Opinion
No. 86-009
Opinion Filed March 6, 1987
Criminal Law — Sentencing — Reconsideration of Sentence
Purpose of reconsideration under 13 V.S.A. § 7042 is to permit trial judge to reconsider sentencing decision absent heat of trial pressures and in calm reflection; implicit in statute is assumption that under consideration will be circumstances and factors present at time of original sentencing, rather than defendant's conduct and behavior since sentencing; where defendant's petition for reconsideration of sentence was based upon his conduct and behavior since sentencing, trial court correctly maintained distinction between sentence reconsideration and parole process by denying petition.
Appeal by defendant from trial court's denial of his petition for reconsideration of sentence for conviction of sexual assault. District Court, Unit No. 1, Windsor Circuit, Grussing, J., presiding. Affirmed.
Shelley A. Hill, Windsor County Deputy State's Attorney, White River Junction, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Martin and Paolini, Barre, for Defendant-Appellant.
Present: Allen, C.J., Hill, Peck and Gibson, JJ., and Barney, C.J. (Ret.), Specially Assigned
Two years after sentencing for a conviction for sexual assault defendant petitioned for reconsideration of sentence under 13 V.S.A. § 7042, and his petition was denied. We affirm.
Central to defendant's case is his assertion of changed circumstances, notably his completion of the sexual offender program, visits to a psychiatrist, and participation in work release. The State responds that defendant's petition in effect seeks to use 13 V.S.A. § 7042 as an alternative to a parole hearing, and that seems to be so. The purpose of reconsideration under § 7042 "is to permit the trial judge to reconsider the sentencing decision absent the heat of trial pressures and in calm reflection . . . ." State v. Therrien, 140 Vt. 625, 627, 442 A.2d 1299, 1301 (1982). Implicit in Therrien and the statute itself is the assumption that under consideration will be the circumstances and factors present at the time of the original sentencing, rather than defendant's conduct and behavior since sentencing. Sentence reconsideration and the parole process are two entirely different functions, and the trial court was correct to maintain the distinction.
Affirmed.