Sims v. State

• Decision Date: 23 January 1992
• Docket Number: No. 16S00-9101-CR-42,16S00-9101-CR-42
• Citation: 585 N.E.2d 271
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court
• Parties: Douglas SIMS, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee.

Page 271

585 N.E.2d 271

Douglas SIMS, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee.

No. 16S00-9101-CR-42.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

Jan. 23, 1992.

Brent Westerfeld, Indianapolis, for appellant.

Linley E. Pearson, Atty. Gen., Deana M. McIntire, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.

KRAHULIK, Justice.

Douglas Sims pled guilty to murder, Ind.Code Sec. 35-42-1-1(1). He received an enhanced sentence of 60 years. In this direct appeal, the only issue Sims raises is whether the trial court properly considered certain mitigating circumstances in imposing the maximum sentence. We affirm.

On the evening of March 9, 1990, Bradley Maddux and two of his friends planned to When the police learned that Maddux was missing and that Sims had been the last person to see him, the police interviewed Sims. He confessed that he had killed Maddux because the boy would not do what Sims wanted him to do. He also informed the police where the body could be found. When the body was recovered from a shallow grave in an old cemetery, Maddux was nude except for socks on his feet and a gag over his mouth. His throat was deeply slashed, nearly to the point of decapitation. The cause of death was determined to be exsanguination as a result of the laceration of the throat.

sleep outside in the backyard at one of the friend's houses in Westport, Indiana. At about 1:00 a.m., Sims picked up Maddux and his two friends and took them to his trailer in Sardinia. Sims gave the boys some beer to drink. While at the trailer, Sims handcuffed Maddux to his bed. Maddux' friends became frightened and told Sims they wanted to be taken back to Westport. Sims released Maddux and returned the boys to the tent. Later that same morning, Maddux met with Sims in a parking lot apparently so that Sims could provide additional alcoholic beverages to Maddux. Sims and Maddux returned to Sims' trailer. This was the last time Maddux was seen alive.

Sims urges that the court failed to properly consider all the significant aspects of his character and condition, as well as the nature of the offense. Specifically, Sims maintains the trial court failed to give consideration to facts which supported an inference that Sims was not likely to engage in future criminal conduct: because he had no prior criminal history, he had enjoyed a good reputation in the community, had been well thought of in school, had been regularly employed prior to his arrest, and had served honorably in the United States Army and the Indiana National Guard. In addition, he had admitted his guilt thus relieving the State of the expense and inconvenience of a trial.

Of the factors Sims urged be considered as mitigating, the trial court found only the lack of a criminal history and Sims' expressed remorse to be mitigating. As aggravating circumstances, the trial court noted the victim's young age, the fact that Sims had contributed to the delinquency of Maddux by providing alcoholic beverages, and the particularly brutal nature of the wound inflicted. The court concluded that the aggravating circumstances completely outweighed any mitigating circumstances, and imposed the maximum sentence.

Our standard of reviewing a sentence is well established. Sentencing is conducted within the discretion of the trial court and will be reversed only upon a showing of a manifest abuse of that discretion. It is within the discretion of the trial court to determine whether a presumptive sentence will...