Opinion
Court of Appeals No. A-11378 No. 6313
04-20-2016
EUGENE JOHN WILSON, Appellant, v. STATE OF ALASKA, Appellee.
Appearances: Elizabeth D. Friedman, Assistant Public Advocate, Appeals and Statewide Defense Section, and Richard Allen, Public Advocate, Anchorage, for the Appellant. Nancy R. Simel, Assistant Attorney Ge neral, Office of Criminal Appeals, Anchorage, and Craig W. Richards, Attorney General, Juneau, for the Appellee.
NOTICE Memorandum decisions of this Court do not create legal precedent. See Alaska Appellate Rule 214(d) and Paragraph 7 of the Guidelines for Publication of Court of Appeals Decisions (Court of Appeals Order No. 3). Accordingly, this memorandum decision may not be cited as binding authority for any proposition of law. Trial Court No. 3NA-10-233 CR
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Appeal from the Superior Court, Third Judicial District, Naknek, Steve W. Cole, Judge. Appearances: Elizabeth D. Friedman, Assistant Public Advocate, Appeals and Statewide Defense Section, and Richard Allen, Public Advocate, Anchorage, for the Appellant. Nancy R. Simel, Assistant Attorney Ge neral, Office of Criminal Appeals, Anchorage, and Craig W. Richards, Attorney General, Juneau, for the Appellee. Before: Mannheimer, Chief Judge, and Allard and Kossler, Judges. Judge MANNHEIMER.
On November 18, 2010, Eugene John Wilson attacked his long-time girlfriend, Crystal Alexie. At different times during this attack, Wilson held a knife to Alexie's throat while threatening to kill her, he strangled her, and he beat her repeatedly. Wilson also attacked and seriously injured Sheila Hobson, a neighbor who intervened and tried to help Alexie.
Based on this episode, Wilson was convicted of the attempted murder of Alexie and two counts of first-degree assault (one for his attack on Alexie, and the other for his attack on Hobson).
In this appeal, Wilson argues that the evidence presented at his trial was legally insufficient to support his conviction for assaulting Hobson. Wilson also argues that he should only have received one merged conviction for the two counts involving Alexie (attempted murder and first-degree assault). Finally, Wilson argues that his composite sentence of 20 years to serve is excessive.
With respect to Wilson's contention that the evidence is legally insufficient to support his first-degree assault conviction involving Hobson, Wilson points to various weaknesses and inconsistencies in the government's evidence. But the test for legal sufficiency is whether, viewing the evidence (and the reasonable inferences that might be drawn from it) in the light most favorable to the jury's verdict, reasonable jurors could conclude that the State had proved Wilson's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Viewing the evidence in this light, we conclude that it was legally sufficient to support the jury's finding that Wilson committed first-degree assault upon Hobson.
See, e.g., Eide v. State, 168 P.3d 499, 500-01 (Alaska App. 2007).
With respect to Wilson's contention that the superior court should have merged his attempted murder and first-degree assault convictions involving Alexie, we agree with Wilson that these two convictions must merge. As the State concedes, this issue is governed by our decision in Starkweather v. State, 244 P.3d 522, 530-33 (Alaska App. 2010). The superior court must impose only one merged conviction for attempted murder based on the jury's two verdicts.
The merger of these two convictions does not affect Wilson's composite sentence, because even though the superior court imposed separate sentences for the attempted murder and the first-degree assault, the court ran these sentences concurrently. We therefore next address Wilson's contention that he received an excessive sentence.
Under Alaska law, the sentencing range for attempted murder is 5 to 99 years' imprisonment. Wilson received 15 years to serve (40 years with 25 years suspended) for this crime. Wilson received a consecutive 5 years to serve (8 years with 3 years suspended) for the assault on Sheila Hobson. Thus, Wilson received a composite 20 years to serve.
AS 12.55.125(b).
Wilson argues that because Alexie suffered relatively minor injuries during the attack, he should have received a lighter sentence for the attempted murder. But in its sentencing remarks, the superior court expressly found that a sentence of 10 to 20 years' imprisonment was required to satisfy the sentencing goal of isolating Wilson to prevent further harm to the public. The court noted that Wilson had ten prior misdemeanor convictions, many of them for assault. The court expressly found that, given this record, a lesser term of imprisonment would be insufficient to satisfy the sentencing goal of deterring Wilson from committing future crimes. The court also found that, because Wilson's attempted murder was an act of domestic violence, a lesser sentence would not adequately express the community condemnation of domestic violence.
We have independently evaluated the sentencing record, and we conclude that the superior court's sentencing decision is not clearly mistaken. We therefore uphold Wilson's sentence.
See McClain v. State, 519 P.2d 811, 813-14 (Alaska 1974) (an appellate court is to affirm a sentencing decision unless the decision is clearly mistaken). --------
In conclusion, the judgement of the superior court is AFFIRMED, with the exception that the court must merge Wilson's convictions for the attempted murder of Alexie and the first-degree assault involving Alexie.