Court Opinion

ID: 9745136
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 22:36:50.279414+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:56.655880
License: Public Domain

DeBRULER, Justice,
dissenting.
In my judgment, consideration of the facts and circumstances relevant to sentencing for this murder supports the con-elusion that a maximum term of sixty years is manifestly unreasonable and, in justice, should be revised downward.
Appellant's prior eriminal activity was negligible or non-existent, and the weight of aggravating circumstances surrounding the murder do not place it among the most vicious, warranting the maximum sentence. The felony which appellant was in the course of attempting to commit at the time he killed is among the least serious of the class of felonies which can, by statute, support a felony murder conviction. It is the Class C felony of breaking and entering the building or structure of another with the intent to commit a felony. The felony intended in this instance was theft, a Class D felony. Appellant's intent was to steal from a gas station which appeared closed and unoccupied. Appellant had a rifle in the truck and not a concealed weapon. He did not contemplate using deadly force and did not arm himself in first launching upon this invasion of property. He did so only after he was surprised, fired upon, and trapped between the two buildings by the owner. Considering this fact for sentencing purposes does not denigrate the rights and actions of the owner, but is necessary in making a just evaluation of the circumstances surrounding the use of the gun by appellant as the trial court considered that use to be the basis for this maximum sentence. Appellant's offense is certainly no greater than that which occurs when one attempts an outright armed robbery and the intended victim is killed in a struggle for the weapon. Cf. Evans v. State (1986), Ind. 497 N.E.2d 919 (fifty-year sentence for felony murder involving brutality); Mullens v. State (1983), Ind. 456 N.E.2d 411 (forty-five year sentence for stabbing and killing an elderly person in her home in course of theft); Stroud v. State (1979), 272 Ind. 12, 395 N.E.2d 770 (forty-year sentence given by Judge Hines, but not reviewed). When the nature of this offense is fully considered in juxtaposition with the mitigating factors, a sentence of more than fifty years is manifestly unreasonable.
SHEPARD, C.J., concurs.