State v. Ledbetter
| Decision Date | 15 August 1961 |
| Docket Number | No. 8977,8977 |
| Citation | 83 Idaho 451,364 P.2d 171 |
| Parties | STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Bruce LEDBETTER, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
Prather & Wilson, Bonners Ferry, for appellant.
Frank L. Benson, Atty. Gen., William E. Swope, Asst. Atty. Gen., Dwight F. Bickel, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., W. W. Nixon, Pros. Atty. of Boundary County, Bonners Ferry, for respondent.
Appellant was sentenced to a period of 30 years in the State Penitentiary for lewdly and lasciviously having sexual intercourse with a female child 14 years of age who was not the wife of the appellant. (The child is appellant's daughter.)
Appellant had committed a series of acts of sexual intercourse over a period of two years with his daughter. Discovery of her being pregnant led to the charging of appellant with the crime, to which he entered a plea of guilty.
For the court's consideration in passing sentence, the State presented evidence that appellant had also been having sexual intercourse with another daughter who was 13 years of age; that both of the girls had been working in the family sawmill operation; that appellant had worked the 14-year-old girl at chores intended to produce a miscarriage, and that both of the children had suffered psychological maladjustment from appellant's conduct.
In application for a suspended or with-held sentence, appellant presented a background of having lived with a cruel stepfather who eventually chased him away from his home at the age of eight years; he further presented background of living with various relatives who cared little for his moral and social development; he had only a first grade education; he was married at the age of 17 years to a girl who was 13 years of age, from whom he was divorced. He remarried in 1949 to his present wife. The two girls with whom he had sexual intercourse were born of the first marriage.
There was a showing also made that in appellant's early life he knew of persons who indulged in sexual promiscuity at early ages. Appellant further related to the trial court that he had been industrious, paid his bills, and he asserted that he was attempting to rear his family. He further related that his sexual activity with the girl was without threats of violence or force, and maintained that he was actually attempting to help the girl by preventing her having intercourse with neighborhood boys.
After being charged with this crime, appellant consulted a psychiatrist who made a clinical study and suggested psychiatric treatment rather than incarceration, and an affidavit from appellant's banker as to a...
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State v. Houston
...as a part of their power to review criminal appeals. E. g., Bailey v. State, 238 Ark. 210, 381 S.W.2d 467 (1964); State v. Ledbetter, 83 Idaho 451, 364 P.2d 171 (1961); State v. Johnson, 67 N.J.Super. 414, 170 A.2d 830 (1961); Hudson v. State, 399 P.2d 296 (Okla.Crim.App.1965); Commonwealth......
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State v. Adams
...appears to have last exercised its own discretion in reducing a single sentence as unduly harsh and excessive in State v. Ledbetter, 83 Idaho 451, 364 P.2d 171 (1961). Ledbetter has been heavily relied upon by every defense counsel who has attempted to gain Supreme Court modification of a s......
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State v. Adair
...(1978); State v. Watson , 99 Idaho 694, 587 P.2d 835 (1978); State v. Cornwall, 95 Idaho 680, 518 P.2d 863 (1974); State v. Ledbetter, 83 Idaho 451, 364 P.2d 171 (1961), and State v. Linebarger, 71 Idaho 255, 232 P.2d 669 (1951), With State v. Mansfield, 97 Idaho 138, 540 P.2d 800 (1975), a......
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State v. Hawk
...for involuntary manslaughter was excessive, finding an abuse of discretion in imposing the fine, which was remitted; State v. Ledbetter, 83 Idaho 451, 364 P.2d 171 (1961), where this court in a case involving lewd and lascivious conduct with a 14 year old girl held a thirty-year sentence to......