Court Opinion

ID: 9540554
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:17:28.048478+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:59:58.930558
License: Public Domain

Madsen, J.
(dissenting) — Under the Sentencing Reform Act of 1981 (SRA), a trial judge may sentence a defendant in excess of the standard range when "[t]he current offense was a major violation of the Uniform Controlled Substances Act... which was more onerous than the typical offense of its statutory definition . . .". (Italics mine.) RCW 9.94A.390(2)(d). The majority's result ignores this highlighted language and instead affirms an exceptional sentence solely on the showing of a major violation of the Uniform Controlled Substances Act. Because the statute requires an additional showing that the current offense be more onerous than the typical offense of its statutory category, and no such finding or conclusion was made by the sentencing judge below, I dissent.
*709In subsection (2)(d) the Legislature specified that finding any one of the factors listed in RCW 9.94A.390(2)(d)(i)-(iv) will establish a major drug violation. Clearly absent from the statute is language that finding a major violation, by itself, will justify an exceptional sentence. Instead, the Legislature deliberately added a further condition precedent: that the violation be more onerous than the typical crime in its statutory definition.
I do not dispute the majority's conclusion that the findings of the trial court support a conclusion that the violation in this case constituted a major drug violation. The majority, however, then holds that finding a major drug violation ends the inquiry. This holding reads the requirement of finding "onerousness" out of the statute in violation of this court's duty to give effect to all provisions in a statute. See Xieng v. Peoples Nat'l Bank, 120 Wn.2d 512, 529-30, 844 P.2d 389 (1993); In re Robles, 63 Wn. App. 208, 216, 817 P.2d 419 (1991). I would instead give effect to all the relevant statutory language by requiring that a major drug offense be more onerous than the typical case of its categoiy before it can be used in justifying an upward departure from the standard sentence range.
While I do not necessarily support a proportionality review based on published appellate cases as proposed by the Court of Appeals, I believe this approach is nevertheless on the right track. The Legislature has included a requirement of onerousness without either defining the term or providing any examples. In the absence of legislative guidance, the Court of Appeals approach provides a standard against which a trial judge may measure the onerousness of the violation. Some standard is essential to avoid the arbitrary imposition of penalties and to provide criteria for appellate review. See State v. Shove, 113 Wn.2d 83, 88-89, 776 P.2d 132 (1989).
The majority opinion criticizes a proportionality approach for essentially two reasons. First, the majority hypothesizes that the less serious cases will be resolved through plea bargaining, thus skewing the pool of appellate cases. I reject *710this surmise because the reality of criminal practice is quite the opposite. More often a serious case will result in a negotiated plea because of the risks attendant in sentencing. In a typical case, the defendant takes a far smaller risk by going to trial since there is less to be gained by negotiating a sentence recommendation.
Second, the majority states that RCW 9.94A.390(2)(d) does not require a proportionality review because "Clearly the Legislature did not intend for the trial courts, or the appellate courts, to engage in a proportionality review...". Majority, at 704. This position is contrary to the plain language of subsection (2)(d) and the stated legislative "purposes" underlying the SRA. In enacting RCW 9.94A.010, the. Legislature expressed an intent to:
(1) Ensure that the punishment for a criminal offense is proportionate to the seriousness of the offense and the offender's criminal history;
(2) Promote respect for the law by providing punishment which is just;
(3) Be commensurate with the punishment imposed on others committing similar offenses;
(Italics mine.) RCW 9.94A.010.
While rejecting the Court of Appeals' approach to proportionality review, the majority seems to suggest that even if such a review is contemplated under subsection (2)(d), the correct approach is to allow each sentencing judge to imagine the various permutations on the commission of crimes in a given category and then decide which manner of violation is more onerous than another, thus deserving of greater penalty. This, it seems to me, is squarely the responsibility of the Legislature. It is to that branch of government that responsibility for designating crime categories and penalties was assigned. See Seattle v. Buchanan, 90 Wn.2d 584, 605, 584 P.2d 918 (1978) ("the power to define criminal offenses resides in the legislative branch"); State v. Ammons, 105 Wn.2d 175, 180, 713 P.2d 719, 718 P.2d 796 ("the fixing of legal punishments for criminal offenses is a legislative function"), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 930 (1986). On the other hand, it is the role of judges to consider individual defendants and to *711sentence proportionate to the seriousness of the offense and commensurate with the punishment imposed on others committing similar offenses. RCW 9.94A.010.
Since the Legislature requires a finding of "onerousness" to justify an increased penalty, some form of proportionality review is necessary to avoid an arbitrary decision. Absent an objective standard, a finding of onerousness will be based on the experience and imagination of the judge, standards in the community, case workloads, and the predilection of elected prosecutors. It is interesting to contrast this result with the manner in which sentencing was carried out before the SRA was adopted. At that time, a certain degree of uniform sentencing was achieved because the actual time served on most sentences was decided by a single entity, the Indeterminate Sentence Review Board. Thus, in certain respects, the majority's holding allows for more subjective judicial sentencing under the SRA, despite the act's emphasis on "structuring" judicial discretion,26 than existed beforehand. While I agree with the majority that a judge should have great latitude in the exercise of sentencing discretion, there must be some standard against which a judge may measure the instant violation when finding "onerousness".
Since the trial court made neither findings nor conclusions with respect to the onerousness of the violation, the case should be remanded to allow consideration of this issue. To avoid an argument based on vagueness and lack of standards, I would require a finding of onerousness be based on a proportionality review. The prosecutor may present statewide crime statistics in support of its request for an exceptional sentence. Alternatively, the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys may elect to develop statewide guidelines against which drug violations may be measured. While this may present some additional burden on the State, this should be measured against the stated purposes of the SRA and the additional months or years that a defendant may, arbitrarily, be sentenced to serve.
*712My resolution gives effect to the language of the statute and provides necessary standards for application. I would affirm the Court of Appeals decision to remand this matter for resentencing.
Utter and Johnson, JJ., concur with Madsen, J.

See Shove, 113 Wn.2d at 89.