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Agli v. State10/10/2001
he superior court sentenced him to a composite sentence of 14 years' imprisonment with 4 years suspended (10 years to serve). Barney was twenty-six years old and was a first felony offender, although he had an extensive record of traffic violations.
In Ratliff v. State, we affirmed the defendant's 10-year term for second-degree murder. After drinking alcoholic beverages and smoking marijuana, Ratliff drove on the wrong side of a divided highway and collided head on with another car, killing the driver.
In Puzewicz v. State, we affirmed the defendant's composite 13-year term to serve for his conviction on two counts of second-degree murder for driving while intoxicated, crossing the center line and striking an oncoming car, killing the driver and one passenger, and seriously injuring three other passengers. Puzewicz had three prior DWI convictions, had been driving on a suspended license, and had a blood alcohol level of .219.
In a split decision in Pusich v. State, we affirmed the defendant's composite 18-year term for killing three victims and seriously injuring a fourth when she drove while intoxicated head-on into the victims' car. The superior court found that Pusich's degree of recklessness bordered on the extreme recklessness that would constitute extreme indifference second-degree murder. Pusich had two prior convictions for driving while intoxicated and had failed at alcohol treatment.
And in Foxglove v. State, we affirmed a composite 19-year term to serve for the defendant's conviction on one count of manslaughter and five counts of first-degree assault. In two separate incidents, Foxglove struck five people while driving his snowmachine while intoxicated, killing one child and seriously injuring three other children and one adult. In one of the incidents, Foxglove purposely drove his snowmachine at high speed into a gathering of people. We considered Foxglove's claim that his sentence was disproportionate to other cases of vehicular homicide by evaluating the degree of Foxglove's recklessness, the consequences of his conduct, his age, his record of criminal conduct, and his record for abusing intoxicants. Foxglove's conduct was particularly egregious because not only would it have constituted extreme indifference second-degree murder, but it approached the culpability of first-degree murder.
Both this court and the supreme court have reversed sentences in vehicular homicide cases. In Pears v. State, the defendant was convicted on two counts of extreme indifference second-degree murder and one count of second-degree assault and received a composite 20-year term to serve. Pears had been warned by the police not to drive, but he did so anyway, driving at high speed through red lights until he struck the victims' car. Pears, who was twenty years old, had no felony convictions nor any DWI convictions, though he had a record of moving violations, and a conviction for leaving the scene of an accident. The supreme court reversed Pears's sentence concluding that Pears's conduct was comparable to that of the defendant in Sandvik and Pears's record was more favorable. Pears was a 3-2 decision and two members of the majority stated that Pears should receive no more than 10 years' imprisonment. But before the court decided Pears, the court had decided in Thessen v. State that one act of recklessness could support only one homicide conviction, no matter how many people a defendant killed. However, shortly after deciding Pears, the court overruled Thessen in State v. Dunlop. The court announced that " nstead of focusing on the accused's intent, we must look at the consequences."
We reversed a composite 10-year sentence
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