Court Opinion

ID: 9558441
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:09:49.828672+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:09:18.220616
License: Public Domain

Judge JONES
specially concurring.
While I concur with the opinion in all respects, I write specially concerning Part V of the opinion because it is not entirely clear to me from the record that an effective exercise of discretion required the trial court to impose the maximum sentence in the presumptive range for defendant’s felony convictions.
In § 18-l-102.5(l)(b), C.R.S. 1999, the General Assembly stated that one of the purposes of the sentencing statutes is: “To assure the fair and consistent treatment of all convicted offenders by eliminating unjustified disparity in sentences.” When this mandate is applied, especially along with the statutory factors courts must heed when sentencing nonviolent defendants, see § 16-ll-101(2)(a), C.R.S.1999, fairness, in my view, dictates that this required uniformity of sentencing be considered on a state-wide basis.
It is notable that many of the photographs that are the basis of the convictions here just barely evade First Amendment protection. In two cases in which undoubtedly pornographic material was produced and sometimes sold, much less harsh sentencing consequences resulted. See People v. Batchelor, 800 P.2d 599 (Colo.1990) (defendant sentenced to 4 years probation, $5000 fine, and 60 days in county jail as condition of probation for taking posed pornographic pictures of sleeping 9-year-old child); People v. Enea, 665 P.2d 1026 (Colo.1983) (defendant sentenced to 2 years incarceration for selling pornographic material depicting children).
The record reflects that the probation department, which thoroughly investigated the background of the defendant and of this case, recommended probation with a set of conditions calculated to assist defendant to reform his behavior while continuing to work and be productive. This, in view of the victim’s testimony renouncing that any physical or emotional harm came to her in this episode, presented an opportunity to test the judicial system’s capacity for fairness, rehabilitative possibility, and uniformity.
Based on the record here, a shorter sentence of incarceration might more appropri*1286ately have met the General Assembly’s sentencing mandates.