State v. Knight

• Decision Date: 01 July 2005
• Docket Number: No. 04-0473.,04-0473.
• Citation: 701 N.W.2d 83
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Tracye Jaymes KNIGHT, Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

701 N.W.2d 83

STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Tracye Jaymes KNIGHT, Appellant.

No. 04-0473.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

July 1, 2005.

Melissa A. Nine and Barry S. Kaplan of Kaplan & Frese, L.L.P., Marshalltown, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Mary E. Tabor, Assistant Attorney General, Thomas Goodhue, Student Legal Intern, and Jennifer Miller, County Attorney, for appellee.

TERNUS, Justice.

After the defendant, Tracye Knight, entered an Alford plea to three criminal charges, the district court imposed consecutive prison sentences, citing as one reason the defendant's lack of remorse. The court of appeals vacated the sentences, holding the district court had improperly considered Knight's lack of remorse and failure to apologize for his conduct. This court granted further review. Because we conclude the district court's reasons for imposing consecutive prison sentences were appropriate, we vacate the court of appeals decision and affirm the district court judgment.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

Upon learning from a citizen that the citizen's sixteen-year-old daughter had been having sex with the thirty-one-year-old defendant, the Marshalltown police department obtained and executed a search warrant for Knight's apartment. The authorities found numerous photographs of young females participating in sex acts with the defendant and a journal detailing the defendant's sexual relationships with minor girls. Knight's computer also contained many digital images of the defendant engaged in sexual intercourse with minors. Videotapes of similar conduct were also discovered.

The defendant was charged with one count of third-degree sexual abuse, one count of lascivious acts with a child, and four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. See Iowa Code §§ 709.1, 709.4, 709.8, 728.12 (2003). The ages of the victims ranged from thirteen to seventeen. Knight subsequently agreed to plead guilty to one count of lascivious acts with a child and two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor; the State agreed to dismiss the other charges.

At the plea hearing, Knight entered an Alford plea. See North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25, 37, 91 S.Ct. 160, 167, 27 L.Ed.2d 162, 171 (1970) (holding "express admission of guilt . . . is not a constitutional requisite to the imposition of [a] criminal penalty"). Under this procedure, "the defendant acknowledges the evidence strongly negates the defendant's claim of innocence and enters [a guilty] plea to avoid a harsher sentence." Comm. on Prof'l Ethics & Conduct v. Sturgeon, 487 N.W.2d 338, 340 (Iowa 1992). Thus, the defendant made no admission of his guilt at the plea proceeding.

At the later sentencing hearing, the State introduced evidence of the circumstances surrounding the crimes. This evidence showed that the defendant worked as a DJ at a local bowling alley, where he would meet vulnerable young girls. Promising to manage them in modeling or singing careers, he would lure them to his apartment for sex. Knight kept a journal in which he planned and documented his sexual conquests. This journal revealed that the defendant was fixated on having sex with minor girls. Based on this evidence, the State argued the defendant was a dangerous sexual predator, and he would continue this kind of activity if allowed to return to the community.

The defendant's trial counsel responded by asserting that, while he understood the seriousness of the charges, "no physical harm per se was done to these young women." The defendant's attorney argued that Knight was not a vicious individual and had always treated the girls kindly. Defense counsel urged the court to place the defendant on probation with placement in a halfway house where the defendant could be rehabilitated. The defendant then addressed the court, noting his cooperation with the police, his steady employment, his stable residency, and the fact that he had kept himself out of trouble while the criminal charges were pending. Knight also informed the court that he took care of his seventy-one-year-old mother and that he had a "child on the way." He asked for probation or placement at a residential facility.

In imposing sentence, the court stated that it would require a sentence that would provide for the defendant's "maximum opportunity for rehabilitation and provide maximum protection to the community." The court noted the defendant's age, his prior felony conviction, his prior successful probation, his steady employment, his family circumstances, and his undisputed cooperation with the authorities. But in view of the nature of the offenses, the ages of the victims, and the premeditated manner in which the crimes were committed, the court expressed concern for the defendant's ability to be rehabilitated. In addition, the court noted, the defendant had not shown any remorse: "There's no apology. There's no sign of remorse here whatsoever." In light of these factors, the court sentenced the defendant to consecutive terms of incarceration.

Knight's subsequent appeal was transferred to the court of appeals. That court ruled the district court had considered an improper sentencing factor, namely the defendant's failure to apologize. The court of appeals stated that given the defendant's Alford plea, it was axiomatic that the defendant would not apologize, and should not be required to apologize, for crimes he did not admit committing. Accordingly, the court of appeals vacated the defendant's sentences. We granted the State's application for further review.

II. Scope of Review.

A defendant's sentence is generally within the discretion of the trial court. See State v. Sailer, 587 N.W.2d 756, 762 (Iowa 1998)

. But the use of an impermissible sentencing factor is an abuse of discretion and requires resentencing. See State v. Carrillo, 597 N.W.2d 497, 501 (Iowa 1999).

III. Discussion.

A. Issue presented for review. The defendant complains that the sentencing court used his "Alford plea and refusal to admit guilt or express remorse to enhance his sentence." He contends it was "counterproductive to the theory that lies behind an Alford plea to require the defendant to express remorse or regret or to make an apology where he has not definitively stated he did in fact commit the crimes alleged." The court of appeals, in its decision, agreed that it was improper to consider the defendant's failure to apologize as a factor in sentencing. We are convinced after our review of the record that although the district court took into account Knight's lack of remorse in determining his sentence, the court did not base its sentence on Knight's Alford plea, his refusal to admit guilt, or his failure to apologize.

The full statement made by the sentencing court with respect to the defendant's lack of remorse follows:

And as I listen to [you], your comments indicate one thing and that is a lack of remorse. You have done an excellent job pointing out certain factors which are important to the Court's sentence, but other than your admission of guilt—which is perhaps a sign of remorse. At least you admitted that you were guilty of three offenses. There's no apology. There's no sign of remorse here whatsoever.

Later, in stating its reasons for imposing consecutive sentences, the court cited as one of four reasons, "Third, as I've indicated, there has been no remorse shown by you."

It is apparent from the judge's comments that the judge did not know that Knight had entered an Alford plea, as the court referenced Knight's "admission of guilt" as "perhaps a sign of remorse." (The sentencing judge had not presided at the plea hearing.) In addition, the court commented, "At least you admitted that you were guilty of three offenses." Clearly, the court did not consider the defendant's Alford plea or his refusal to admit guilt as a sentencing factor, as the court mistakenly believed the defendant had admitted his guilt earlier when he entered a guilty plea.

We also disagree with the defendant and the court of appeals that the sentencing court penalized Knight for not apologizing. In reading the court's comments in their entirety, it is clear the court was concerned with the defendant's lack of remorse and mentioned an apology as simply one way in which the defendant could have expressed remorse.

Thus, the issue in this case is simply whether a sentencing court may properly consider a defendant's lack of remorse notwithstanding the fact the defendant has entered an Alford plea. In deciding this issue, we first determine whether a defendant's lack of remorse is a proper sentencing factor under any circumstance. We will then address whether a defendant entering an Alford plea stands in any different position than other convicted defendants such that his lack of remorse should not be taken into account in determining a suitable sentence.

B. Permissible sentencing considerations. A court, in determining the proper sentence, must consider which sentence or combination of sentences "will provide maximum opportunity for the rehabilitation of the defendant, and for the protection of the community from further offenses by the defendant and others." Iowa Code § 901.5. Some of the factors pertinent to this determination include the defendant's character, his propensity to reoffend, and his chances for reform. See State v. Cooley, 587 N.W.2d 752, 754-55 (Iowa 1998)

.

While this court has never directly decided whether a sentencing court may consider a defendant's lack of remorse, we have upheld sentences that were based in part on this factor. See State v. Evans, 671 N.W.2d 720, 727 (Iowa 2003)

(holding sentencing court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing defendant where court cited several reasons for sentence, including the defendant's lack of remorse); State v. Inger, 292 N.W.2d 119, 126 (Iowa 1980) (finding no abuse of discretion in imposing sentence, noting sentencing court considered nature of defendant's criminal actions, defendant's lack...