Court Opinion

ID: 9726717
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 13:05:11.162475+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:29.973384
License: Public Domain

DeBRULER, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
The standard sentence for sexual deviate conduct with a child under twelve is ten years. I.C. 85-42-4-8. Appellant received the maximum sentence for that offense, namely, twenty years. In stating the reasons for this maximum enhancement, the trial court noted that the pre-sentence report had been read, the evidence heard, and the maximum aggravation chosen because "[t]he Defendant was in a position of trust with the child, and the molesting occurred more than one time." The trial court made no statement concerning the manner in which mitigating factors were evaluated. Because of the paucity of this statement as a justification for making no outward evaluation of the evidence offered in mitigation of punishment and choosing the maximum sentence and because this same statutory offense includes more heinous and violent sexual attacks upon children under twelve, such as those involving the use of force or imminent threat of force, terror, bodily injury, and severe mental trauma, absent here, I would remand this case to the trial court to enter new findings supporting the maximum sentence or, in the alternative, reduce the sentence to the basic term of ten years. Page v. State (1980), 274 Ind. 264, 410 N.E.2d 1304.
DICKSON, J., concurs.