Like v. State
Citation | 760 N.E.2d 1188 |
Decision Date | 16 January 2002 |
Docket Number | No. 63A01-0105-CR-179.,63A01-0105-CR-179. |
Parties | Tina R. LIKE, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff. |
Court | Court of Appeals of Indiana |
Michael C. Keating, Keating, Bumb, Vowels, LaPlante & Kent, P.C., Evansville, IN, Attorney for Appellant.
Steve Carter, Attorney General of Indiana, Monika Prekopa Talbot, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.
Appellant-defendant Tina R. Like ("Like") appeals her sentence following a conviction for dealing in a schedule II controlled substance1 as a Class B felony. We affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand.
Like raises three issues for our review, which we restate as follows:
I. whether the trial court properly enhanced her sentence;
II. whether the trial court properly imposed the maximum fine and fees; and
III. whether the trial court properly specified Like's release date.
On February 27, 2001, Like pleaded guilty to a charge of dealing in methampetamine, a schedule II controlled substance. The trial court accepted Like's guilty plea and on April 2, 2001, issued the following written sentencing order:
MANDATORY FACTORS
AGGRAVATING FACTORS
The Court finds the following aggravating factors that are discretionary under Ind.Code § 35-38-1-7.1(b):
1. [Like] is in need of correctional and rehabilitative treatment that can best be provided by commitment to a penal facility. This factor is considered aggravating because past involvement with the justice system has failed to dissuade [Like] from further criminal activity. Furthermore, [Like] has never undergone any type of treatment. Finally, commitment to a penal facility beyond the presumptive period will impress upon [Like] that criminal conduct like that which she has engaged in this county, as well as Gibson County, will not be tolerated by the citizens of Pike County.
MITIGATING FACTORS
BALANCING OF FACTORS
The trial court sentenced Like to twelve years' imprisonment and ordered that she not be released from prison before February 14, 2007, or imprisoned beyond February 13, 2013. The trial court also suspended her driver's license for two years and ordered Like to pay the following: a $10,000 fine, a $125 criminal cost fee, a $3 law enforcement continuing education program fee, a $300 marijuana eradication program fee, and a $1,000 drug abuse interdiction correction fee. The trial court also found Like indigent and advised her that she could not be imprisoned for failing to pay the fine and fees.
Sentencing decisions are committed to the sound discretion of the trial court and are reversed only upon a showing of manifest abuse of discretion. See Allen v. State, 722 N.E.2d 1246, 1250 (Ind. Ct.App.2000)
. In imposing an enhanced sentence, the trial court must "`(1) identify all significant aggravating and mitigating circumstances; (2) state the specific reason why each circumstance is determined to be mitigating or aggravating; and, (3) articulate the court's evaluation and balancing of the circumstances.'" Id. (quoting Thacker v. State, 709 N.E.2d 3, 9 (Ind. 1999)).
As an aggravator, the trial court found that Like was in need of extended correctional and rehabilitative treatment that could only be provided by a penal facility. Like correctly maintains that to enhance a sentence based upon this factor, the trial court must provide a specific and individualized statement of the reasons why it believed that she was in need of correctional and rehabilitative treatment in a penal facility beyond the presumptive term. See Sensback v. State, 720 N.E.2d 1160, 1165 (Ind.1999)
() .
Like does not dispute that the trial court provided an individualized statement of reasons, but she argues that the trial court's statement did not sufficiently explain her need for an enhanced sentence. The trial court's statement referred to Like's criminal history, her failure to undergo drug abuse treatment, and the court's desire to impress upon her that dealing in methamphetamine will not be tolerated by the citizens of Pike County. While this statement is perhaps not a model explanation, it is more than a "perfunctory recitation" of the statutory language and sufficiently explains why Like is in need of extended incarceration. Thus, we are unable to conclude that the trial court abused its discretion. See id. ( ).
Like points out that the trial court imposed the maximum fine permitted by law,2 and she argues that the imposition of the maximum fine is manifestly unreasonable under Indiana Appellate Rule 7(B). We have previously held that the Rules of Appellate Procedure "apply to appellate review of fines as well as of incarceration." Austin v. State, 528 N.E.2d 792, 795 (Ind.Ct.App.1988). Indiana Appellate Rule 7(B) allows us to revise a sentence that "is manifestly unreasonable in light of the nature of the offense and the character of the offender." "In determining whether a sentence is manifestly unreasonable, `the issue is not whether in our judgment the sentence is unreasonable, but whether it is clearly, plainly, and obviously so.'" Evans v. State, 725 N.E.2d 850, 851 (Ind.2000) (citations omitted). Further, "Article 7, Section 6 of the Indiana Constitution specifically charges this court with the responsibility to review and revise sentences `to the extent provided by rule,' and this authority is found in the text of the Constitution and is independent of our general appellate jurisdiction." Love v. State, 741 N.E.2d 789, 795 (Ind.Ct.App.2001) (citation omitted).
Here, the trial court ordered Like, who had no other adult convictions, to pay the maximum fine of $10,000 after she sold.32 grams of methamphetamine to a confidential informant. Accordingly, we must conclude that the $10,000 fine is clearly, plainly, and obviously unreasonable in light of the nature of the offense and the character of the offender. See, e.g., Beno v. State, 581 N.E.2d 922, 923 (Ind.1991)
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