State v. Richardson

589 S.E.2d 552, 214 W. Va. 410
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 8, 2003
Docket31121
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 589 S.E.2d 552 (State v. Richardson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Richardson, 589 S.E.2d 552, 214 W. Va. 410 (W. Va. 2003).

Opinions

PER CURIAM:

The appellant in the present proceeding, Raymond Richardson, was sentenced to 30 years in the State Penitentiary for kidnaping. He was also sentenced to five years in the penitentiary, to run concurrently with the kidnaping sentence, for wanton endangerment. On appeal, the appellant claims that the 30-year sentence for kidnaping was disproportionate to the crime committed, and that the sentence is, as a consequence, unconstitutionally impermissible.

[412]*412I.

FACTS

This appeal arises out of a domestic dispute. Prior to' the dispute, the appellant, Raymond Richardson, who was 20-years-old, had been living intermittently with a longtime girlfriend, Angela Franks, who was pregnant with his child. On the day of the dispute, both the appellant and Ms. Franks had been drinking, and the appellant had been entertaining the suspicion that Ms. Franks had been cheating on him.

The dispute erupted into violence after the appellant delivered Ms. Franks to her apartment and after she went to bed. The appellant initially left the apartment, but later reentered it and confronted Ms. Franks. A heated argument ensued, and during the argument, the appellant forcefully struck Ms. Franks several times and forced her to exit the apartment and walk down a side street to a building owned by his grandfather. In the building, the appellant continued to confront Ms. Franks and made various serious threats against her. Eventually, however, the appellant calmed down, and he and Ms. Franks returned to the apartment where they made love and fell asleep.

The next day, the appellant’s mother who had stopped at Ms. Franks’ apartment, became alarmed when she observed various bruises and knots on Ms. Franks’ face. She then took Ms. Franks to her own home where she fed Ms. Franks and helped her clean up. Subsequently, she persuaded Ms. Franks to go to a hospital.

Following Ms. Franks’ visit to the hospital, the incident was reported to the authorities, and the appellant was charged with, and indicted for, kidnaping, wanton endangerment, malicious wounding and domestic battery.

After considerable development of the case, the appellant and the State entered into plea bargain negotiations, and the negotiations resulted in a plea bargain agreement under which the appellant agreed to plead guilty to the charges of kidnaping and wanton endangerment, and the State agreed to drop the malicious wounding and domestic battery charges.

After the parties entered into the plea bargain agreement, the appellant actually entered guilty pleas to the kidnaping and wanton endangerment charges, as provided in the plea bargain agreement.

Prior to sentencing the appellant on the pleas, the Circuit Court of Kanawha County conducted a sentencing hearing at which Ms. Franks, the victim, in essence, pled with the court that the court impose a minimal sentence upon the appellant. She stated:

I feel even though what he did to me was wrong, I’m over it, you know. It’s been two and a half years. I’ve moved on with my life. I’m going to school. I’ve got kids to raise. This has been going on for far too long. He’s learned his lesson. It’s over. I’m not physically hurt by it still. Nothing mentally was wrong with me. My son is perfectly healthy. I mean, I could see if something was wrong with one of us physically to where I can’t do anything or something was wrong with my son, to give him the type of sentencing that they want to give him but there’s no point. I go to visit him, me and my children... I go up to the jail. I have contact visits and regular visits....

Ms. Franks also testified that in her visits with him:

He seems fine. There’s no rage. There’s no temper. He knows what he did. I know what he’s done. We’ve both sat and talked about it. He’s apologized umpteen amount of times. I’m just tired of it. He’s tired of it. There’s no need for him to be there. He needs — I feel he needs to be out.... It wasn’t the way I wanted it to be, but it’s over. That’s how I feel. I really feel it should just be over.

Another witness at the sentencing hearing was Dr. David A. Clayman. Dr. Clayman was a clinical and forensic psychologist who assessed the appellant. Dr. Clayman concluded that the appellant was neither a predator nor an excessively violent person. He indicated that the appellant did not have a history of violence, and he expressed the opinion that the appellant’s behavior on the night of the incident giving rise to the charges was “aberrant” and he surmised that [413]*413it was induced by alcohol ingestion. He also stated that his assessment of the appellant for violence and sexual violence predator issues showed that the appellant demonstrated a low risk of repeating the behavior. He further indicated that the longer the appellant spent in prison, the less likely he would be able to engage in socially acceptable behavior upon release.

As has previously been indicated, at the conclusion of the sentencing hearing, the circuit court sentenced the appellant to 30 year’s in the State Penitentiary for kidnaping, and five years in the State Penitentiary for wanton endangerment.

As has also been stated previously, on appeal, the appellant claims that the 30-year sentence for kidnaping is constitutionally impermissible given the circumstances of this ease.

II.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

In Syllabus Point 1 of State v. Lucas, 201 W.Va. 271, 496 S.E.2d 221 (1997), this Court stated that: “The Supreme Court of Appeals reviews sentencing orders, including orders of restitution made in connection with a defendant’s sentencing, under a deferential abuse of discretion standard, unless the order violates statutory or constitutional commands.”

III.

DISCUSSION

Both the United States Constitution and the West Virginia Constitution prohibit sentences which are disproportionate to the crime committed. The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution creates the federal prohibition. See Solem v. Helm, 463 U.S. 277, 103 S.Ct. 3001, 77 L.Ed.2d 637 (1983). West Virginia’s constitutional prohibition is contained in West Virginia Constitution, Article III, § 5, which provides: “Penalties shall be proportioned to the character and degree of the offense.”

In State v. Cooper, 172 W.Va. 266, 304 S.E.2d 861 (1983), this Court established a so-called subjective test for determining whether a sentence violates the constitutional disproportionality principle. That test questions whether a sentence offends “the conscience and offends the fundamental notions of human dignity.” Specifically, in Syllabus Point 6 of State v. Cooper, id, the Court stated:

Punishment may be constitutionally impermissible, although not cruel or unusual in its method, if it is so disproportionate to the crime for which it is inflicted that it shocks the conscience and offends fundamental notions of human dignity, thereby violating West Virginia Constitution, Article III, Section 5 that prohibits a penalty that is not proportionate to the character and degree of an offense.

Further, in State v. Cooper, id.,

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State v. Richardson
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589 S.E.2d 552, 214 W. Va. 410, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-richardson-wva-2003.