State v. Corral

521 P.2d 151, 21 Ariz. App. 520, 1974 Ariz. App. LEXIS 362
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedApril 18, 1974
Docket2 CA-CR 356
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 521 P.2d 151 (State v. Corral) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Corral, 521 P.2d 151, 21 Ariz. App. 520, 1974 Ariz. App. LEXIS 362 (Ark. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinion

*521 OPINION

HATHAWAY, Chief Judge.

Appellant-defendant was charged by indictment with two counts of burglary in November, 1972. He became 21 years of age in April, 1973. Pursuant to a plea bargain, defendant pleaded guilty to one count (the other was dismissed) in July, 1973. Sentencing, set for July 31st, was continued until August 3rd for the express purpose of allowing the sentencing court time to inquire into defendant’s juvenile record.

During the continuance, the judge found that defendant’s juvenile record had been destroyed, apparently pursuant to A.R.S. § 8-247. He conversed with two probation officers at the Juvenile Center who remembered defendant, obtained a file on the defendant pertaining to juvenile matters from the Department of Corrections, and interviewed defendant’s juvenile parole officer from the Department of Corrections. At the August 3rd hearing, the parole officer was available for cross-examination and the records from the Department of Corrections together with two presentence reports compiled by probation officers were turned over to defendant’s counsel. Nothing indicates that the two probation officers contacted by the court could not have been available for examination upon request. 1 No mitigation hearing pursuant to former Rule 336, Rules of Criminal Procedure, 17 A.R.S. was requested.

Basing his decision in part upon defendant’s extensive juvenile record, his opportunity for rehabilitation when granted parole as a juvenile and the judge’s (while serving as juvenile court judge) own recommendation at one point in time during his parole that it be continued after a parole violation, the judge sentenced defendant to a term of from two to four years in the Arizona State Prison. The judge also had before him a list of adult police contacts with the defendant taken from police reports and listed in the presentence reports prepared for the court.

Defendant’s first contention is that his constitutional right to due process was violated when the trial court considered his juvenile record prior to passing sentence. He reasons that because a juvenile is not afforded all the rights of an adult accused of a crime, “fundamental fairness” dictates that these records not be reviewed before passing sentence upon one convicted of crime.

Defendant argues that A.R.S. § 8-207(C) is unconstitutional since it specifically provides that a court may consider juvenile records in “dispositional proceedings after conviction of a felony for the purposes of a presentence investigation and report.” 2

Even before A.R.S. § 8-207(C) was enacted (Laws 1970, Chap. 223, § 2), our Supreme Court specifically held that a sentencing court could review a presentencing report containing references to a convict’s juvenile record which had been compiled by the police department. State v. Fierro, 101 Ariz. 118, 416 P.2d 551 (1966). Defendant urges that we ignore this decision because the court did not “consider objections founded upon the due process clause” but only held that a review of juvenile records for sentencing purposes did not violate a statute providing that the disposition of a child by the juvenile court is inadmissible as evidence in any non-juvenile court proceeding. See former A.R.S. § 8-228 (repealed Laws 1970, Chap. 223, § 1).

Defendant has cited no authority in support of his claim that his constitutional rights have been violated. Neither has our research disclosed any case or authority even suggesting a denial of due process upon an examination by the trial court of *522 a convicted adult offender’s juvenile record for purposes of sentencing.

The United States Supreme Court has squarely held that the sentencing court can, consistent with the Due Process Clause, “consider responsible unsworn or ‘out-of-court’ information relative to the circumstances of the crime and to the convicted person’s life and characteristics.” Williams v. State, 358 U.S. 576, 584, 79 S.Ct. 421, 426, 3 L.Ed.2d 516, 521-522 (1959). 3 See Williams v. People of State of New York, 337 U.S. 241, 69 S.Ct. 1079, 93 L.Ed. 1337 (1949), the landmark decision in this area, for an exhaustive discussion of both the history and the utility of a sentencing court’s consideration of information compiled in presentence reports.

We cite just two examples of past adult conduct which courts have held properly considered by sentencing courts. In Williams v. People of State of New York, supra, the United States Supreme Court found that the sentencing judge properly considered certain burglaries for which the offender had not been convicted but only “identified as the perpetrator” as well as activities of the offender showing that he possessed a “morbid sexuality”. (337 U.S. at 244, 69 S.Ct. at 1081, 93 L.Ed. at 1340). In State v. Griswold, 101 Ariz. 577, 422 P.2d 693 (1967), cert. den. sub nom. Griswold v. Arizona, 388 U.S. 913, 87 S.Ct. 2113, 18 L.Ed.2d 1352 (1967), our Arizona Supreme Court held it proper for the trial court to consider statements that the defendant had once threatened the life of his son before sentencing him for the crime of murder. 4

If a defendant’s past conduct as an adult can constitutionally be considered by the sentencing court without proof beyond a reasonable doubt that this conduct occurred, then conduct as a juvenile may also be considered. Due process considerations in sentencing, as noted above, do not require that the defendant be constitutionally tried and convicted of prior adult criminal conduct before the court may consider it in assessing a suitable sentence. We see no constitutional requirement that a different rule should apply to prior juvenile conduct. Accordingly any lack of rights accorded to juvenile offenders is constitutionally irrelevant in determining whether a defendant’s conduct as a juvenile may serve as a basis of aggravating or mitigating his sentence as an adult.

Defendant cites United States v. Tucker, 404 U.S. 443, 92 S.Ct. 589, 30 L.Ed.2d 592 (1972) wherein a defendant’s sentence was vacated because the sentencing judge had considered two prior convictions without knowledge of their constitutional infirmity because of lack of representation by counsel. See Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, 83 S.Ct. 792, 9 L.Ed.2d 799 (1963).

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Bluebook (online)
521 P.2d 151, 21 Ariz. App. 520, 1974 Ariz. App. LEXIS 362, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-corral-arizctapp-1974.