Limp v. State

457 N.E.2d 189, 1983 Ind. LEXIS 1067
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 20, 1983
Docket981S242
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 457 N.E.2d 189 (Limp v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Limp v. State, 457 N.E.2d 189, 1983 Ind. LEXIS 1067 (Ind. 1983).

Opinion

HUNTER, Judge.

We affirmed defendant's conviction of two counts of child molesting in his direct appeal to this Court, Limp v. State, (1982) Ind., 431 N.E.2d 784. However, the case was remanded for a more complete statement of reasons for the enhancement of sentences in accord with the provisions of Page v. State, (1981) Ind., 424 N.E.2d 1021, and Green v. State, (1981) Ind., 424 N.E.2d 1014, or alternatively to reduce the sentences to the basic or presumptive sentence of 10 years on each count.

Thereafter, the trial court held a resentencing hearing where defendant presented evidence in his behalf, The court resentenced defendant to the same enhanced sentence on the first count, but reduced the sentence on the second count to the basic or presumptive term. As directed by this court, the trial court entered a lengthy statement of reasons for the sentences. The court found the following aggravating circumstances in this case:

"1. That [victim] was a niece by marriage of the defendant.
"2. That on the 20th day of December, 1980, the defendant lured [victim] into the bathroom of his trailer, disrobed, and caused [victim], ten years of age, to place his penis in her mouth and to suck it until he had a climax.
"8. That a like act occurred two to four days before the 20th day of October in the defendant's trailer.
"A. That three days after Thanksgiving in the year 1980 the defendant disrobed in front of [victim] in the bedroom in his trailer, that [victim], his niece, was in a nightgown and had her panties on. The defendant took off her panties and placed his penis in the child's vagina. The child asked the defendant to quit because he was hurting her and he refused to quit until he had a climax. Immediately afterwards he told her that she would be sent to Girl's School if she told and that he would kill her after he got out of jail.
"5. The defendant admitted in the pre-sentence investigation report that he performed acts similar to the above acts for a period of two years prior to December 20, 1980.
"6. The age of the defendant."

And the court found the following mitigating circumstances:

"1. That the defendant was employed twenty-eight (28) years at Whirlpool Corporation.
"2. That he was a good provider for his family, which consisted of a wife and one child."

Before we reach the merits of defendant's challenge to the propriety of these reasons, it must be remembered that it is within the trial court's authority to determine the weight to be given in each case to the aggravating and mitigating circumstances discerned and to increase or decrease the sentence accordingly, as provided by the *191 statute. Abercrombie v. State, (1982) Ind., 441 N.E.2d 442; McManus v. State, (1982) Ind., 488 N.E.2d 775. Furthermore, we note that our scope of review is defined within our Rules for Appellate Review of Sentences, and "The reviewing court will not revise a sentence authorized by statute except where such sentence is manifestly unreasonable in light of the nature of the offense and character of the offender. Ind.R.Ap.Rev.Sen. 2.

In enhancing defendant's sentence by five years for aggravating cireumstanc-es, the trial court cited defendant's threat to kill the young victim and a prior instance of molestation for which defendant was not charged. Defendant concedes that these are legitimate aggravating factors which may be used as reasons for enhancing a presumptive sentence. He argues, however, that the record here does not support either finding. There is quite simply no merit in this contention. The record here contains the victim's pre-trial statement to the police and her subsequent testimony at trial which support the court's findings that defendant threatened his victim and molested her on a prior occasion.

Defendant next charges that the aggravating cireumstances cited in the trial court's finding 2, above, is merely a recital of the elements of the crime and hence cannot be used as a reason for enhancing the presumptive term. We agree that the simple repetition of the elements of a crime cannot alone support an enhanced sentence. Green v. State, (1981) Ind., 424 N.E.2d 1014. However, this does not preclude the trial court from considering the manner in which the crime was committed as an aggravating circumstances. Washington v. State, (1981) Ind., 422 N.E.2d 1218. Here, the trial court properly relied on the manner in which defendant "lured" the young victim into the bathroom and caused her to "suck his penis until climax." This was not a simple repetition of the elements of the crime. We do not believe the trial court abused its discretion by relying on this as an aggravating cireumstance.

The trial court also relied upon a pre-sen-tence investigation report to find another aggravating circumstance. In that report, defendant admitted that he had performed unlawful sexual acts with the victim for a period of two years prior to December 20, 1980. Defendant concedes that this is a legitimate reason for enhancing a sentence, but argues that the use of this information violated his right against self-incrimination since he was not advised of his right to remain silent prior to the pre-sentence interview with his probation officer. Defendant admits that we expressly rejected this same contention in Gardner v. State, (1979) 270 Ind. 627, 628, 388 N.E.2d 513. Nevertheless, he urges us to re-examine our decision in light of a recent United States Supreme Court case, Estelle v. Smith, (1981) 451 U.S. 454, 101 S.Ct. 1866, 68 L.Ed.2d 359. In Smith, the defendant was given a pre-trial psychiatric examination ordered by the trial court to determine his competence to stand trial in a capital murder case. The Supreme Court held that the admission of the psychiatrist's testimony at the sentencing phase of defendant's trial to establish his future dangerousness violated defendant's Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled self-incrimination since defendant was not advised before the pre-trial examination that he had a right to remain silent and that any statement he made could be used against him at the sentencing hearing. We do not agree that Smith necessitates either a modification of our decision in Gardner or a finding here that defendant's right against self-incrimination was violated. That Smith is inapplicable to Gardner and the present case is implied where the Supreme Court states, "Of course, we do not hold that the same Fifth Amendment concerns are necessarily presented by all types of interviews and examinations that might be ordered or relied upon to inform a sentencing determination." Smith, 451 U.S. at 469 n. 18, 101 S.Ct. at 1876 n. 18.

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Bluebook (online)
457 N.E.2d 189, 1983 Ind. LEXIS 1067, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/limp-v-state-ind-1983.