Carter v. State

711 N.E.2d 835, 1999 Ind. LEXIS 356, 1999 WL 339288
Indiana Supreme Court·Decided May 27, 1999·No. 48S00-9805-CR-303·Published·Cited by 142 cases

Opinions

BOEHM, Justice.

Kevin L. Carter was convicted of the murder of a seven-year-old girl and sentenced to sixty years imprisonment. Carter was four[837] teen years old at the time of the crime. On direct appeal, we affirmed the murder conviction but remanded for a new sentencing hearing because (1) it was unclear whether the trial court relied on a forty or fifty year presumptive sentence and (2) the trial court’s sentencing statement did not properly substantiate aggravating circumstances and did not elaborate some potentially mitigating circumstances. Carter v. State, 686 N.E.2d 1254, 1262-64 (Ind.1997). A second sentencing hearing was held on January 7, 1998, and the trial court again imposed the maximum sentence of sixty years. This appeal followed, in which Carter essentially argues that the trial court, although applying the correct presumptive sentence, repeated the other sentencing errors. Carter also suggests that his sentence is manifestly unreasonable. We conclude that, although the trial court did not err in its finding of aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the maximum sentence of sixty years is manifestly unreasonable for this fourteen year old offender. Accordingly, we reduce the sentence to fifty years imprisonment.

I. Carter’s Contentions

Carter asserts that the trial court failed to find mitigating circumstances supported by the record, improperly found aggravating circumstances that “were not supported by subsidiary facts and dealt with unsubstantiated allegations,” and made only a “summary sentencing statement, which is difficult to review and understand.” The contention is essentially that the sentencing statement is “deficient both for what it says and what it does not say.” See Scheckel v. State, 655 N.E.2d 506, 509 (Ind.1995). He also repeats his contention from his first appeal that his sentence is manifestly unreasonable.

II. The Sentencing Statement

At the second sentencing hearing, the trial court took judicial notice of the evidence and arguments presented at Carter’s two trials and his first sentencing hearing. Accordingly, we will consider the evidence offered and arguments made at both sentencing hearings. Although not a model of clarity, the record indicates that the trial court found two mitigating circumstances and two or three aggravating circumstances. Carter’s age (fourteen) and lack of a criminal record were found to be mitigating circumstances at both sentencing hearings. At the second sentencing hearing the trial court described the aggravating circumstances as follows: 1

it is true that as part of the entire series of events that gave rise to this horrible tragedy, ... [Carter] was, in fact, charged with kidnaping, confinement and child molestation. He was charged with child molestation as an A Felony. I don’t have those charges. They never came to me, but the fact that these others ... And the evidence supports all of that, but he was not charged with that. But I think it’s fair to find all that as aggravating circumstances. Further, the young man, although he had no significant juvenile record, there was a prior incident on August the 6th ... wherein he was, uh ... There was allegations that he had molested his sister. So it appears that he has a history of sexual deviancy. Um, further, um, to say that it’s a murder is, of course, correct and the jury found that that’s what happened. Anybody who saw the evidence would have to come away with the terrible realization that this is an awful, horrible, brutal disfiguring murder. I mean his footprints were on the child’s body. She had multiple stab wounds.... The whole scenario amounts to aggravations. It just was virtually indescribable what this young man did to that child.

Because the trial court relied on aggravating or mitigating circumstances to deviate from the presumptive sentence, it was required to [838] (1)identify all of the significant mitigating and aggravating circumstances, (2) state the specific reason why each circumstance is considered to be mitigating or aggravating, and (3) articulate the court’s evaluation and balancing of the circumstances to determine if the mitigating circumstances offset the aggravating ones. Hammons v. State, 493 N.E.2d 1250, 1254 (Ind.1986).

A. The Mitigating Circumstances

This is not a case in which the trial court “made no reference to mitigating circumstances, neither to specify that the court found none to exist nor to state that any existing mitigators were outweighed by ag-gravators.” See Tunstill v. State, 568 N.E.2d 539, 545 (Ind.1991). Rather, the trial court found two mitigating circumstances, but failed to find several other offered mitigating circumstances. An allegation that the trial court failed to identify or find a mitigating factor requires the defendant to establish that the mitigating evidence is both significant and clearly supported by the record. See Brown v. State, 698 N.E.2d 779, 783 (Ind.1998) (citing Crawley v. State, 677 N.E.2d 520, 523 (Ind.1997)) (“[FJailure to find a factor to be mitigating that is clearly supported by the record may indicate that evidence on the point was overlooked.”); see also Hammons, 493 N.E.2d at 1254 (sentencing statement must identify all “significant” mitigating circumstances); Wilkins v. State, 500 N.E.2d 747, 749 (Ind.1986) (“If significant mitigating circumstances are clearly supported by the record, it would be proper to remand with instructions to reconsider the sentence and enter a new sentencing statement in compliance with the foregoing requirements.”).

At the first sentencing hearing, the trial court specifically asked defense counsel in his final summation to “please point out to me ... what you believe to be mitigating circumstances as would be reflected by the record.” Trial counsel discussed several potentially mitigating circumstances at that hearing and mentioned some of these again at the second sentencing hearing. Of those discussed, the trial court found only Carter’s young age and that he had “no significant criminal record” to be mitigating. In this appeal, Carter asserts that the trial court should have found several other factors to be mitigating.2

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Carter v. State, 711 N.E.2d 835, 1999 Ind. LEXIS 356, 1999 WL 339288 (Ind. 1999).

711 N.E.2d 835 (Carter v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Jerry E Russell, Sr. v. State of Indiana
Indiana Supreme Court, 2024
Desmond Banks v. State of Indiana
Indiana Court of Appeals, 2024
James McMahan v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
Indiana Court of Appeals, 2020
Kevin E. Bell v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
Indiana Court of Appeals, 2018
Carltez Taylor v. State of Indiana
86 N.E.3d 157 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2017)
Bryan Scott v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
Indiana Court of Appeals, 2017
Ronald Longer v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
Indiana Court of Appeals, 2015
Anthony Peak JR. v. State of Indiana
Indiana Court of Appeals, 2014