Court Opinion

ID: 9734416
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 17:34:13.596312+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:19:10.064972
License: Public Domain

HARTEN, Judge
(concurring specially).
Because of its view from afar, an appellate court is obliged to exercise restraint in reviewing sentencing questions. Determination of weight and credibility of witnesses is the domain of the sentencing court. In this case, judges of both the trial court and appellate court equally disapprove respondent’s abhorrent criminal behavior which led to his conviction. It serves no purpose to dwell on the details.
The question on appeal is whether the sentencing court abused its discretion in granting a dispositional departure from the presumptive sentencing guidelines. Whereas I think that the departure is suspect, I must concede that it has evidentiary support.
The corrections officer, whose duty was to investigate exclusively for the court respondent’s background and circumstances, concluded that respondent is not amenable to probation. His view is shared by several other professionals. Another professional who examined respondent testified that respondent is amenable to probation. Corrections officers and behavioral scientists, however, do not sentence people. It became the grave responsiblity of the sen*920tencing court to sort out the conflicting recommendations and make a determination. Such determination does not simply rest on mathematical computation of the number of professionals favoring one result or the other; courts regularly instruct juries to disregard the greater number of witnesses in deciding issues.
However inviting, I consider it inappropriate for this appellate court to substitute its distant judgment for that of sentencing court, particularly where, as here, there is evidence to support the sentencing court’s discretion. For this reason, I join the majority opinion.