Court Opinion

ID: 9519461
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 01:16:51.375342+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:44:24.090523
License: Public Domain

DeBRULER, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
The decision of the sentencing court to require the sentences of Michael Johnson to be served consecutively, resulting in an aggregate sentence of ninety years is supported by the following findings:
"The Court now finds that the following mitigating and/or aggravating circumstances apply in this case pursuant to IC 85-4.1-4-7:
(a) Mitigating Cireumstances-the defendant has no history of delinquency or criminal activity and has apparently lead a law-abiding life for a substantial period before commission of the crime.
(b) Aggravating Cirecumstances-
1. The defendant is in need of correctional or rehabilitative treatment that can best be provided by his commitment to a penal facility.
2. Any imposition of reduced sentence or the suspension of the sentence and imposition of probation would depreciate the seriousness of the crime, particularly in light of the nature of the offense and the matter in which the crimes were committed.
3. That the defendant has shown no remorse for the crimes of which he has been convicted which is a factor the Court does consider in calculating the risk that the defendant might commit another crime."
It appears to me that the reasons given here for imposing consecutive sentences upon Michael Johnson are not sufficiently specific and individualized. Paragraphs (b) 1, and (b) 2, simply repeat statutory language, and (b) 8, tells us that he has shown *915no remorse and the court used that in considering whether he might commit another crime. The court does not even find that the risk is substantial that he might commit another crime. There may be a good reason for the sentences of this first offender to run consecutively, but they do not appear in these findings. I would remand for a new sentencing hearing for this defendant, or in the alternative that a concurrent sentence order be imposed.