Court Opinion

ID: 9789517
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:37:33.292884+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:22.856627
License: Public Domain

SILAK, Judge,
specially concurring.
I concur in the foregoing decision, but would add to this opinion the observation *295made in the trial court’s order denying Wargi’s Rule 35 motion:
This case clearly reflects the dilemma presented by sexual abuse cases. The victim and the public generally want the defendant locked up until he is “cured.” The professional sexual abuse therapists believe that incarceration is a great impediment to treatment and recovery and therefore urge a probationary program coupled with therapy. The goal of rehabilitation is caught in a “catch 22” situation.
In support of his Rule 35 motion, Wargi submitted the report of his private therapist in which the therapist stated that Wargi’s prognosis “remains guarded due to the fact that he is currently without the benefit of treatment.” Whether the availability of treatment has changed is outside the record before us.
Under I.C. § 20-223, the Commission of Pardons and Parole may not release a person convicted of lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor, as was Wargi, except upon consideration of an examination and evaluation of the inmate by one or more psychiatrists or psychologists selected by the Commission. In view of the fact that Wargi’s therapist gave him a guarded prognosis for improvement without treatment, only appropriate treatment within the institution will make Wargi a good candidate for parole. Absent treatment, it seems likely that the Commission will require Wargi to serve his full sentence of ten years. Although a sentence of ten years’ incarceration without treatment may accomplish the goals of protecting society, retribution and deterrence, it does nothing to rehabilitate a person with Wargi’s psychological problems.