State v. Taylor

832 P.2d 1153, 122 Idaho 218, 1992 Ida. App. LEXIS 131
CourtIdaho Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 25, 1992
DocketNos. 19330, 19381
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 832 P.2d 1153 (State v. Taylor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Taylor, 832 P.2d 1153, 122 Idaho 218, 1992 Ida. App. LEXIS 131 (Idaho Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

WALTERS, Chief Judge.

The appellant, Kim Taylor, pled guilty to one count of lewd conduct with a child under the age of sixteen and to three counts of first degree burglary. The burglary allegations charged that Taylor had entered during the nighttime into each of three separate residences with the intent to commit lewd conduct with, or sexual abuse of, a minor. The lewd conduct charge alleged that Taylor had manual-genital contact with the vaginal area of a six-year old girl. Pursuant to a plea bargain, the state dismissed an additional count of lewd conduct with a minor, two counts of battery with intent to commit a serious felony (lewd conduct with a minor or sexual abuse of a child), and a count of first degree burglary relating to the lewd conduct charge to which Taylor had pled guilty. The district court accepted Taylor’s pleas and, after receipt of a psychological evaluation and presentence report, imposed sentences under the Unified Sentencing Act, I.C. § 19-2513. On the lewd conduct charge, the court sentenced Taylor to the custody of the Board of Correction for the balance of his life, with a minimum period of confinement of twenty years. On each of the burglary charges, the court imposed determinate periods of fifteen years, without parole. The court further ordered that all of the sentences be served concurrently. Taylor filed notices of appeal from the judgments of conviction and the proceedings were consolidated for disposition. The sole issue for review is whether the district court abused its sentencing discretion. We uphold the sentences and affirm.

Our standards for appellate review of criminal sentences, based upon alleged abuse of discretion, are well-settled. We first note that Taylor’s sentences are within the statutory máximums permitted for the offenses. I.C. § 18-1508 (life sentence for lewd conduct with a child under sixteen); I.C. § 18-1404 (fifteen years for first degree burglary). If a sentence is not illegal, the appellant has the burden to establish that it is unreasonable, and thus a clear abuse of discretion. State v. Broadhead, 120 Idaho 141, 814 P.2d 401 (1991); State v. Wolfe, 99 Idaho 382, 582 P.2d 728 (1978). A sentence may represent such an abuse if it is shown to be unreasonable upon the facts of the case. State v. Nice, 103 Idaho 89, 90, 645 P.2d 323, 324 (1982). A sentence of confinement is reasonable if it appears at the time that confinement is necessary “to accomplish the primary objective of protecting society and to achieve any or all of the related goals of deterrence, rehabilitation or retribution applicable to a given case.” State v. Toohill, 103 Idaho 565, 568, 650 P.2d 707, 710 (Ct.App.1982). In reviewing a sentence imposed under the Unified Sentencing Act, we consider the minimum period of time specified by the sentencing judge as the probable duration of confinement. State v. Sanchez, 115 Idaho 776, 777, 769 P.2d 1148, 1149 (Ct.App.1989). Here, the court specified twenty years as the minimum confinement period for the offense of lewd conduct with a child, and fifteen years — to be served concurrently — as the determinate period for each of the first degree burglary counts. Thus, Taylor must establish that under any reasonable view of the facts, the minimum periods specified by the district court were an abuse of discretion. We will conduct an independent examination of the record, focusing on the nature of the offense and the character of the offender. State v. Reinke, 103 Idaho 771, 772, 653 P.2d 1183, 1184 (Ct.App.1982). We will not substitute our own view “for that of the sentencing judge where reasonable minds might differ.” Toohill, 103 Idaho at 568, 650 P.2d at 710.

We turn first to the nature of the offenses to which Taylor pled guilty. The underlying incidents involve similar factual backgrounds. In late 1990, three reports were made to the Pocatello police department. On each occasion, parents reported to the police that a man had entered their homes at night while the families were asleep. The intruder molested, or attempted to molest, young daughters. Two of the girls were nine years old, the other was age six. In mid-January, 1991, aroused by screams from his five-year old daughter during the night, a father saw a man running out of the bedroom occupied by the [220]*220girl and her eight year-old sister, wrestled him to the floor and held him until the police arrived. The intruder was Kim Taylor. Taylor admitted to the police that he also was the culprit in the three earlier incidents; his fingerprints matched those found in the bedroom of one of the girls at one of the other homes.

Although Taylor denied intending to harm any of the girls, he admitted his conduct was for the purpose of sexual gratification because of his attraction to female children. Based on further admissions, it appeared that Taylor recently had committed similar offenses in Idaho Falls, Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona. His psychological evaluation reported that there were, at a minimum, ten incidents of child molestation by entry into children’s bedrooms in which exposure, fondling, digital penetration and masturbation by Taylor occurred. Each incident became more violent in that on the last two or three occasions he threatened the girls with death by saying that he would kill them if they would not be quiet.

Turning to Taylor’s character and background, we note that Taylor was twenty-eight years old at the time he was sentenced. In addition to the charges in this case, his prior record included arrests in Idaho and Arizona for possession of controlled substances, probation violation, resisting arrest, driving while under the influence, numerous traffic violations, indecent exposure and public nuisance. In the course of his presentence psychological testing, Taylor admitted to participating during the past eight years in a wide range of deviant sexual behavior, including sexual molestation of children, voyeurism, masturbation in public, cross-dressing, bestiality, pedophilia, homosexuality, and attempted rape of adult women. Taylor related that he had frequently used marijuana, alcohol and cocaine, and that drugs played a large part in his sexual activities. He disclosed that he was under the influence of a combination of alcohol and ephedrine, an over-the-counter drug, when he committed the crimes in this case. He indicated that he was not desirous of substance abuse treatment.

The psychologist, Dr. Horton, reported that Taylor “presents a profile that is similar to power rapists and chronic pedophiliacs. He shows no discrimination between male or female children of any age, and may prefer coerced or violent situations with his victims. If there is any discrimination in preference represented in this test it is in favor of underage children and against adults, male or female.” He was diagnosed as suffering from a serious personality disorder, with multiple personality characteristics of a schizoid type.

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Related

State v. Fluery
843 P.2d 159 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 1992)

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Bluebook (online)
832 P.2d 1153, 122 Idaho 218, 1992 Ida. App. LEXIS 131, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-taylor-idahoctapp-1992.