Court Opinion

ID: 9601911
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 01:50:41.134851+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:01:59.858335
License: Public Domain

Williams, J.
(dissenting) — I dissent. The remarks of the trial court judge as revealed by the record indicate to me that he did not exercise his discretion in sentencing defendant but instead followed a self-imposed rule to sentence to prison every defendant convicted of first degree robbery. By adhering to this mechanistic rule he could not and did not exercise his discretion, and I would therefore reverse the case. State v. Pettitt, 93 Wn.2d 288, 609 P.2d 1364 (1980).
In upholding the court's actions, the majority has, in effect, interpreted the judge's remarks contrary to their *37plain meaning. He clearly announced he had a mandatory policy, but the majority now holds that he may have said it but either didn't mean it or didn't follow it. If on the merits the defendant was not deserving of probation or a deferred sentence, then there was no need to explain the policy and its underlying rationale, and I presume the judge would not have bothered doing so. He simply would have sentenced her to prison without reference to his "policy". I conclude, therefore, that the judge believed probation was at least worthy of consideration and for that reason he felt compelled to use his mandatory commitment policy to justify the sentence.
Moreover, the judge's explanation clearly shows his dissatisfaction with this court's decision in State v. Workman, 90 Wn.2d 443, 584 P.2d 382 (1978), the effect of which he attempts to correct by imposing on himself a policy or rule by which he strips himself of any sentencing discretion in first degree robbery cases. This is an unusual response. Trial judges ordinarily seize the opportunity to exercise their discretion in a deserving case. The trial judge in this case, however, has imposed on himself a sentencing restriction reserved to legislative action. In Workman, this court held the legislature did not take that action, and I believe it was improper for the judge to assume the task of correcting legislative inaction.
I would remand the case for the trial judge to resentence defendant after a full consideration of the merits, uninhibited by his self-imposed mandatory policy of refusing to consider probation in a first degree robbery case under the then existing law.
Hicks, J., concurs with Williams, J.