Court Opinion

ID: 9543526
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:46:13.511591+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:10:30.531791
License: Public Domain

GERBER, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. My concern is about the trial court’s repeated use of the same factor — the gun — to aggravate punishment.
The defendant here committed armed robbery and kidnapping while using a deadly weapon. Because of his weapon he was properly charged with armed robbery rather than robbery. Under A.R.S. § 13-1904, and by definition, armed robbery is an aggravated form of robbery, made so precisely by the presence of such a weapon. For that reason, armed robbery presents a sentence exposure greater than does robbery.
So far so good. The problem arises, however, when this same gun is used again to aggravate the punishment still more. Prior to trial, this same weapon, already used to aggravate robbery to armed robbery, was used again as the reason to *324designate the same crime “dangerous” under § 13-604(G). Because of this designation, defendant faced a new sentence exposure greater than the sentence range for armed robbery.
As though that were not enough, at the time of sentencing, this same weapon— already used twice before for aggravation — was explicitly taken by the trial court again as a sentencing aggravating factor under § 13-702(D), exposing defendant to still greater punishment. In sum, use of this same weapon appears in three discrete instances: it is a defining element of the charged crime, rendering the offense armed robbery rather than simple robbery; it is the basis for the allegation of dangerousness; and it appears finally as a factor which the trial judge used to aggravate the final sentence. The same weapon is thus the cause for three distinct, progressive increases in punishment exposure.
In my view, our case law on this subject appears less than clear. In State v. Bly, 127 Ariz. 370, 621 P.2d 279 (1980), our supreme court allowed the use of a deadly weapon to enhance an armed robbery sentence even though that same weapon constituted the “armed” element of the crime charged. The court rejected the double punishment argument under A.R.S. § 13-702(D), finding that use of the weapon generated no exposure to additional punishment beyond the enhanced sentence. Id. at 372, 621 P.2d at 281. Under A.R.S. § 13-604(G), that court found it within the legislature’s discretion to enhance a sentence by use of the same weapon which defines the crime charged. Id.
Recently, however, in the analogous case of State v. Orduno, 159 Ariz. 564, 769 P.2d 1010 (1989), the same supreme court declined to view an automobile as an aggravating factor for sentence enhancement precisely because it is a defining element of a DUI offense. Orduno stated that Bly did not address use of a necessarily included element as a sentencing enhancement factor. Id. 159 Ariz. at 567, 769 P.2d at 1013. Read together, Bly and Orduno appear to mean that the status of being armed is not a defining element of armed robbery, whereas use of an automobile is a defining element of DUI.3
Recent cases have not resolved this seeming inconsistency. In State v. Lara, 170 Ariz. 203, 823 P.2d 70 (App.1990), the court of appeals acknowledges the confusion in Orduno’s statement that Bly did not deal with a necessarily included element of the underlying felony. Lara concludes that an essential and irreducible element of a crime cannot serve to aggravate the crime it defines. In State ex rel. Romley v. Hall, 169 Ariz. 513, 821 P.2d 174 (App.1990), our court continues to worry this issue to the point of suggesting it is best resolved by the supreme court. Perhaps to clarify the issue, our supreme court has now held that armed robbery under A.R.S. § 13-1904 requires as a defining element the actual presence of a deadly weapon, dangerous instrument, or simulated deadly weapon. State v. Garza-Rodriguez, 164 Ariz. 107, 791 P.2d 633 (1990). From that holding one could conclude, contrary to Bly, that the presence of either a deadly weapon or simulated deadly weapon as a defining element of armed robbery is not a cause for further aggravation.
In my view, the weapon used once to aggravate robbery to armed robbery cannot be taken again as a cause for any further punishment. Using a defining element of an offense to further designate a crime “dangerous” and then taking that identical element yet again to aggravate the eventual sentence constitutes double or triple punishment.
Since in my view this repeated aggravation is improper, I would remand for resentencing with instructions that the same weapon once used to define the “armed” status of armed robbery cannot be used as a cause for any further punishment beyond that available for the crime it defines.

. A conclusion which, at a minimum, appears to mean that one can commit armed robbery without being armed and can drive under the influence in no conveyance other than an automobile.