Court Opinion

ID: 9739625
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:18:40.293103+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:13.244755
License: Public Domain

VAIDIK, Judge,
concurring in part, and dissenting in part.
I agree with the majority opinion in all respects, except sentencing. I agree that the trial court properly considered the aggravating circumstances of the defendant’s prior criminal history and the permanent injury that the defendant caused to the attempted murder victim. I also agree that the trial court was within its discretion when it failed to find as mitigating factors both the defendant’s abusive childhood and the hardship that would result to his child from his incarceration.
However, I do not agree with the majority that an attempted rape victim’s pregnancy may not be used as an aggravating circumstance when the record is unclear as to whether or not the defendant knew of her condition. Additionally, I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that this case should be remanded to the trial court for re-sentencing.
First, the trial court was within its discretion to find as an aggravating circumstance that the victim of the attempted rape was pregnant at the time of the commission of the offense. A defendant takes a victim as he finds her. For example, Ind.Code § 35 — 38—1—7.1(b)(6) states that a court may consider as an aggravating circumstance that “[t]he victim of the crime was mentally or physically infirm.” Likewise, the age of a victim may also be considered as an aggravating circumstance. Ind.Code § 35 — 38—1—7.1(b)(5). Nothing in the statute requires that the defendant know of the infirmity or age of the victim before these factors may be used as aggravating circumstances. Furthermore, when properly explained, victim impact may be an appropriate aggravating circumstance. Smith v. State, 695 N.E.2d 909, 911 (Ind.1998). It is reasonable to presume that the impact of an attempted rape would be greater on a pregnant victim. Thus, in this case, it was within the trial court’s discretion to consider the pregnancy of the victim as an aggravating circumstance.
The majority states “we are unaware of Indiana precedent that would cause [the victim’s] state of pregnancy, as a fact apparently unknown to McCann, to be a proper aggravating circumstance.” Op. at 1006-07. Similarly, I am unaware of Indiana precedent that would preclude the victim’s pregnancy to be considered as a proper aggravating circumstance. The majority maintains .that in Whitehead v. State, 511 N.E.2d 284 (Ind.1987), cert. denied, our supreme court inferred that a victim’s pregnancy must be known to a defendant before it is appropriate to use her pregnancy as an aggravating circumstance. I cannot agree. Rather, the supreme court merely provided that it was appropriate for a trial court to find “no excuse or provocation which would justify [the defendant’s] attack on a woman five months pregnant.” Whitehead, 511 N.E.2d at 296. I do not read the same inference into the supreme court’s statement as the majority apparently does.
Second, I disagree with the majority when it remands this case to the trial court for re-sentencing. Even if the victim’s pregnancy is not a proper aggravating circumstance, the majority concedes that there were two valid aggravators. A single aggravator is sufficient to support a sentence. Casey v. State, 676 N.E.2d 1069, 1073 (Ind.Ct.App.1997). Moreover, when a trial court improperly applies an aggravator, but other valid aggravating circumstances exist a sentence enhancement may still be upheld. See Blanche v. State, 690 N.E.2d 709, 715 (Ind.1998). Here, given the three proper aggravators, the lack of any mitigating factors, and the heinous nature of this crime, I would affirm the trial court’s sentence.