COA follows sentencing-statement ruling

Keywords Courts / neglect
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The first consequence of an Indiana Supreme Court decision three weeks ago relating to sentencing statements can be found in a ruling today from the state’s Court of Appeals.

In Sergio Ramos v. State of Indiana, 49A04-0609-CR-482, the court reversed and remanded a Marion Superior case relating to the sentence imposed following a guilty plea to attempted sexual misconduct with a minor. The trial court sentenced Ramos to 10 years executed, but it did not address aggravating or mitigating circumstances.

That was wrong, the appellate judges have ruled, based on the June 26 decision from the Indiana Supreme Court in Alexander J. Anglemyer v. State of Indiana, No. 43S05-0606-CR-230. In that decision, justices ruled that trial courts must issue sentencing statements that include a detailed account of the judge’s reasons for imposing penalties, such as aggravators and mitigators.

In Ramos, the appellate judges wrote the trial court should issue a sentencing statement that includes “reasonably detailed reasons or circumstances for imposing the sentence that it did.”

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