Court Opinion

ID: 9633938
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 12:08:08.423125+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:08:45.698538
License: Public Domain

SCHROEDER, Presiding Judge,
specially concurring.
I concur in the result in this case, and believe that the Court has properly affirmed the conviction and sentence to a term of from two to six years on the charge of possession of marijuana for sale. However, I do not accept the suggestion in the majority opinion that this Court could in its discretion have remanded the matter to the trial court for imposition of a sentence higher than that originally imposed. In my view, it is manifestly unfair to subject a defendant to the possibility of receiving a higher prison sentence as a result of his own appeal.
One department of this Court, in State v. Castro, 27 Ariz.App. 323, 554 P.2d 919 *81(1976), has squarely stated that such a result is precluded by the United States Supreme Court decision in North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969). Even assuming that the majority opinion today is correct in questioning the applicability of Pearce to this situation, our own Criminal Rule 26.14 categorically prohibits the possibility of a greater sentence upon remand absent changed circumstances. The rule provides in pertinent part:
“Where a judgment or sentence, or both, have been set aside on appeal, by collateral attack or on a post-trial motion, the court may not impose a sentence for the same offense, or a different offense based on the same conduct, which is more severe than the prior sentence unless it concludes, on the basis of evidence concerning conduct by the defendant occurring after the original sentencing proceeding, that the prior sentence is inappropriate.” (Emphasis supplied.)
The majority interprets Pearce to apply only to sentencing upon “reconviction.” Nevertheless, the language of our rule, which in my opinion correctly embodies the spirit of Pearce, rejects such a distinction and applies to resentencing as well as to reconviction. I see no valid reason why its terms should not be given effect.