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Glaser v. State12/12/2001
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT
No. 4510
On April 19, 2000, Michael J. Glaser was traveling southbound on the Seward Highway when he lost control of his pickup truck, crossed the center line, and collided head on with a Toyota Camry driven by Martin J. Richard. As a result of the collision, Richard and one of his passengers, Ladd E. Macaulay, were killed. Another passenger, Steven G. McGee, was seriously injured but survived. Glaser was highly intoxicated at the time of the collision - his blood alcohol level was later measured at .247 percent. The state indicted Glaser for two counts of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree assault. Glaser pleaded guilty to all three charges. Superior Court Judge Jonathan H. Link imposed a composite sentence of fifty-five years with thirty-three years suspended (twenty-two years to serve). Glaser appeals, arguing that the sentence is excessive. We remand.
Glaser was forty-three years old at the time he committed these offenses and had two prior convictions. He had been convicted of negligent driving in 1991. (Judge Link noted that this offense was not a prior driving while intoxicated offense that had been reduced to a lesser offense.) Glaser also had been convicted of driving while intoxicated in 1993. According to the presentence report, following his offense, Glaser completed residential alcohol treatment. According to the presentence report:
The magnitude of his [current offenses] has already deterred him from drinking again. Mr. Glaser has a good work history, and he appears to have good family and community support. His remorse seems genuine. Because Mr. Glaser's rehabilitation potential seems so good, he probably does not need to be confined to prevent further harm to the public.
In his findings, Judge Link stated that "most people who commit this type of crime have a substantially more serious record . . . than Mr. Glaser does." He also found that Glaser had good prospects for rehabilitation, that his remorse was genuine, and concluded if anyone would succeed at rehabilitation, it would be Glaser. But Judge Link also pointed out that over time the legislature and the courts have increasingly come to regard driving while intoxicated homicides as particularly serious crimes and have authorized increasingly severe sentences in response. He pointed out that the legislature had increased the minimum sentence for second-degree murder to ten years of imprisonment.
Judge Link also analyzed in detail the reported cases that discussed sentences in cases involving drivers who commit homicides while driving while intoxicated. But Glaser's sentence of twenty-two years to serve was significantly greater than any sentence previously reviewed on appeal.
The two prior reported cases with the highest sentences for motor vehicle homicides committed by intoxicated drivers are Pusich v. State and Foxglove v. State. Pusich received a sentence of twenty-five years with seven years suspended (eighteen years to serve). Foxglove received a sentence of twenty-five years with six years suspended (nineteen years to serve). Therefore, as we have previously stated, Glaser's sentence is significantly higher than any previously reported case. On appeal, the state points out that Glaser was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder along with a third count of first-degree assault. The state also points out that the legislature has increased the minimum sentence for second-degree murder to ten years of imprisonment. The state argues that these facts support the sentence Judge Link imposed. Glaser points out that Judge Link found he had good prospects for rehabilitation and yet Judge Link sti
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