Ridgely v. State

739 P.2d 1299, 1987 Alas. App. LEXIS 263
CourtCourt of Appeals of Alaska
DecidedJuly 24, 1987
DocketA-30, A-43 and A-56
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 739 P.2d 1299 (Ridgely v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Alaska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ridgely v. State, 739 P.2d 1299, 1987 Alas. App. LEXIS 263 (Ala. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

OPINION

BRYNER, Chief Judge.

After being convicted of murder and other offenses related to the August 1982 killing of Mildred Landesman, the appellants, James A. Ridgely, Jr., William G. Plumley, and Shelley Ann Bosch, appealed their convictions to this court. In Ridgely v. State, 705 P.2d 924 (Alaska App.1985), we described the circumstances surrounding the offenses and rejected many of the arguments raised by the appellants, but found that a confession given by Ridgely was involuntary. Based on this finding, we ordered Ridgely’s conviction reversed, and we remanded Plumley’s and Bosch’s cases for further proceedings to determine the extent, if any, to which their convictions were tainted by evidence derived from Ridgely’s involuntary confession. Id. at 935.

In response to a petition for hearing by the state, the Alaska Supreme Court, in State v. Ridgely, 732 P.2d 550 (Alaska 1987), reversed our decision, concluding that Ridgely’s confession had been voluntarily given. The supreme court remanded the case to us for resolution of the issues left undecided in our original opinion. Id. at 557. We now resolve these issues.

This court’s opinion in Ridgely v. State disposed of all but one of the issues relating to the merits of the appellants’ convictions: because our reversal of Ridgely’s conviction rendered it unnecessary, we did not address his claim that the trial court erred in failing to give a proper jury instruction on the lesser-included offense of manslaughter. Ridgely v. State, 705 P.2d at 935 n. 5. 1 Ridgely’s challenge is premised on the fact that the manslaughter instruction given to the jury referred only to reckless homicide and did not inform the jury that knowing and intentional homicides may qualify as manslaughter. See AS 11.41.120 (defining manslaughter as any intentional, knowing, or reckless killing of another “under circumstances not amounting to murder in the first or second degree”). This claim must fail, however, since Ridgely has suggested no theory under which the evidence might have supported a conviction of manslaughter based on intentional or knowing conduct. See Martin v. State, 664 P.2d 612, 615-18 (Alaska App.1983), cert. denied, 465 U.S. 1007, 104 S.Ct. 1001, 79 L.Ed.2d 234 (1984). In any event, the jury was also given a proper lesser-included offense instruction on murder in the second degree. The jury nevertheless convicted Ridgely of murder in the first degree. Given the jury’s rejection of second-degree murder as a lesser-included offense, it is evident that Ridgely suffered no prejudice, even assuming the challenged manslaughter instruction was inadequate. See Christie v. State, 580 P.2d 310, 320 (Alaska 1978).

In addition to their claims on the merits, all three of the appellants have argued that their sentences are excessive. Superior Court Judge Ralph E. Moody imposed the sentences for each of the appellants. Plumley was convicted of murder in the first degree and burglary in the first degree. He received a maximum term of ninety-nine years for murder and another ten-year maximum term for burglary. The sentences were made consecutive, for a total term of 109 years. Ridgely was similarly convicted of first-degree murder and first-degree burglary and received maximum sentences for the offenses. He was also convicted of theft in the second degree and received an additional five-year maximum term for that offense. All three sentences were made consecutive, for a total sentence of 114 years. Bosch was convicted of murder in the second degree and of *1302 theft in the second degree. She received a maximum term of 99 years for the murder, and a consecutive five-year term for the theft, for a total of 104 years.

At the time of the crime, Plumley was nineteen years of age. He had no adult record but had been institutionalized as a juvenile for theft of a handgun, theft of a vehicle, and joyriding. Dr. David Coons, a psychiatrist, diagnosed Plumley as being antisocial and as a chronic substance abuser. He indicated that Plumley probably would not have committed this crime on his own, but that he could have stopped it. Although Dr. Coons did not perceive Plum-ley as violent, he indicated that Plumley had a significant tolerance for violence. In imposing Plumley’s sentence, Judge Moody emphasized the brutal nature of the crime and the fact that it was premeditated. He concluded that Plumley had limited prospects for rehabilitation.

Ridgely, the person who actually struck the blows that killed Mrs. Landes-man, was sixteen years old at the time of the offense. He had formerly been adjudicated a delinquent for possession of marijuana, grand larceny, and unlawful entry. The psychiatric report indicates that, despite his youth, Ridgely has limited prospects for rehabilitation. Dr. Coons diagnosed Ridgely as meeting “the diagnostic criteria for conduct disorder, undersocial-ized aggressive type_” Dr. Coons further stated, “[i]t is felt the patient has strong characteristics of an antisocial personality disorder, but his current age precludes that diagnosis.” In evaluating Ridgely’s rehabilitation potential, Dr. Coons said, “His long-term prognosis is, in my opinion, poor, regardless of what treatment he receives.”

Bosch was seventeen years of age at the time of the offense. She had previously been adjudicated a delinquent for burglary and theft. The psychiatric evaluations of Bosch indicate that she may be amenable to treatment. However, Judge Moody discounted the psychiatric evaluations. The judge concluded that Bosch was as culpable of Mrs. Landesman’s murder as Plumley and Ridgely, even though she had been convicted of murder in the second degree rather than of murder in the first degree.

In considering the appropriateness of the maximum sentences received by the appellants, we are satisfied that Judge Moody did not err in emphasizing the seriousness of the conduct involved in this case. It is difficult to imagine a more brutal, callous, and gratuitous crime of violence than the crime involved in the present case. The calculated and deliberate manner in which the murder was executed by the appellants clearly warrants their treatment as worst offenders, despite their youthfulness. We recognize that Bosch was convicted by the jury only of second-degree murder. Judge Moody was nevertheless entitled to make his own evaluation of the evidence in deciding how culpable Bosch’s behavior was. See Huckaby v. State, 632 P.2d 975 (Alaska App.1981). The record before Judge Moody certainly sufficed to support the conclusion that Bosch was as guilty of premeditated murder as were Plumley and Ridgely. The maximum term of ninety-nine years received by each of the appellants, though certainly severe, was justified by the extreme nature of their crime. See Riley v. State, 720 P.2d 951 (Alaska App.1986).

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Bluebook (online)
739 P.2d 1299, 1987 Alas. App. LEXIS 263, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ridgely-v-state-alaskactapp-1987.