GARY R. WADE, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which CORNELIA A. CLARK, C.J., JANICE M. HOLDER, WILLIAM C. KOCH, JR., and SHARON G. LEE, JJ., joined.
Following a burglary in Greene County, the defendant was charged with two counts of aggravated burglary and two counts of theft of property. At the conclusion of the trial, the jury returned verdicts of guilt for one count of facilitation of aggravated burglary and for two counts of theft of property. After finding the presence of one enhancement factor, the trial court imposed concurrent three-year sentences for each offense. The Court of Criminal Appeals found that the enhancement factor did not apply and reduced each of the sentences to two years. Because we find that a sentence imposed by a trial court should be upheld so long as it is within the appropriate sentencing range and is otherwise in compliance with the purposes and principles of the sentencing statute, we reverse the sentence modification by the Court of Criminal Appeals and, upon review under an abuse of discretion standard with a presumption of reasonableness, reinstate the sentence imposed by the trial court.
In September of 2008, a burglary took place at the Greene County residence of James McElroy. A number of items were stolen. During the course of the investigation, the Greene County Sheriff's Department (the "Sheriff's Department") received information that Susan Renee Bise (the "Defendant") was involved in the crime. She was eventually charged with two counts of aggravated burglary and two counts of theft.
At trial, McElroy testified that his work required travel for "about six to nine months out of the year" and that he spent an equal amount of time at his Greene County residence and his residence in Virginia. He described his Greene County residence, which was located on a mountain top and surrounded by foliage, as "a
On February 13, 2009, James Gammons discovered a saw, vise, drill press, and table saw on the side of a road. He placed the items in his vehicle, returned them to his residence, and contacted the Sheriff's Department. Afterward, McElroy identified the items as among those taken from his home and, upon inspection, determined that only one of the items, the saw, was usable.
Chad Warner testified at the Defendant's trial on behalf of the State.
Detective Randolph, who was assigned to investigate the burglary at the McElroy residence, initially was unable to locate the stolen items. When informed by Warner that the Bises had attempted to sell him stolen items, he went to the residence of Jason Jr. and found a motorcycle matching the description provided by Warner in his earlier statement. After providing Miranda warnings, Detective Randolph questioned Jason Jr. and learned that the Defendant and an individual of Mexican descent may have been involved in the burglary.
On March 25, 2009, Detective Randolph met with the Defendant, who agreed to submit to questioning. In her statement to the detective, she admitted that in September of 2008, her son, Jason Jr., had driven over a driveway gate in order to gain access to a residence and that she sat in the truck while Jason Jr. and Hosea Hernandez entered the house and "took a bunch of stuff." The Defendant told Detective Randolph that when they returned, she informed them that she "didn't want anything to do with this" and that after they got more beer, she "passed out, and Jason and [Hernandez] went back to the house ... and took some more stuff." In
The Defendant, who testified in her own defense, recalled that on the day of the burglary she went swimming with her son and Hernandez, and that in the ensuing forty-five minutes to an hour, she and the two men consumed a twelve-pack of beer. She claimed that afterward, Hernandez asked Jason Jr. to "take him to [a particular] address to pick up his personal belongings." The Defendant maintained that although she had asked her son not to drive because of his drinking, he did so anyway, taking her and Hernandez to the site of the burglary. The Defendant testified that just before Jason Jr. drove over the gate, she warned him not to do so and asked to be taken home. She claimed that she remained inside the truck while Jason Jr. and Hernandez entered the residence and loaded the stolen items into the truck. She recalled that after they returned to her residence, Jason Jr. and Hernandez placed the stolen items in her root cellar while she went inside and passed out. Consistent with her earlier statement to Detective Randolph, the Defendant denied going back to the McElroy residence a second time, claiming that she slept while Jason Jr. and Hernandez returned and "took more stuff." The Defendant testified that when she discovered the items did not belong to Hernandez, she told her son to get rid of them.
The Defendant further explained that she became acquainted with Warner because he had worked for her family's construction business. She stated that she and Jason Jr. pressed charges against Warner after he assaulted them and that she refused to drop the assault charges because she had "about lost [her] son" as a result of the incident. The Defendant denied ever speaking with Warner about either taking the items from the McElroy residence or trying to sell him the items. She further contended that the items described by Warner could have been tools her family owned in their construction business. While admitting that she told her son to get rid of the stolen items soon after the incident with Warner, the Defendant denied that it had anything to do with the possibility that Warner might talk to the police.
The jury found the Defendant guilty of facilitation
As a Range I offender, the Defendant qualified for a sentence between two and four years on each offense. Id. § 40-35-112(a)(4). At the sentencing hearing, Detective Mike Fincher testified that burglaries were a particular problem in Greene County and that the Sheriff's Department had worked almost four hundred burglary cases over a one-year period. During that time, one residential burglary involved a seventeen-year-old burglar who was shot and killed by the homeowner. None of the other burglaries investigated during that time, however, had resulted in death. McElroy also testified at the sentencing hearing, confirming that the stolen items had an approximate value of $7,500 and that the cost to repair the damage to his gate and his residence was between $500 and $700. Because he had lost his "sense of safety" at the residence, he had installed an alarm, a video monitoring system, and safety bollards at the gate to the driveway at a cost in excess of $7,000.
At the conclusion of the sentencing hearing, the trial court found that there were no mitigating factors and only one applicable enhancement factor — that the Defendant had no hesitation about committing a crime when the risk to human life was high. See id. § 40-35-114(10). The trial court, while recalling two specific incidents which had resulted in death and severe injury to burglars of residences, observed that "when you're messing with people's homes, there is a great risk of someone getting hurt or killed," pointing out that even though the Defendant had remained in the car, the homeowner could have arrived at any time, thereby placing everyone involved at risk. While observing that the Defendant, who was thirty-eight years old at the time of sentencing, should have provided her son with guidance, the trial court found that she instead was drinking to excess with him and involving herself in criminal behavior "off the scale." The trial court expressed particular dissatisfaction with the fact that the Defendant had allowed her son to store stolen property at her house for five months and disposed of the items only after the altercation with Warner. Because some four hundred burglaries had already been committed in Greene County during the course of the year, the trial court gave "great weight" to the need for deterring others likely to commit similar offenses, see id. § 40-35-103(1)(B), emphasized the amount of danger associated with residential burglaries, and imposed an effective three-year sentence,
The Defendant appealed, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to support her convictions for theft; that the jury had returned inconsistent verdicts; and that the trial court had erred by applying the enhancement factor. The Court of Criminal Appeals, holding that the evidence was sufficient and that any inconsistency in the jury verdicts was no basis for relief, affirmed the convictions, but modified the sentences to two years each because the trial court had based the greater sentences upon potential rather than demonstrated danger. As noted by the court, at the time of the burglary, the victim was not home; he lived there only twenty-five percent of the year; there was no evidence that the Defendant or her accomplices had weapons; and although the victim returned with a gun, it was not clear as to when the burglary took place in relation to the victim's return. State v. Bise, No. E2011-00005-CCA-R3-CD, 2011 WL 4090792, at *9 (Tenn.Crim.App. Sept. 15, 2011). Although all three of the panel of judges agreed that the trial court had erroneously applied the single enhancement factor, Bise, 2011 WL 4090792, at *9; see also id. (Woodall, J., concurring in part & dissenting in part); id. at *12 (Williams, J., concurring in results only), Judge Thomas Woodall dissented as to the sentence modification, id. at *9, writing that the implication by the majority "that [a] ... sentence... cannot be increased above the minimum unless the trial court finds applicable an enhancement factor ... obviously violates Blakely [v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004) ]." Bise, 2011 WL 4090792, at *11.
While conceding that the trial court misapplied the single enhancement factor, the State filed an application for permission to appeal, contending that a sentence otherwise in compliance with the statutory scheme and properly within the applicable range should be upheld, notwithstanding the erroneous finding.
The State argues that the majority opinion, if upheld, would imply that no sentence other than the minimum can be imposed by a trial judge absent a finding of a statutory enhancement factor, an interpretation that would violate the United States Supreme Court's ruling in Blakely and its progeny. Based on the broad discretionary authority afforded trial courts by the 2005 amendments to Tennessee's Criminal Sentencing Reform Act of 1989, the State asserts that sentences within the appropriate statutory range should be upheld unless "a trial court wholly fails to follow Tennessee's sentencing regime." Because the trial court in this instance "specifically considered the purposes and principles of sentencing," the State submits that the original three-year sentences should be upheld.
While acknowledging that the 2005 amendments afforded trial courts more discretion as to sentencing, the Defendant asserts that the presumption of correctness of a sentence fails in the event of a misapplication of an enhancement or mitigating factor and, in consequence, requires de novo appellate review. The Defendant argues that under the de novo standard of review, appellate courts "may re-weigh the properly applied factors and sentencing principles and independently assess whether the sentence is appropriate or should be modified." The Defendant further contends that the Court of Criminal Appeals' lead opinion, which independently assessed the propriety of the sentences, correctly addressed the statutory principles in assessing the minimum two-year sentences.
In order to appropriately frame our analysis of the issue before us, we have found it helpful to conduct a comprehensive review of the development of sentencing in Tennessee and the manner in which it has been shaped by the recent decisions of the United States Supreme Court.
For much of our history, sentencing has been indeterminate in nature and has fallen within the province of judges and parole boards; as a result, "there was little for appellate or supreme courts to oversee" during the first 200 years of the criminal law. John F. Pfaff, The Future of Appellate Sentencing Review: Booker in the States, 93 Marq. L.Rev. 683, 687 (2009) [hereinafter Pfaff, 93 Marq. L.Rev.]. Beginning in the 1970s, a majority of the states began to modify their sentencing laws in a variety of ways. Id. Tennessee's Criminal Sentencing Reform Act of 1982 ("1982 Act"), which implemented sentencing ranges, see Act of Apr. 28, 1982, ch. 868, 1982 Tenn. Pub. Acts 556, 561-62 (codified at Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-35-109(a)-(f) (1982) (repealed)), and determinate sentences, serves as an example of this reform. See id. at 570 (codified at Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-35-211 (felonies), -302 (misdemeanors) (1982) (repealed)); see also David L. Raybin, The Blakely Fix: New Tennessee Law Restores Judicial Discretion in Criminal Sentencing, 41 Tenn. B.J. 14, 19 (2005) [hereinafter Raybin, 41 Tenn. B.J.]. The 1982 Act contained a list of purposes
Id. § 40-35-210(b). Trial courts were required to "place on the record either orally or in writing [their] findings of fact and reasons" for imposing the sentence. Id. § 40-35-210(c).
Under the 1982 Act, a defendant was allowed to "appeal from the length, range, or the manner of service of the sentence imposed," as well as from "the imposition of consecutive sentences." Id. § 40-35-402(a). The defendant's appeal could be based upon either or both of the following grounds: "(1) [t]he sentence was not imposed in accordance with th[e 1982 Act]; or (2) [t]he mitigating and enhancement factors were not weighed properly, and the sentence [wa]s excessive under the principles of [the 1982 Act]." Id. § 40-35-402(b). If the State wished to appeal, it could only do so based upon its disagreement with the sentencing range or manner of service, id. § 40-35-403(a), or on the grounds that the trial court utilized the wrong range; improperly determined that the defendant was not a persistent offender "and/or that the offense was not an especially aggravated [one]"; granted all or partial probation; ordered some or all sentences to run concurrently; or "improperly found the defendant to be an especially mitigated offender." Id. § 40-35-403(b)(1)-(4).
In its original form, the 1982 Act did not specify a standard of review on appeal. Later, however, the Act was amended to require appellate courts to "conduct a de novo review on the record, ... without a presumption that the determinations made
Under the 1982 Act, "[s]entencing practices became totally disparate because [it] was enacted without the benefit of prison population projections and other tools to assess the impact of such a major sentencing alteration." Raybin, 41 Tenn. B.J. at 19. "Within a few years [Tennessee] prisons were filled to capacity," causing the governor "to call the General Assembly into Special Session in 1985 to solve the... problem." Id. at 20. In consequence, the Tennessee Sentencing Commission, a creation of the General Assembly, drafted the Criminal Sentencing Reform Act of 1989 ("1989 Act"). Id. The 1989 Act "create[d] a matrix by which convicted criminal defendants [were] sentenced based upon the seriousness of the crime committed and the number of prior convictions the defendant ha[d]." Carter, 254 S.W.3d at 342. Similar to the 1982 Act, the 1989 Act listed its purposes, see Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-35-102 (1990), and specifically recognized "that state prison capacities and the funds to build and maintain them are limited." Id. § 40-35-102(5). First priority for prison space was reserved for those defendants "committing the most severe offenses, possessing criminal histories evincing a clear disregard for the laws and morals of society, and evincing failure of past efforts at rehabilitation." Id. A defendant who did not meet these criteria and was an especially mitigated offender or standard offender "convicted of a Class C, D or E felony" was "presumed to be a favorable candidate for alternative sentencing options in the absence of evidence to the contrary." Id. § 40-35-102(6). Similarly, trial courts were instructed to implement the purposes of the 1989 Act by applying sentencing principles, see id. § 40-35-103, that were almost identical to those in the 1982 Act, merely adding a provision encouraging trial judges "to use alternatives to incarceration that include requirements of reparation, victim compensation and/or community service." Id. § 40-35-103(6).
The 1989 Act classified felonies for sentencing purposes into five categories, see id. § 40-35-110(a)(1)-(5),
As under the 1982 Act, the 1989 Act first required the trial court to determine the appropriate sentencing range, id. § 40-35-210(a), and then directed it to consider the factors articulated in Tennessee Code Annotated section 40-35-210(b), which remained unchanged from the 1982 Act. Importantly, the 1989 Act set a presumptive sentence for the various classes of felonies: if enhancement
Under the 1989 Act, a defendant could appeal "the length, range or the manner of service of the sentence" as well as the imposition of consecutive sentences. Id. § 40-35-401(a). The statutory grounds for the defendant's appeal were: (1) that the sentence was not imposed in accordance with the Act; and/or (2) that the trial court improperly weighed the enhancement and mitigating factors "and the sentence [wa]s excessive under the sentencing [principles]." Id. § 40-35-401(b)(1)-(2). The State was authorized to appeal "the length, range or manner of the service of the sentence" as well as the imposition of concurrent sentences. Id. § 40-35-402(a). The statutory grounds
The 1989 Act provided for "a de novo [appellate] review on the record" but further required that "[s]uch review shall be conducted with a presumption that the determinations made by the court from which the appeal is taken are correct." Id. §§ 40-35-401(d), -402(d). In Ashby, 823 S.W.2d at 169, this Court held that "the presumption of correctness which accompanies the trial court's action is conditioned upon the affirmative showing in the record that the trial court considered the sentencing principles and all relevant facts and circumstances." When the trial court failed to articulate the basis for its decision, the presumption was negated and appellate review was "de novo upon the record." State v. Jones, 883 S.W.2d 597, 600 (Tenn.1994). The presumption of correctness also failed when trial courts considered "inappropriate mitigating and/or enhancement factors or otherwise fail[ed] to follow the [terms of the] Sentencing Act." Carter, 254 S.W.3d at 345.
Beginning in 2000, the United States Supreme Court released a series of opinions that fundamentally altered the sentencing landscape at both the federal and state levels.
Initially, the scope of the Court's ruling in Apprendi was unclear. See, e.g., Gomez I, 163 S.W.3d at 663 (Anderson, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part) (observing that the Court's subsequent plurality opinion in Harris v. United States, 536 U.S. 545, 122 S.Ct. 2406, 153 L.Ed.2d 524 (2002), seemed to "indicate[ ] that Apprendi only applied when a judge found facts used to sentence a defendant above the range for the crime of which he had been convicted"). The import of the Apprendi ruling was clarified, however, by the landmark decisions in Blakely, 542 U.S. at 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, and United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005).
The Booker decision included two majority opinions. The "merits" majority, written
The "remedial" opinion in Booker, a majority ruling authored by Justice Breyer,
18 U.S.C. § 3553(b)(1) (2000 & Supp. IV) (emphasis added). The remedial majority also struck a second provision, 18 U.S.C. § 3742(e) (2000 & Supp. IV), which articulated "standards of review on appeal, including de novo review of departures from the applicable Guidelines range." Booker, 543 U.S. at 259, 125 S.Ct. 738. This section of the Guidelines required appellate courts to determine whether "the sentence depart[ed] from the applicable [G]uideline[s] range based on a factor that ... [was] not authorized under section 3553(b)," 18 U.S.C. § 3742(e)(3)(B)(ii), and further set out the following additional requirements:
Id. § 3742(e) (emphasis added). The remedial majority determined that excision of this provision was necessary because it contained "critical cross-references" to the provision rendering the Guidelines mandatory. Booker, 543 U.S. at 260, 125 S.Ct. 738. Despite excising the applicable scope of review, the Court found that the standard of "reasonableness" was implicit in the review process — a "standard consistent with appellate sentencing practice during the last two decades." Id. at 261-62, 125 S.Ct. 738.
Following Blakely and Booker, Governor Phil Bredesen charged a Task Force with drafting legislation that would address any constitutional problems with Tennessee's sentencing laws in light of the United States Supreme Court's rulings. Raybin, 41 Tenn. B.J. at 14.
Prior to the effective date of these amendments, however, this Court decided Gomez I, 163 S.W.3d at 632, which addressed the constitutionality of the pre-2005 sentencing scheme. In Gomez I, the defendants asserted and the State agreed that the imposition of maximum sentences based upon the trial court's finding of enhancement factors was in contravention of the ruling in Blakely. 163 S.W.3d at 654. Nevertheless, this Court upheld the sentences. Id. at 661. While acknowledging that "Blakely itself include[d] language which c[ould] be broadly construed" as supportive of the defendants' position, id. at 658, this Court found that the opinion "drew a constitutionally significant distinction between judicial factfinding in a `determinate' sentencing scheme and judicial factfinding in an `indeterminate' sentencing scheme," id. at 656, and read Booker as "instruct[ing] ... that the Sixth Amendment is not implicated by a sentencing procedure which uses non-binding, advisory enhancement factors to inform and
Two months after Gomez I was decided, the General Assembly passed the 2005 amendments to Tennessee's sentencing statutes. As under the 1982 and 1989 Acts, the 2005 amendments required trial courts, when determining the sentence and "the appropriate combination of sentencing alternatives that shall be imposed on the defendant," to consider the following:
Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-35-210(b) (2010). The only significant addition to these factors was subsection (6), which one commentator observed was meant "[t]o avoid `sentence creep' ... [and was] designed to assist trial and appellate judges in assessing sentences in individual cases," which would "alert [them] to local jurisdictions that drastically deviate from the norm." Raybin, 41 Tenn. B.J. at 20.
Most significantly, however, the 2005 amendments "remove[d] the prior rule, that absent an enhancement factor, a judge may not impose a sentence that exceeds the presumptive sentence at the bottom of the range (or in the middle of the range for Class A felonies)" and instead allowed "the judge [to] sentence anywhere within the appropriate range." Id. at 16. Accordingly, Tennessee Code Annotated section 40-35-210 was amended to provide as follows:
Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-35-210(c)-(d) (2010) (emphasis added). Reflecting the General Assembly's intent to bring our sentencing scheme into compliance with Blakely and Booker, this amendment to section 40-35-210 rendered advisory the minimum sentence and the enhancement and mitigating factors that might be considered in the imposition of a sentence within the appropriate sentencing range, thereby eliminating the "presumptive sentence" under the 1989 Act.
In addition, the 2005 amendments no longer allowed for an appeal to be taken based on a trial court's improper weighing of enhancement and mitigating factors. Provisions were added, however, allowing an appeal to be taken by the defendant on the basis that the sentence was either "not imposed in accordance with this chapter"; "excessive under" the purposes or principles of sentencing in Tennessee Code Annotated sections 40-35-102 and -210; or "inconsistent with" the sentencing purposes and principles at sections 40-35-102 and -103. Id. § 40-35-401(b)(1)-(3). An appeal by the State could be taken if, in pertinent part, the sentence was "inconsistent with" the purposes and principles articulated in sections 40-35-102 and -103. See id. § 40-35-402(b)(7). Whether a sentence was appealed by a defendant, see id. § 40-35-401(d), or the State, see id. § 40-35-402(d), the 1989 Act, as amended, continued to provide for de novo appellate review "with a presumption that the determinations made by the court from which the appeal is taken are correct." Id. §§ 40-35-401(d), -402(d).
Two years after the passage of the 2005 amendments, the United States Supreme Court explicitly approved Tennessee's statutory changes as constitutionally sound. See Cunningham v. California, 549 U.S. 270, 294 n. 18, 127 S.Ct. 856, 166 L.Ed.2d 856 (2007). At the same time, the high Court vacated and remanded the ruling in Gomez I.
While addressing the constitutionality of the 1989 Act, Gomez II focused on the presumptive sentence and enhancement factors applied by the trial court, rather than the appellate standard of review.
In Carter, this Court addressed the question of "how the 2005 revisions to the Criminal Sentencing Reform Act of 1989 impact the method of imposing a sentence." 254 S.W.3d at 337. After Carter was convicted of vehicular homicide, the State introduced proof demonstrating that he qualified as a Range III persistent offender, which established a sentencing range of ten to fifteen years. Id. at 340-41. In mitigation, Carter presented evidence from the victim's mother "in which she asked the court to probate the ... sentence and also offered several letters from other family members asking for leniency." Id. at 340. The trial court determined that a sentence of "ten years, time served, probated" was appropriate. Id. at 341. On appeal, the Court of Criminal Appeals modified the sentence to fifteen years, the maximum permitted in the range, which precluded the grant of probation. Id. at 342.
This Court reinstated the ten-year sentence as set by the trial court and ordered that the sentence be served in the Department of Correction. Id. We observed that the post-2005 version of the Act "no longer impose[d] a presumptive sentence," but instead allowed the trial court the discretion "to select any sentence within the applicable range so long as the length of the sentence [wa]s `consistent with the purposes and principles of [the Sentencing Act].'" Id. at 343 (quoting Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-35-210(d) (2006)). We noted that neither a defendant nor the State, under the amended Act, could appeal a sentence on the grounds that the trial court had not properly weighed the enhancement and mitigating factors. Id. at 344. We further noted that the Act still provided for a de novo review "`on the record of the issues... conducted with a presumption'" that the trial court was correct, id. (quoting Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-35-401(d) (2006)):
Id. at 344-45 (citations omitted).
We pointed out in Carter that the Court of Criminal Appeals' ruling that the trial court "failed to appropriately adjust the sentence length due to the presence of enhancement factors and ... based the sentence on a mitigating factor not supported by the proof ... indicate[d] that the court disagreed with the trial court's weighing of the various enhancement and mitigating factors before it." Id. at 345 (internal quotation marks omitted). We noted, however, that this "disagreement [wa]s not grounds for reversal under the revised Sentencing Act," id., and concluded that if a sentence is consistent with the purposes and principles of the Act, appellate
Id. at 345-46 (emphasis added). Although we expressed discomfort with the trial court's imposition of the minimum sentence, we found that "the trial court did not go so far astray under the 2005 expansion of discretion as to render the sentence reversible." Id.
Our next case touching on the subject of appellate review was State v. Banks, 271 S.W.3d 90, 145 (Tenn.2008). In this capital case involving multiple crimes and multiple issues on appeal, Banks challenged twenty-five-year sentences imposed by the trial court for attempted first degree murder and especially aggravated robbery. Id. Addressing the propriety of the length of these sentences, we stated that "[w]hen reviewing a sentence, an appellate court must review the record de novo and must presume that the determinations made by the court from which the appeal is taken — in this case the Court of Criminal Appeals — are correct." Id. More importantly, however, and in recognition of the increased discretion given to trial courts as a result of the 2005 amendments, this Court upheld the sentences despite the fact that the trial court had erroneously relied upon two enhancement factors. Id. at 147. Because "the trial court considered and weighed all the matters that [Tennessee Code Annotated section] 40-35-210 required it to consider and [because] the four remaining enhancement factors more than adequately support[ed] the trial court's discretionary decision to impose twenty-five[-]year sentences for the[] two crimes," the sentences were upheld. Id.
Most recently, in State v. Cross, 362 S.W.3d 512, 517 (Tenn.2012), the defendant was convicted of evading arrest while creating a risk to others, reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, driving on a revoked license, and speeding. Cross contended that the trial court had inappropriately determined that he "`had no hesitation about committing a crime when the risk to human life was high.'" Id. at 527 (quoting Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-35-114(10)
Id. at 529 (emphasis added). Because the trial court had "emphasized a variety of considerations beyond the enhancement factors which [were] consistent with the principles and policies of sentencing" and had "also placed appropriately significant weight on two other [applicable] enhancement factors," we held that "[t]hese considerations more than adequately justif[ied] the trial court's sentencing decision." Id. at 529-30.
Several points can be gleaned from these three decisions. First, we have consistently recognized that the 2005 amendments significantly increased a trial court's discretionary authority in imposing sentences. See, e.g., Carter, 254 S.W.3d at 344 (observing that "the 2005 revision[s]... increase[] the amount of discretion a trial court exercises when imposing a sentencing term"). Second, even when we have found a misapplication of enhancement factors or have otherwise expressed disagreement with the sentence, we have upheld the exercise of discretion by the trial courts unless they have "departed so far from the Sentencing Act" or "go[ne] so far astray under the 2005 expansion of discretion as to render the sentence reversible." Id. at 346; see also Cross, 362 S.W.3d at 529-30. Finally, we have held that the "improper consideration of an enhancement factor ... will not necessarily invalidate the sentence." Cross, 362 S.W.3d at 529.
Our rulings since 2007 parallel the efforts of the federal courts to develop an appropriate standard of appellate review. Since its ruling in Cunningham, the United States Supreme Court has primarily directed its attention to the remedial opinion in Booker — that is, the mode by which appellate courts review sentencing decisions under the federal Guidelines. The rationale of these opinions is instructive. For example, in Rita v. United States, 551 U.S. 338, 341, 127 S.Ct. 2456, 168 L.Ed.2d 203 (2007), the question presented was whether appellate courts could presume that a sentence imposed within a properly calculated range was reasonable. In that case, a defendant was convicted of perjury, id. at 342, 127 S.Ct. 2456, and sentenced by the trial court "at the bottom of the Guidelines range." Id. at 345, 127 S.Ct. 2456. On appeal, the defendant sought a downward departure contending that his sentence was "unreasonable." Id. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that "a sentence imposed within the properly calculated Guidelines range ... is presumptively reasonable" and upheld his sentence. Id. at 345-46, 127 S.Ct. 2456 (internal quotation marks omitted). The Supreme Court agreed, holding that the "presumption of reasonableness [applies] to a ... sentence that reflects a proper application of the Sentencing Guidelines," id. at 347, 127 S.Ct. 2456, and noting that
In Rita, the Court also addressed whether the district court had properly analyzed the relevant sentencing factors and, more specifically, whether the judge had adequately "`state[d] in open court the reasons for [his] imposition of the particular sentence'" as required by statute. Id. at 356, 127 S.Ct. 2456 (quoting 18 U.S.C. § 3553(c) (2000 & Supp. IV)). While describing the judge's statement as "brief" and suggesting that typically a sentencing judge "should set forth enough to satisfy the appellate court that he has considered the parties' arguments and has a reasoned basis for exercising his own legal decisionmaking authority," the Court ruled that a district "judge decid[ing] simply to apply the Guidelines to a particular case ... will not necessarily require lengthy explanation." Id. at 356-57, 127 S.Ct. 2456. Although the defendant had argued for a sentence less than the recommended Guidelines sentence based on his poor health, his "fear of retaliation in prison, and [his] military record," the Court found the record "clear" that these factors had been considered by the judge and that the Fourth Circuit properly concluded that the sentence imposed by the district court was not unreasonable. Id. at 358, 127 S.Ct. 2456.
Later, in Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 128 S.Ct. 586, 169 L.Ed.2d 445 (2007), the United States Supreme Court elaborated on the nature of appellate review in the federal system:
While Rita and Gall addressed the effect of Booker's remedial opinion on appellate review under the federal Guidelines, Tennessee's General Assembly, according to at least one authority, elected to "Booker-ize" its own sentencing statutes;
We begin by observing that this Court has continued in recent years to recognize our pre-2005 standard of appellate review, which conditions the presumption of correctness afforded the trial court's sentencing decision on "the affirmative showing in the record that [it] considered the sentencing principles and all relevant facts and circumstances." Ashby, 823 S.W.2d at 169. Although nothing in the statute requires that the presumption of correctness be conditional, if trial courts fail altogether to place on the record any reason for a particular sentence, the appellate courts would be forced to conduct a de novo review.
In addition, since the 2005 amendments, we have often recited language that the presumption of correctness fails when a trial court applies inappropriate enhancement or mitigating factors. See, e.g., Carter, 254 S.W.3d at 345. For several reasons, that is no longer the case. First, as indicated previously, nothing in the 1989 Act requires that the presumption be conditional. Second, mere disagreement with the trial court's weighing of the properly assigned enhancement and mitigating factors is no longer a ground for appeal. Third, the 2005 amendments rendered advisory the manner in which the trial court selects a sentence within the appropriate range, allowing the trial court to be guided by — but not bound by — any applicable enhancement or mitigating factors when adjusting the length of a sentence.
Moreover, the lead opinion of the Court of Criminal Appeals, in this instance, after properly recognizing the misapplication of the single enhancement factor, determined that only a minimum sentence could be imposed. Bise, 2011 WL 4090792, at *9. That holding would serve to establish by case law that which cannot be done by statute. That is, to hold that only the minimum sentence may be imposed absent a finding by the trial judge of an enhancement factor would, in our view, violate the ruling in Blakely. See Bise, 2011 WL 4090792, at *11 (Woodall, J., concurring) (arguing that "the majority, by implication, is holding that the defendant's sentence in this case cannot be increased above the minimum unless the trial court finds applicable an enhancement factor that is not a prior conviction" which, "[i]n effect, ... obviously violates Blakely"); cf. Pfaff, 93 Marq. L.Rev. at 694 ("To reverse [a sentence] because ... the trial court relied on an improper aggravator would imply that the guidelines are not wholly voluntary ... and thus would trigger Blakely's concerns about jury rights.").
We hold, therefore, that a trial court's misapplication of an enhancement or mitigating factor does not invalidate the sentence imposed unless the trial court wholly departed from the 1989 Act, as amended in 2005. So long as there are other reasons consistent with the purposes and principles of sentencing, as provided by statute, a sentence imposed by the trial court within the appropriate range should be upheld. In consequence, the Sentencing Commission Comment to Tennessee Code Annotated section 40-35-210, which provides that "[t]he court must begin the sentencing determination at the statutory minimum which is called the `presumptive sentence' under subsection (c) [and i]f there are no enhancement or mitigating factors, then the court must impose the minimum sentence within the appropriate range," is in conflict with Blakely and the 2005 amendments and should, therefore, be disregarded.
Our conclusion that a presumption of reasonableness should be afforded to a sentence within the appropriate statutory range is further supported by the standard of appellate review in effect at the time juries imposed sentences. See, e.g., Carroll v. State, 212 Tenn. 464, 370 S.W.2d 523, 531 (1963) ("The punishment imposed, though severe, was authorized by law. Where the punishment imposed by the jury was within the limits allowed by the law, it cannot be said that their verdict indicated passion, prejudice or caprice upon their part."); Johnson v. State, 598 S.W.2d 803, 806 (Tenn.Crim.App.1979) ("Finally, we find no merit to the defendants' attack on the sentences assessed by the jury. The punishment in each instance is fully supported by the evidence and falls with[in] the range authorized by statute, and therefore cannot be considered `excessive.'"). Thus, our decision today not only brings the 1989 Act, as amended in 2005,
The presumption of reasonableness applies to the sentence imposed by the trial court. Previously, we have stated that in our review of a sentence, our Court of Criminal Appeals is entitled to a presumption of correctness. See Banks, 271 S.W.3d at 145. The literal language of the statute supports this construction. See Tenn.Code Ann. §§ 40-35-401(d),-402(d) (stating that "[t]he review shall be conducted with a presumption that the determinations made by the court from which the appeal is taken are correct"). Read in context, however, we believe that the statute contemplates the application of the presumption to the determinations made by the trial court. First, the 1989 Act, as amended, primarily addresses the role of trial courts in the imposition of sentences. Second, the provisions governing appellate review state that the defendant or the State "may appeal from the length, range or the manner of service of the sentence imposed by the sentencing court," Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-35-401(a) (emphasis added); see also id. § 40-35-402(a), implying that any appellate review is of the decision of the court that actually imposes the sentence. Finally, the 2005 amendments served to increase the discretionary authority of trial courts in sentencing. In other areas of law in which a trial court is afforded wide discretion, review is of the propriety of the decision by the trial court, not that of the intermediate appellate court. See, e.g., State v. Williamson, 368 S.W.3d 468, 473 (Tenn.2012) (observing that a trial court's findings of fact during a suppression hearing are binding on this Court unless the evidence preponderates against them); cf. Mitchell v. Fayetteville Pub. Utils., 368 S.W.3d 442, 447 (Tenn. 2012) (reviewing the trial court's findings of fact "de novo upon the record ... accompanied by a presumption of the correctness of the finding" (internal quotation marks omitted)). We hold, therefore, that the presumption of reasonableness — which we adopt to replace the presumption of correctness — is more properly applied to the sentence imposed by the trial court.
In summary, the 2005 amendments to the 1989 Act were intended to bring our sentencing scheme in line with the decisions of the United States Supreme Court in this area. Accordingly, when the 2005 amendments vested the trial court with broad discretionary authority in the imposition of sentences, de novo appellate review and the "presumption of correctness" ceased to be relevant. Instead, sentences imposed by the trial court within the appropriate statutory range are to be reviewed under an abuse of discretion standard with a "presumption of reasonableness."
As we apply these principles to the sentences at issue, we first observe that the Court of Criminal Appeals properly ruled that the evidence does not support the single enhancement factor applied by the trial court. When imposing the sentences, however, the trial court did give consideration to the contents of the pre-sentence report. The Defendant had a prior conviction for public intoxication. The trial court expressed particular concern that the Defendant's intoxication played a role in her convictions on each of the three counts and that she had failed to provide her son with appropriate parental guidance during the episode that led to the convictions. Furthermore, the trial court gave consideration to the fact that the Defendant had knowingly allowed stolen
We hold that a trial court's misapplication of an enhancement or mitigating factor does not remove the presumption of reasonableness from its sentencing decision. A sentence should be upheld so long as it is within the appropriate range and the record demonstrates that the sentence
Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-35-102 (1982) (repealed).
Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-35-103 (1982) (repealed).
In Spears v. United States, 555 U.S. 261, 129 S.Ct. 840, 172 L.Ed.2d 596 (2009) (per curiam), the Court reiterated its ruling in Kimbrough. There, the district court deviated from the Guidelines' "100:1 ratio between powder cocaine and crack cocaine quantities" for purposes of sentencing, finding that adherence to this ratio would yield an excessive sentence. Id. at 261-62, 129 S.Ct. 840. Instead, the district court chose to sentence the defendant to the statutory mandatory minimum. Id. at 262, 129 S.Ct. 840. The Eighth Circuit, after having its initial reversal of the sentence vacated and remanded in light of the Court's decision in Kimbrough, id. at 262-63, 129 S.Ct. 840, again reversed and remanded for resentencing, holding that the district court could "not categorically reject the ratio set forth by the Guidelines." Id. at 263, 129 S.Ct. 840 (internal quotation marks omitted). The Court yet again reversed, finding that the Eighth Circuit's holding conflicted with Kimbrough, which it found to undoubtedly hold "that with respect to the crack cocaine Guidelines, a categorical disagreement with and variance from the Guidelines is not suspect." Id. at 264, 129 S.Ct. 840.
Similarly, there are disagreements among the various justices as to what, in fact, post-Booker appellate review entails. Compare Rita, 551 U.S. at 365, 127 S.Ct. 2456 (Stevens, J., concurring) (disagreeing with Justice Scalia's position based on his belief that "purely procedural review ... is inconsistent with our remedial opinion in Booker, which plainly contemplated that reasonableness review would contain a substantive component"), with id. at 368, 127 S.Ct. 2456 (Scalia, J., concurring in part and concurring in the judgment) (disagreeing that reasonableness review was substantive in nature, but was instead procedural), and id. at 391, 127 S.Ct. 2456 (Souter, J., dissenting) (stating that he would "reject the presumption of reasonableness adopted in this case" because "[o]nly if sentencing decisions are reviewed according to the same standard of reasonableness whether or not they fall within the Guidelines range will district courts be assured that the entire sentencing range set by statute is available to them").
Gall, 552 U.S. at 51-52, 128 S.Ct. 586 (citations omitted) (internal quotation marks omitted).