State v. Thompson

275 N.W.2d 370, 1979 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 848

• Court: Supreme Court of Iowa
• Decided: February 21, 1979
• Docket: 61951
• Status: Published

Opinions

UHLENHOPP, Justice.

This appeal involves the propriety of sentencing procedure employed on a plea of guilty to third-degree theft under §§ 714.-1(1) and 714.2(3), Code 1977 Supplement.

Defendant Robert Paul Thompson was originally charged with second-degree burglary. He did not admit burglary in his original statement to officers or in subsequent proceedings. In accordance with a plea bargain the prosecutor reduced the charge to third-degree theft, which carries a penalty of imprisonment not to exceed two years or a fine not to exceed $5000 or both. The district correctional services recommended a suspended jail sentence with probation; the prosecutor made no recommendation. The Judicial Magistrate sentenced defendant to two years in the reformatory. He stated he felt a substantial term was appropriate and that a state institution would offer rehabilitative services defendant needed. He also stated:

The charge that brings the defendant before the Clinton County District Court was originally a charge of burglary in the second degree, a class C felony. Thereafter through negotiations with the Clinton County Attorney’s office the charge was reduced to that of theft in the third degree, an aggravated misdemeanor offense. The class C felony carries a possible term of ten years. An aggravated misdemeanor carries a possible term of two years. It is the opinion of the Court that a reduction of the charge from a class C felony to an aggravated misdemeanor does not justify the Court’s allowance of probation or deferred sentence.

Defendant appealed.

I. We first point out that this case is not a challenge to a sentencing court’s discretion under State v. Peckenschneider, 236 N.W.2d 344 (Iowa), or a challenge to the responsibility of a sentencing court to consider all facts which will assist the court in the exercise of its sentencing discretion. This court stated in State v. Kendall, 167 N.W.2d 909, 911 (Iowa):

It was the duty of the trial court to ascertain any and all facts that would assist in the proper exercise of its discretion in fixing defendant’s sentence, whether in or out of the record. .

The trial court and we on review should weigh and consider all pertinent matters in determining proper sentence, including the nature of the offense, the attending circumstances, defendant’s age, character and propensities and chances of his reform. The courts owe a duty 1 o the public as much as to defendant in 1 iter-mining a proper sentence. The punishment should fit both the crime and the individual.

II. The present case concerns the possibility that the accused’s act on the occasion in question may have constituted a higher crime than the one to which he pleaded guilty. A sentencing court may, within statutory limits, impose a severe sentence for a lower crime on the ground that the accused actually committed a higher crime on the occasion involved if the facts before the court show the accused committed the higher crime or the defendant admits it — whether or not the prosecutor originally. charged the higher crime. This is part of making the punishment fit the crime. 24B C.J.S. Criminal Law § 1980 at 562, 565 (“The court should give due regard to the nature of the offense and the attending circumstances . . . . Punishment should always be commensurate with the crime”). A sentencing court may not however impose a severe sentence for a lower crime on the ground that the accused actually committed a higher crime unless the facts before the court show the accused committed the higher crime or the defendant admits it — even if the prosecutor originally charged the higher crime and reduced the charge. The controlling consideration is whether the accused in fact committed the higher crime, not whether the prosecutor originally charged it. The original charge of the higher crime may or may not have been true, and the accused does not admit the higher charge by pleading guilty to the lower charge.

III. We are troubled in the present case because the Magistrate appears to have thought he was not justified in granting probation or deferred sentence in view of the higher original charge and reduction thereof, as distinguished from the facts relating to the offense defendant actually committed: “It is the opinion of the Court that a reduction of the charge from a class C felony to an aggravated misdemeanor does not justify the Court’s allowance of probation or deferred sentence.” We thus return the case to district court for resen-tencing, not on the basis of the original charge and the reduction, but on the basis of the facts which are brought out before the Magistrate relating to the crime — and, of course, the other pertinent data relating to the accused. We do not suggest what the sentence should be.

REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR RESENTENCING.

All Justices concur except HARRIS, REES, ALLBEE and LARSON, JJ., who dissent.