Court Opinion

ID: 9579351
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:54:16.613828+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:35:28.378926
License: Public Domain

Clinton, J.,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from the opinion of the court. In the unusual circumstances of this case I believe the focus should be upon the defendant’s recent accomplishments rather than upon his past record of offenses. The defendant has a long history of alcoholism caused by his early cultural environment. The alcohol problem, which had its origin during his childhood, is the rather obvious cause of the crimes for which he is to be incarcerated, as well as the cause of most of his earlier offenses.
After his last previous incarceration the defendant, who at the time of sentencing was 35 years of age, began a program to cure his alcoholism. He obtained a general education diploma through the Southeast Community College, then enrolled at the University of Nebraska in the College of Arts and Sciences, and had completed successfully about 2 years of work with a current 3.4 average, taking 12 hours of classwork. He was, at the time of sentencing, still enrolled in college and employed at the University of Nebraska as an undergraduate instructor, teaching the Lakota language, for which work he is paid $175 monthly. Since his latest offenses he is participating in the programs of Alcoholics Anonymous and the Chemical Dependency Unit at Lincoln General Hospital. He has also participated in cultural programs at the University of Nebraska, as well as assisted in counseling other Indians who have a problem similar to his.
Numerous persons who have been associated with him during his educational endeavors attest to the earnestness of his efforts, his abilities, and the probabilities of his ultimate success in coping with his alcoholism. When one considers his previous long his*459tory of alcoholism, the maintenance of sobriety for a period of about 2 years is not a mean accomplishment. New alcoholics who ultimately overcome the problem do so without some slip before final victory.
The probabilities of ultimate success are attested by the opinion of an outpatient counselor at a local hospital that “Alfred will do well if he continues his treatment and A. A.,” and, as well, of a psychologist, “it is crucial to encourage Alfred to continue in learning to postpone short-term gratification for more long-term effects, as is indicative of his apparent reasonable success in college.” The testimonials also evidence his “ability to instruct,” as well as his organizational ability. A substantial businessman who has known him for about 2 years further attested to his confidence in the defendant’s “integrity” and “truthfulness” by furnishing the money in order that the defendant might make his $10,000 bail bond. There are numerous other references.
The defendant’s statement of his own short-term goal is, “finishing school & stopping my drinking.”
I doubt the usefulness of incarceration without giving the defendant a further additional opportunity to further his progress, which has been mostly a program of lifting himself by his own bootstraps.
McCown and White, C. Thomas, JJ., join in this dissent.