Fowler v. State

919 So. 2d 1129, 2005 WL 2009311
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedAugust 23, 2005
Docket2002-KP-00403-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 919 So. 2d 1129 (Fowler v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fowler v. State, 919 So. 2d 1129, 2005 WL 2009311 (Mich. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

919 So.2d 1129 (2005)

Robert K. FOWLER, Appellant
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2002-KP-00403-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

August 23, 2005.
Rehearing Denied November 22, 2005.

*1130 Robert K. Fowler, Appellant, pro se.

Office of the Attorney General by Jeffrey A. Klingfuss, attorney for appellee.

EN BANC.

MODIFIED OPINION ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

CHANDLER, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. The appellant's motion for rehearing is granted. The original opinion is withdrawn and this opinion is substituted therefor.

¶ 2. Robert Fowler entered a guilty plea for armed robbery and was sentenced to serve fifteen years in prison. As part of the State's plea bargain agreement, his indictment for attempted murder was passed to the files. After he successfully pursued post-conviction relief, the State pursued charges for both armed robbery and attempted murder. The Oktibbeha County Circuit Court sentenced Fowler to ten years for attempted murder and enhanced Fowler's armed robbery sentence from fifteen years to twenty-two years. Fowler appeals, raising the following issue:

WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN SENTENCING FOWLER TO A HARSHER SENTENCE AFTER HAVING HAD HIS FIRST SENTENCE VACATED

¶ 3. Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 4. Robert Fowler was indicted for armed robbery and attempted murder. He entered a plea agreement with the State which provided that he would plead guilty to armed robbery and that the State would pass the attempted murder charge to the files and recommend a sentence of fifteen years for armed robbery. The trial court accepted Fowler's guilty plea and sentence recommendation from the State.

¶ 5. Fowler then claimed that his attorney erroneously told Fowler that he would be eligible for parole after serving ten years of his fifteen year sentence. Upon this discovery, Fowler petitioned for post-conviction relief in which he sought to set aside the plea because of this information. The circuit court granted this motion and set aside Fowler's guilty plea.

¶ 6. After Fowler's guilty plea and sentence had been vacated, the State retrieved the attempted murder charge from the files and prepared to try Fowler on both charges. Initially, Fowler decided to plead not guilty to these charges. Accordingly, the State did not offer a plea bargain. Fowler later changed his mind and pleaded guilty to both charges. The circuit court accepted Fowler's guilty pleas and sentenced Fowler to twenty-two years for the armed robbery and ten years for the attempted murder, with the sentences to run concurrently. Fowler now prosecutes this appeal, alleging that the harsher sentences were a result of vindictiveness.

ANALYSIS

WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN SENTENCING FOWLER TO A HARSHER SENTENCE AFTER HAVING HAD HIS FIRST SENTENCE VACATED

¶ 7. The United States Supreme Court, in North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, *1131 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969), decided the issue of whether the Constitution limited the imposition of a harsher sentence upon retrial when a prior conviction for the same offense had been set aside and a new trial ordered. The court held that "neither the double jeopardy provision nor the Equal Protection Clause imposes an absolute bar to the more severe sentence upon reconviction." Id. at 723, 89 S.Ct. 2072. The court went on to hold that due process would not allow vindictiveness against a defendant for having attacked his first conviction to play a part in the sentence he receives after a new trial. To assure that such a vindictiveness motivation does not exist, the court requires that the reasons for imposing a harsher sentence must affirmatively appear in the record. Id. at 725-26, 89 S.Ct. 2072.

¶ 8. In Ross v. State, 480 So.2d 1157 (Miss.1985), the Mississippi Supreme Court adopted the rules of law announced in Pearce. In Ross, the defendant was sentenced to a term of ten years for robbery. Id. at 1158. His motion for a new trial was granted, he was re-tried, and was ordered to serve twelve years after he was re-sentenced. Id. The Mississippi Supreme Court agreed that the defendant's harsher sentence was vindictive and should be vacated. Accordingly, the court reversed and rendered and substituted the original ten year sentence. Id. at 1161.

¶ 9. The court in Ross issued the following pronouncements and guidelines to insure that a harsher sentence upon re-trial is constitutionally permissible:

1. The imposition of a harsher sentence by a judge following a new trial and conviction for the same charge is not violative of the federal, or Mississippi's, Constitution.
2. Due process of law does require that vindictiveness against a defendant for having successfully attacked his first conviction play no part in the sentence he receives after a new trial.
3. Due process also requires that a defendant be freed of apprehension of such a retaliatory motivation on the part of the sentencing judge.
4. In order to assure that it may be determined on appeal whether such a motive was absent, the following must occur:
(a) The judge must affirmatively state in the record his reasons for the harsher sentence.
(b) The reasons must be based upon objective information concerning identifiable conduct on the part of the defendant which occurred after the time of the original sentencing proceeding, or based upon objective information concerning events which occurred after the time of the original sentencing proceeding that may have thrown new light upon the defendant's life, health, habits, conduct, or mental and moral propensities.
(c) The factual data upon which the increased sentence is based must be made a part of the record.
(d) This information and data upon which the judge bases his sentence may come to the judge's attention from evidence adduced at the second trial itself, from a new presentencing investigation, from the defendant's prison record, or possibly from other sources.

Id. at 1160-61 (citations omitted).

¶ 10. When Fowler entered his first guilty plea and the judge sentenced Fowler to fifteen years for armed robbery, there was no indication that the judge was aware that the State also indicted Fowler for attempted murder. At the second sentencing hearing the judge was made aware of new evidence that led him to believe that Fowler's conduct was more heinous *1132 than he originally realized. Pursuant to the mandates of Ross, this new evidence threw new light upon Fowler's life, health, habits, conduct, and mental or moral propensities. During the second sentencing hearing, the judge for the first time heard evidence that Fowler's accomplice had plans to shoot and kill the clerk of the store which Fowler robbed. At the second sentencing hearing, the State called an expert who testified that the gun used by Fowler had the capacity of killing the store clerk. Fowler's accomplice pulled the trigger, and the State's expert testified that the gun would have fired if the pin had been properly set.

¶ 11. The record shows that the judge used Fowler's conduct concerning his attempted murder of the store clerk in deciding to impose a harsher sentence.

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Related

Davis v. State
17 So. 3d 1149 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2009)
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932 So. 2d 842 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2005)

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Bluebook (online)
919 So. 2d 1129, 2005 WL 2009311, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fowler-v-state-missctapp-2005.