Court Opinion

ID: 9769128
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 14:34:33.016435+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:55.480152
License: Public Domain

BIRCH, Justice,
concurring.
The majority in this case holds that trial judges in misdemeanor cases are not required to make specific findings of fact on the record regarding sentencing decisions. I write separately to express my view that Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-35-209(e) (1990) applies equally to misdemeanor and felony sentencing, thereby requiring specific findings of fact in both cases. Applying TenmCode Ann. § 40-35-209(e) to the record before us, I agree with the majority that the sentence must be affirmed because defendant has failed to provide a complete record for our review.
Tennessee Code Annotated § 40-35-209(c) is part of the Criminal Sentencing Reform Act of 1989, Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-35-101 et seq. (1990). It provides, in relevant part, that “the record of the sentencing hearing ... shall include specific findings of fact upon which application of the sentencing principles was based.” Although this section does not expressly distinguish between felony and misdemeanor cases,5 the majority concludes that it is inapplicable in misdemeanor cases because it is inconsistent with Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-35-302 (1990).
Section 302 governs misdemeanor sentencing and allows a trial court to decide whether to conduct a separate sentencing hearing or to simply “allow the parties a reasonable opportunity to be heard” on sentencing. Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-35-302(a). It also specifies how the trial court should set forth the length and manner of service in a misdemeanor case. Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-35-302(d).
The flexibility provided by section 302 is not disrupted by a requirement that the trial court make specific findings of fact. Permitting the trial court to forgo placing findings of fact on the record merely serves to frustrate the express legislative intent that the reasons for sentencing be appropriately reviewable. See Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-35-209(c) sentencing commission comments. Sentencing decisions are accompanied by a presumption of correctness, Tenn.Code Ann. §§ 40-35-401(d), -402(d) (1990), which is “conditioned upon the affirmative showing in the record that the trial court considered the sentencing principles and all relevant facts and circumstances.” State v. Ashby, 823 S.W.2d 166, 169 (Tenn.1991). Without findings of fact, the presumption is meaningless and we have no choice but merely to review sentencing decisions de novo. Clearly, this is not what the legislature intended.
A record without findings of fact may still permit meaningful appellate review even though the presumption of correctness does not attach. In the case under submission, the defendant failed to file a trial transcript. Although some evidence relevant to sentencing is found in the sentencing hearing transcript and presentence report, scant — if any — evidence regarding the circumstances of the offenses is included in this incomplete record. Ordinarily, such an incomplete record would make me reluctant to conduct a review, lest such review be speculative. As the majority points out, however, it is the defendant’s duty to provide a complete record, and where he has failed to do so, he cannot now complain. Thus, I concur that the sentence should be affirmed.

. Where the General Assembly wanted to distinguish between felonies and misdemeanors, it expressly did so. See, e.g., Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-35-205(a) (1990) (presentence investigation generally mandatory in felony cases but only discretionary in misdemeanor cases).