Court Opinion

ID: 9844938
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:12:11.19214+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:15:47.839372
License: Public Domain

McGRAW,
Justice, dissenting:
I dissent to the majority’s opinion that permits judicial officers to disregard statutory law. As the majority notes, W.Va. Code § 62-12-8 (1977 Replacement Vol.) explicitly provides that “[o]rders granting or refusing release on probation shall contain a brief statement by the court of the reasons for its action and shall be entered of record.” (Emphasis added.) This Court has long held that the use of the word “shall” in a legislative enactment should be afforded a mandatory connotation. See, e.g., Nelson v. West Virginia Public Employees Ins. Board, 171 W.Va. 445, 300 S.E.2d 86 (1982); Cooper v. Gwinn, 171 *32W.Va. 245, 298 S.E.2d 781 (1981); Woodring v. Whyte, 161 W.Va. 262, 242 S.E.2d 238 (1978); Terry v. Sencindiver, 153 W.Va. 651, 171 S.E.2d 480 (1969); In re Mann, 151 W.Va. 644, 154 S.E.2d 860 (1967); Board of Trustees of Policemen’s Pension or Relief Fund of City of Huntington v. City of Huntington, 142 W.Va. 217, 96 S.E.2d 225 (1956); State ex rel. Staley v. County Court of Wayne County, 137 W.Va. 431, 73 S.E.2d 827 (1952); Baer v. Gore, 79 W.Va. 50, 90 S.E. 530 (1916). A court of record speaks only through its orders. See, State ex rel. Erlewine v. Thompson, 156 W.Va. 714, 207 S.E.2d 105 (1974); Cunningham v. Smith, 205 Va. 205, 135 S.E.2d 770 (1964); see also, State ex rel. Mynes v. Kessel, 152 W.Va. 37, 158 S.E.2d 896 (1968); Powers v. Trent, 129 W.Va. 427, 40 S.E.2d 837 (1946). It is not disputed that the sentencing order in this case did not state the reasons for the refusal to grant probation.
The majority holds that the failure of the order to state reasons for the refusal to grant probation did not prejudice the appellant because those reasons were stated orally by the trial judge on the record on several occasions. However, inspection of the record reveals that the trial court was not at all clear in its articulation of the reasons for its action. At the November 16,1979, sentencing hearing, the trial court speaks only in general terms of “past behavior and the whole picture, the entire circumstances surrounding the events.” Surely such a statement does not fulfill the requirement of W.Va.Code § 62-12-8 that the defendant be given notice of “the reason for the trial judge’s action.” See majority opinion supra at 29.
The other statement of reasons relied upon by the majority was made at the hearing held on October 1, 1979. Although this statement of reasons, quoted in footnote 4 supra, is certainly more complete than that offered at the November 16th hearing,. the trial court itself declined to deny probation based upon these reasons, stating that “there are matters which cloud the issue ...” It is impossible to determine from the record of the subsequent hearing how these clouds were removed.
In rendering a decision on the issue of probation, due process requires that the trial court make findings of fact and conclusions of law and present them in a form that can be reviewed on appeal without resort to an inspection of the entire record and strained concepts of “judicial discretion.”
Incidentally, those interested in the meaning of “judicial discretion” may use as a starting point those definitions collected at 23 Words and Phrases, Judicial Discretion at 496-508 (1967 and Cum.Supp.1981). A synthesis of these definitions indicates that judicial discretion is a concept that permits judicial officers, in the absence of a mandatory statute or other positive rule of law to guide their judgment, to choose to do or not to do a thing, whichever appears just and equitable under the circumstances.
We in this society live by rule of law and not of man. Government by rule of law means, among other things, that “the government itself is subject to rules of law, and cannot disregard the law, or remake it to suit itself without heeding those procedures specified by law.” Cooper v. Gwinn, supra. The rule of law we are concerned with here requires that orders granting or refusing probation must contain a statement by the court of the reasons for its action. W.Va.Code § 62-12-8. The appellant is constitutionally entitled to the benefit of this legislative enactment. See Cooper v. Gwinn, supra. I hypothesize that this Court would not be so tolerant of judicial infidelity if the primary source of the mandate to the circuit court was an opinion of this Court rather than an enactment of the Legislature. I would remand for resentencing and the entry of a proper order.