upholding a composite sentence of 18 years to serve — 25 years with 7 years suspended — for a consolidated count of manslaughter charging three deaths, and one count of first-degree assault
How later courts described this case
- upholding a composite sentence of 18 years to serve — 25 years with 7 years suspended — for a consolidated count of manslaughter charging three deaths, and one count of first-degree assault
- "This Court has cautioned that even when aggravating factors are present, a sentencing judge must still take the presumptive term as the point of departure. Presumptive sentencing was established to further the legislative goal of achieving reasonable uniformity and eliminating unjustified disparity in sentencing. See AS 12.55.005. A significant upward adjustment of the presumptive term should be made only when the aggravating factors, judged in light o f the Chaney sentencing criteria, show the defendant's case to be significantly more serious than the typical offense within the definition of the crime for which the defendant is being sentenced."
- The defendant was convicted of one count of manslaughter and one count of first-degree assault for killing three people and seriously injuring a fourth. Pusich had an extensive history of driving while intoxicated with extreme recklessness. We upheld a sentence of 25 years with 7 years suspended.
- upholding a composite sentence of 18 years to serve for manslaughter and first-degree assault
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
COATS, Judge,
dissenting.
It is impossible to defend Mrs. Pusieh’s crime and difficult not to agree with the severe punishment that the superior court ordered in this case. However, fundamental fairness requires this court to insure that Mrs. Pusich’s sentence is consistent with sentences of similar offenders who have committed similar crimes. This is a basic requirement of the law governing sentencing. Alaska Statute 12.55.005(1) requires courts, in determining an appropriate sentence, to consider “the seriousness of the defendant’s present offense in relation to other offenses[.]” In Williams v. State, 809 P.2d 931 (Alaska App.1991), we pointed out that “[pjaragraph (1) of AS 12.55.005 thus expressly mandates that a court seeking to determine an appropriate sentence in a given case make its decision by considering the case before it in relationship to other cases.” Id. at 935 .
Unfortunately, the facts of Mrs. Pusich’s case are far from unique. Every informed citizen is aware of the tragedies caused by those who drink, drive, and kill. The majority decision does an excellent job of setting out the facts of the reported cases. Many of those cases deal with offenders and offenses virtually indistinguishable from the present case. 6 And yet, as the majority opinion recognizes, Mrs. Pusich’s sentence is far more severe than any previously reported sentence in this jurisdiction. The most severe sentence that the appellate courts of this state have approved for this type of offense is eighteen years with five years suspended for two counts of second degree murder in Puzewicz v. State, 856 P.2d 1178 (Alaska App.1993).
In light of this background, Mrs. Pusich’s sentence appears to me to be too severe when I compare it to sentences for similar offenders who have committed similar crimes. I accordingly conclude that, under the law as it presently exists, it is the duty of this court to find that the sentence imposed in this case is clearly mistaken.
. Many of these cases involved multiple victims and multiple charges. See, e.g., Gullard v. State, 497 P.2d 93 (Alaska 1972); (defendant plead nolo contendere to one count of manslaughter where his drinking and driving recklessly had resulted in the deaths of four people); Pears v. State, 698 P.2d 1198 (Alaska 1985) (defendant was convicted of two counts of second degree murder and one count of second degree assault); Puzewicz v. State, 856 P.2d 1178 (Alaska App.1993) (defendant was convicted of two counts of second degree murder where defendant had killed two people and injured three others); Jones v. State, 744 P.2d 410 (Alaska App.1987) (defendant was convicted of two counts of manslaughter where his drunk driving killed two people and permanently injured a third).