Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog

The criminal process is set up so that defendants have a multitude of options at their disposal for making sure they are able to obtain a fair sentence. One of these options is the right to appeal, and defendants can appeal on a wide range of subjects, one of which is that the defendant received a sentence that was excessive. This will usually be based on the theory that the sentencing court did not take the proper considerations into account before sentencing. State v. Pedigo, a recent case heard by the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, serves to illustrate this issue.

In Pedigo, the defendant pled guilty to aggravated burglary and theft over $1,000. He was sentenced as a Range III offender to 15 years in jail. He appealed, arguing that the sentence was excessive. During the sentencing phase, the trial court stated that it had considered mitigating factors but did not state which factors it had considered or how much weight each was given. Likewise, the trial court sought to apply several enhancement factors, but the trial court only discussed one of them. The trial court also failed to state the process by which it balanced the mitigating and enhancement factors in determining the sentence. The Court of Criminal Appeals found that due to these factors, the record did not properly establish that the trial court had considered all of the relevant sentencing principles before sentencing the defendant. As a result, the Court of Criminal Appeals ordered that the case be sent back down to the trial court for a more specific sentencing procedure in which the trial court would properly identify all of the relevant mitigating and enhancement factors, discuss the facts supporting each, and outline how the factors were balanced in determining the sentence.

This case demonstrates that defendants can appeal if they think that they were excessively sentenced due to a flaw in the sentencing process. The good news is that if this appeal is successful, the defendant’s case will be re-evaluated, and he or she may receive a new sentence. The bad news is that the new sentence may be a larger sentence than the first one, and if it is properly reached it may not be overturned. Thus, defendants should always seek out the advice of an experienced East TN criminal defense attorney before deciding whether or not to appeal and on what grounds.

Source: (State v. Pedigo, 35 TAM 5-27, 12/2/09, Nashville, Wedemeyer, 6 pages.)