Court Opinion

ID: 9723583
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 10:21:49.958+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:50.127536
License: Public Domain

SULLIVAN, Judge,
concurring.
In this case the mitigated sentence was not imposed because the trial court concluded that mitigating cireumstances outweighed any aggravating circumstances found. Had it been the case, the trial court would have been required to articulate the reasons for giving less than the presumptive sentence. I.C. § 35-38-1-8; Allen v. State, 722 N.E.2d 1246 (Ind.Ct.App.2000); Battles v. State, 688 N.E.2d 1230 (Ind.1997). Rather, the mitigated sentence in this case was imposed pursuant to a plea agreement under which the maximum sentence permissible would be eight years. The sentence of eight years was within the range agreed to by the State. This fact, however, does not preclude Frey from arguing that the sentence should have been less than the elght years imposed.
Frey did not agree that an eight-year sentence was to be imposed. Rather, he agreed that the sentence would be no more than eight years. The plea agreement left the door open for Frey to seek less than the eight years agreed to by the State. He is therefore not precluded from making his argument that the trial court erred in imposing the maximum sentence permitted under the plea agreement. See Wilkie v. State, 813 N.E.2d 794, 803 (Ind.Ct.App.2004), trans. denied.
It is the fact that the trial court was at liberty to impose a sentence of no fewer than six years, the minimum permissible for a Class B felony, but no more than eight years pursuant to the plea agreement. Given that less than eight years was permissible, I am in agreement that in this case the trial court was obligated to state its reasons for imposing the full permissible eight years. In doing so, it stands to reason that the court would have had to consider factors in mitigation and to state why those factors, if any were found to exist, did not warrant reduction of the maximum eight-year sentence agreed to by the State.
I concede that it seems somewhat incongruous to hold that if a trial court imposes a presumptive sentence it is not required to state reasons for doing so and more particularly that such court is not required to articulate why mitigators proffered by the defendant are not accepted, or if accepted do not outweigh aggravators, while requiring a court which imposes more than the minimum sentence permitted under statute to articulate why the minimum sentence is not being imposed. Nevertheless, I perceive such state of affairs to have been the law of Indiana at the time of this sentencing. For this reason I agree with the lead opinion by Judge Friedlander requiring the duty to identify aggravating and mitigating circumstances "in every in*237stance except when the trial court imposes the presumptive sentence ...." (Op. at 284 (emphasis in original)).
However, I part company with the lead opinion in its suggestion that if the trial court gratuitously explains its decision to impose the presumptive sentence it must also go further and articulate aggravating and mitigating circumstances. Op. at 285. The opinion carries the message that a trial court may avoid a statement of reasons and enumeration of aggravators and mitigators only if the court remains absolutely silent except to impose the presumptive sentence.
Here, the court did enunciate a justification for imposing the eight-year sentence, and I agree with the lead opinion that such justifying statement by the trial court was "the functional equivalent of aggravating and mitigating factors." Op. at 2834. I further agree that such justifying statement falls short of an adequate articulation of aggravators and mitigators.
Nevertheless, I concur in the analysis of the lead opinion as to the existence and relative weight to be given to the aggrava-tors and mitigators reflected in the record. I further agree that such analysis does not lead to a conclusion that the sentence should have been less than the eight years imposed. For this reason I concur in the determination which affirms the sentence of eight years.