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State v. Bellamy9/3/2003
avoid depreciating the seriousness of the offense or confinement is particularly suited to provide an effective deterrence to people likely to commit similar offenses, or (3) less restrictive measures than confinement have frequently or recently been applied unsuccessfully to the defendant. Ashby, 823 S.W.2d at 169 (citing Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-35-103(1)(A)-(C)). Additionally, a trial court should consider a defendant's potential or lack of potential for rehabilitation. Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-35-103(5).
The trial court held that the defendant's criminal history justified his serving his sentences in confinement. We agree. The defendant has committed at least fourteen misdemeanors since he was nineteen years old. The presentence report shows that a sentence of probation was revoked in 1978 for driving while intoxicated and without a license and that a later sentence of probation was extended indefinitely due to his failure to pay court costs and restitution. In the report, the defendant stated that he had been drinking alcohol since he was twenty-five years old. Although he received treatment for his alcohol addiction twice in 1994, once in 1999, and once in 2000, he continued to abuse alcohol, which resulted in his striking Mr. Lane's car on November 6, 2000. This demonstrates that the defendant has a low potential for rehabilitation. We affirm the trial court's denial of the defendant's request for alternative sentences.
Based upon the foregoing and the record as a whole, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.
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