Court Opinion

ID: 9528171
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:37:59.739111+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:20:05.903483
License: Public Domain

BISTLINE, Justice,
specially concurring.
In line with that which I wrote in State v. Bowcutt, 101 Idaho 761, 620 P.2d 795 (1980) my concurrence is gained only on the premise that the harsh sentence meted out in this case by the district judge is in accordance with the desires and philosophies of the people of Nez Perce County. Sentences of such severity for nonviolent first felony convictions can be expected to serve as a warning to others that nefarious activity will be better conducted elsewhere.
Being aware of crowded conditions in the Idaho penitentiary, and the cost to Idaho taxpayers of maintaining an inmate, I suggest that prison cell space might better be reserved for criminals more desperate than this particular defendant — who, if in need of a lesson in punishment, might have received 90 to 120 days in jail as more befitting his crime.