Court Opinion

ID: 9670214
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:16:44.428465+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:03.066707
License: Public Domain

CONNOR T. HANSEN, J.
(dissenting). In the name of due process the majority is remanding this case for a factual determination that has already been made and which is clearly set out in the record. The majority is putting form over substance and its action represents a meaningless attempt to protect a right which the defendant was never entitled to.
*507The defendant’s whole appeal is based on his theory that in modifying the sentence from consecutive to concurrent the trial court intended to reward him with a flat reduction of three years. This argument was made to the trial court in defendant’s motion for modification of sentence and in denying the motion the trial court clearly addressed this argument:
“. . . The Court changed this sentence on January 18, 1973 to a concurrent sentence, and the Court as of this date confirms the concurrent ten-year sentence imposed by this Court on January 18, 1973 and denies the defendant’s request to reduce the said sentence by two years, ten months, and fifteen days or to reduce the said sentence in any manner, shape, or form. That was the Court’s decision as of this date, and it was the Court’s intention as of the date of the sentencing that the said sentence should be ten years to concurrent as recited by the Court as of January 18,1973.”
With this statement in the record I fail to see what can be accomplished by remanding this case for an eviden-tiary hearing to again determine the intention of the trial court. The trial court has disposed of defendant’s theory and nothing remains to be brought out in a future hearing.
In my opinion the absence of counsel for the defendant at the time the motion was disposed of was not error. However, if by some rationale it can be labeled error, it certainly is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. The defendant’s attorney apparently wanted the opportunity to appear and tell the trial court what it intended in modifying the sentence. This, in addition to the fact that the defendant himself had already told the trial court just that in an argument contained in the motion. Defendant’s position here is untenable because no amount of argument was likely to convince the trial court that its intent was other than it had stated before. The presence *508of defendant’s attorney in court would have made and will make no difference in the result.
As previously stated, I do not consider the procedure used here to constitute error and in my opinion no ex parte hearing which denied the defendant any due process right was held. In his notice of motion defendant himself said he would make his motion “at a time and place to be set, if the Court deems a hearing necessary.” The verbal request on October 25, 1976, by the defendant’s attorney to a deputy clerk asking that he be notified if the district attorney was going to oppose the motion should be given no weight. Such informal requests are not a substitute for a formal written request that alerts any person examining the file that certain notice demands have been made. Had defense counsel made the appropriate demand it is unlikely we would be faced with the problem presented in this case. Even if the defendant’s motion had had the status of a sec. 974.06, Stats., motion, which it did not, he would not have been entitled to a hearing if the motion and record conclusively showed that he was not entitled to relief. The trial court’s decision on the motion here reflects that the trial court had concluded that the defendant was not entitled to a modification based on his reading of defendant’s petition and brief. Even if the brief recital of the case the assistant district attorney presented in court can be considered argument, the trial court made no reference to it in disposing of defendant’s motion. Obviously to ascertain its own intent the trial court did not need to refer to the party’s arguments, which shows the futility of a hearing in this case.
The trial court could have made this same ruling without holding any proceedings in court. The state could have filed a written brief in opposition. If that had been the case the defendant would have nothing to argue about here. I do not think that the fact that the trial court *509and the assistant district attorney were in court when these separate actions took place should be dignified by raising it to the status of a due process issue.
The defendant has secured a response by the trial court to his argument. Nothing more remains to be done. I would affirm the order of the circuit court.
I am hereby authorized to state that Mr. Justice CALLOW joins in this dissenting opinion.