho 615, 621, 778 P.2d 737, 743 (1989): “An adjudicatory body may not ‘arbitrarily or capriciously disregard the testimony of a witness unimpeached by any of the modes known to the law, if such testimony does not exceed probability.’ Pierstorff v. Gray’s Auto Body Shop, 58 Idaho 438, 447-48, 74 P.2d 171, 175 (1937).” The Chief Justice in Systems Associates went on to add, as is equally so here, “Here the trial court, as the finder of fact, accepted the truth of the unrefuted statements by Dahmer and defendants.... Swanson v. State, 114 Idaho 607, 759 P.2d 898 (1988); Pierstorff v. Gray’s Auto Body Shop, 58 Idaho 438, 74 P.2d 171 (1937).” 116 Idaho at 621, 778 P.2d at 743.
The principle of law announced first in Pierstorff has been cited to and applied for over half a century. No valid reason can be advanced why the Pierstorff rule is not applicable here to the testimony of expert witnesses who were not only unimpeached, but whose credibility was vouched for by the Court itself. Our case law precedent upholding the Pierstorff rule is voluminous. Equally so are the reported cases where the Court has held the trial court in error for not recognizing the Pierstorff rule. Here we can do no less, and that error provides an additional ground for reversing the sentence imposed. Again I would suggest that the sentencing judge not be made to subject himself to endure the agony of another sentencing.
The legal conclusion which is ultimately and necessarily drawn is that the Judge was not at liberty to disregard the credible, unimpeached, and unrefuted testimony of the psychologists and psychiatrists that Jeremy Broadhead would be no more of a future threat to society than any other person. While the Judge could have said, “We don’t know that,” he could not ignore it when it was the only evidence presented on that issue.

. Persons present and identifiable as the Broad-head family included Claire Broadhead, brother of the deceased; Kay Mickelson, a sister of the deceased; and Brandon Broadhead, Jeremy's only sibling, six years older. The parents of Claire Broadhead and Kay Mickelson may have been present. Their hostility to Jeremy was *153well documented in a letter which was furnished to the presentence investigator.

. The charge of the complaint initially laid was first degree murder. Prior to the day set for sentencing, a second amended information was filed, charging second degree murder.

. Also mentioned, but certainly not a composite part of a child's best interests, were the “protection of society; ... the question of general deterrence to other people who might be in a similar situation; and also specific deterrence to Jeremy himself." The Judge also mentioned proportional sentencing and punishment.

. Nothing in the record provides any light as to why the Judge made a remark suggesting that Jeremy’s uncle, Claire Broadhead, the victim’s brother, might be contemplating vengeance against Jeremy for having killed his brother.

. In stating "we don’t think that he is any more of a risk to society than any other person would be ...,” the Judge was, as the preceding sentence shows, restating the testimony of the psychologists. The additional statement, "but we don't know that. All we do know is that he has killed somebody before,” was the Judge’s response and apparently "we" meant the Judge and the people who comprise society.

. Submission to the reader of part of the content of counsel's brief is not to be taken as an intimation that there are any deficiencies in Justice Johnson's portrayal of the underlying facts, and presentation of the applicable statutory law and case law, including recent somewhat similar cases, one from Nevada, one from California, and a third from the United States Supreme Court which was issued following review of an Oklahoma state court sentence which imposed the death penalty.

. It is noted that the prosecuting attorney in giving closing argument made the statement that Steve Broadhead got counselling for Jeremy and obtained tutoring for him. Tr. 281. But the prosecutor provided no elaboration as to from whom, how often, how long, or of what the tutoring consisted. Moreover, final argument is not testimony.