Henry R. Sanchez v. The State of Wyoming

2013 WY 159, 314 P.3d 1177, 2013 WL 6822663, 2013 Wyo. LEXIS 165
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 24, 2013
DocketS-13-0140
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 2013 WY 159 (Henry R. Sanchez v. The State of Wyoming) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Henry R. Sanchez v. The State of Wyoming, 2013 WY 159, 314 P.3d 1177, 2013 WL 6822663, 2013 Wyo. LEXIS 165 (Wyo. 2013).

Opinion

VOIGT, Justice.

[11] A jury convicted the appellant of attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault and battery, possession of cocaine, and misdemeanor interference. He was sentenced to thirty to forty years for the attempted murder conviction, with lesser sentences to run concurrently. The appellant filed a motion for sentence reduction, which the district court denied. Not convinced the district court had all accurate facts available in making its decision, the appellant filed a motion for reconsideration and it too was denied. The appellant argues on appeal that the district court abused its discretion and violated his due process rights by denying his motions for sentence reduction and ensuing reconsideration. He contends the State committed prosecutorial misconduct by presenting false facts in its traverse to the motion for sentence reduction; as a result, the district court's denial was improper. We find no abuse of discretion by the district court, no violation of the appellant's constitutional rights, and no prosecutorial misconduct. We affirm.

ISSUES

[12] 1. Did the district court abuse its discretion in denying the appellant's motion for reduction of sentence?

2. Were the appellant's constitutional due process rights violated by the district court's denial of his motion to reconsider a sentence reduction?

3. Did the State commit prosecutorial misconduct by misstating facts in its traverse to the appellant's motion for reduction of sentence?

FACTS

[Tf 3] Stemming from an attack on his girlfriend, the appellant was convicted of four crimes and sentenced to a combined prison term of thirty to forty years. In arriving at these sentences, the district court considered, inter alia, the appellant's Presentence Investigation Report. The report reflected that, between 1977 and 2008, the appellant had been charged with over forty separate crimes resulting in more than twenty-five convictions.

[T4] The appellant appealed his convietion and sentence to this Court. See Sanchez v. State, 2011 WY 77, 253 P.3d 136 (Wyo.2011). While his appeal was pending, he filed a motion for a new trial premised upon a claim of recently discovered juror bias, which was denied by the district court. Id. at ¶ 10, 253 P.3d at 140. We affirmed the conviction, sentence, and denial of the motion for new trial. Id. at ¶ 50, 253 P.3d at 149. Thereafter, the appellant filed a petition for post-conviction relief, The district court denied relief, and we entered an order denying the appellant's petition seeking a writ of review of that denial.

[15] In the latest salvo, the appellant has filed a motion for sentence reduction. He provided proof of successful completion of several prison rehabilitation programs, attendance of various counseling sessions, employment at the prison, and being a role model, explaining:

I came in here [to prison] with a negative view of life. But I view life in a much better way now. I communicate, socialize and work with others in a real positive way. And a lot more, I help others as much as I can if it will help them in a positive way. I've learned to respect others in authority, as well as fellow inmates. I have no desire to live life as I did previously. I want to continue to be productive and give, not take away. I want to live a *1179 humble, honest life. Owning up to my mistakes and making up for them whenever I have an opportunity to do something for others.

[16] In opposition, the State filed a traverse 1 highlighting the appellant's eriminal history. From that history it cited four of the appellant's many crimes, asserting the breaks in the appellant's criminal history were due to his incarceration. Specifically, the State argued:

4. The Judgment and Sentence was reviewed by the Wyoming Supreme Court and found to be appropriate. The State opposes a sentence reduction of any sort as Defendant has already been granted an appropriate sentence, and there is no reason for modification. With respect to his prior criminal history, the Defendant's criminal history includes the following police contacts:

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The gaps in Defendant's eriminal history stem from his incarcerations. The information Defendant presents to [the district court] must be balanced against that in the information available before the [district court] at Sentencing. The Defendant has not presented [the district court] with any information that was not available at the time of sentencing, and as such, reduction in sentence would be contrary to the interests of justice. Based on all of the foregoing, nothing new compels the requested reduction.

The State also highlighted that the appellant did not present any pertinent information to the district court that was not available at the time of sentencing. After considering the appellant's motion for sentence reduction, the State's response, and "being otherwise well-advised," the district court entered an order denying the motion.

[17] The appellant, believing the district court was led astray by the State, filed a motion to correct alleged misstatements by the State. Titled "Motion to Correct Prosecuting Attorney's Misstatement of Facts in Opposing Defendant's Motion for Sentence Reduction," he argued the statement in the State's traverse regarding "gaps" in the appellant's criminal history improperly insinuated the appellant did not commit crimes only when he was incarcerated. The appellant clarified he had only been incarcerated for seventy-two days from 1995 through 2005, and urged the district court to focus on his current progress in prison.

[18] Along with his motion to correct misstatements made by the State, the appellant also filed a motion requesting the district court to reconsider a sentence reduction because of the State's misrepresentations. The State's response reaffirmed its previous traverse, explaining its "position remains the same and opposes a sentence reduction of any sort as [the appellant] has already been granted an appropriate sentence, and there is no reason for modification." After reviewing the appellant's request, the State's response, and again being "otherwise well-advised in the premises," the district court denied the appellant's motion to reconsider.

[T9] This appeal was timely perfected. The appellant raises three issues, all of which relate to the statements made in the State's traverse.

DISCUSSION

Did the district court abuse its discretion in denying the appellant's motion for reduction of sentence?

[110] In his first issue, the appellant claims the district court erred in denying *1180 his motion for sentence reduction. We have explained that "[t]rial courts enjoy broad discretion to decide whether to reduce a criminal defendant's sentence, and we will not disturb those decisions absent a clear abuse of discretion." Conkle v. State, 2013 WY 1, ¶ 11, 291 P.3d 313, 315 (Wyo.2013). "Judicial discretion is a composite of many things, among which are conclusions drawn from objective criteria; it means a sound judgment exercised with regard to what is right under the circumstances and without doing so arbitrarily or capriciously." Hodgins v.

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Bluebook (online)
2013 WY 159, 314 P.3d 1177, 2013 WL 6822663, 2013 Wyo. LEXIS 165, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/henry-r-sanchez-v-the-state-of-wyoming-wyo-2013.