Court Opinion

ID: 9618339
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 05:11:03.598766+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:04:28.882711
License: Public Domain

SINGLETON, Judge,
concurring.
I agree with Judge Coats’ resolution of this case.
Jones’ conduct occupies the borderline between criminal negligence and recklessness. A dispassionate review of all sentences imposed on those convicted of class A felonies establishes that a ten-year sentence is too severe for a first offender convicted of traffic manslaughter, at least in the absence of any history of traffic-related offenses or other aggravating factors. See Huckaby v. State, 632 P.2d 975, 976 n. 1 (Alaska App.1981) (defining the class of worst offenders convicted of automobile related offenses).
I write separately to respond to Chief Judge Bryner’s dissent. First, I agree with Chief Judge Bryner that the supreme court did not establish a ten-year ceiling on drunk-driving-reckless-murder convictions in Pears v. State, 698 P.2d 1198 (Alaska 1985). Pears is significant, however, because it more clearly establishes what I believe a long line of Alaska Supreme Court decisions have suggested, that a substantial sentence — which I understand to mean a sentence in excess of five years— cannot be justified on the basis of three of the Chaney sentencing criteria: rehabilitation, general deterrence, or reaffirmation of community norms. Id. at 1204. See also State v. Chaney, 477 P.2d 441, 443-44 (Alaska 1970).
While the supreme court did not, in Pears, spell out what it meant by a substantial sentence, past decisions of the court make it clear that a sentence in the range of five-to-ten years is substantial. See, e.g., Donlun v. State, 527 P.2d 472 (Alaska 1974). It would appear to follow, that sentences in excess of five years should rest on the sentencing goal of isolation, which in turn requires some basis in the record for determining that a person cannot be rehabilitated or deterred by a lesser sentence. Larson v. State, 688 P.2d 592, 599 (Alaska App.1984).
In this case, Judge Cutler was convinced that Jones did not need to be incarcerated for the protection of the public, for his deterrence, or for his rehabilitation. She sentenced him to consecutive five-year terms solely for purposes of general deterrence and affirmation of community norms. Such a sentence, in my view, cannot be reconciled with prior decisions of the Alaska Supreme Court. If a sentence in the range of five years will not deter someone, then it is unlikely that a greater sentence would. By the same token, a sentence of five years will virtually always assure the community that the laws are being enforced and that people are not being allowed to get away with serious offenses. There are, to be sure, individuals who have established by a consistent pattern of criminal behavior that they cannot be deterred or rehabilitated within a five-year period. For these individuals, and in my view for these individuals alone (in the absence of a longer presumptive term), longer sentences may be justified.
This view is consistent with the presumptive terms actually established. A person convicted of a class A felony is subject to a presumptive five-year term, which may be aggravated or mitigated in conformity with AS 12.55.155. Instructively, certain aggravated first offenses are subject to a seven-year term, but this term is inapplicable to manslaughter. AS 12.55.125(c)(1). In contrast, the legislature has set a ten-year term for a person convicted of a class A felony if he or she has previously been convicted of a felony. AS 12.55.125(c)(3). Thus, the legislature has indicated the relative importance it assigns to aggravated first-felony offenses and second-felony offenses, thereby reiterating a standard theme underlying presumptive sentencing: that severe sentences should be reserved for those with past proven criminal behavior. Jones does not fit into this category.
Finally, I disagree with Chief Judge Bryner that the court’s power to impose consecutive sentences somehow justifies a total sentence that could not otherwise be
*415justified.1 In my view, the question of what total sentence is appropriate in light of Chaney, and whether to impose sentences consecutively or concurrently, are totally independent questions. Where a judge is called upon to sentence an individual for a number of independent crimes at the same time, he or she should determine an appropriate overall sentence taking into account each crime, the surrounding circumstances, the defendant’s background and any aggravating or mitigating factors. See, e.g., Waters v. State, 483 P.2d 199, 202 (Alaska 1971) (court held that a sentence that might appear excessive when viewed in isolation might be appropriate in light of the total sentence imposed for multiple crimes). See also Larson, 688 P.2d at 599. From this I infer that the trial judge should not focus on individual offenses, determine an appropriate sentence, for each offense, and then either stack them or run them concurrently as a matter of whim. Rather, the court should determine an appropriate overall sentence and then impose that sentence in either concurrent segments or consecutive increments, as the court may choose.
In my view, Lacquement v. State, 644 P.2d 856 (Alaska App.1982), simply recognizes the independence of the two questions, (1) what total sentence is appropriate and, (2) should that total sentence be comprised of consecutive increments or concurrent segments. In response, Lacquement holds that a sentence that would be inappropriate when viewed as a sentence for the most serious offense, does not automatically become appropriate simply because it is comprised of multiple sentences that were imposed consecutively. Id. at 861-62. I therefore disagree with the suggestion in Judge Coat’s majority opinion that amendments to AS 12.55.025(e) legislatively overrule Lacquement. The amended statute has substituted a preference for consecutive sentences in place of the prior statute’s preference for concurrent sentences. Nevertheless, whether sentences are imposed consecutively or concurrently, Waters appears to require that the total sentence be justified by the defendant’s total conduct evaluated in the light of his or her background. See 483 P.2d at 201-02. In addition, Lacquement requires that the composite sentence including consecutive increments, not exceed the presumptive term for the defendant’s most serious offense unless the total sentence is necessary to protect the public. 644 P.2d at 860. While Jones’ deterrence and isolation might satisfy Lacquement, general deterrence and reaffirmation of societal norms cannot.

. State v. Dunlop, 721 P.2d 604 (Alaska 1986), is not to the contrary. It holds, in line with the great weight of authority, that multiple convictions and multiple punishments for multiple incidents of homicide do not offend the double jeopardy clauses of the state and federal constitutions. Dunlop does not address an appropriate sentence where a single accident, resulting from reckless or negligent behavior, causes multiple deaths and injuries. In State v. Andrews, 707 P.2d 900, 910 (Alaska App.1985), aff’d, 723 P.2d 85 (Alaska 1986), we suggested that multiple offenses could justify incrementally more severe sentences than individual offenses, but would not justify multiplying an appropriate sentence by the number of separate offenses.