JASON ABBOTT v. STATE OF ALASKA (2010)

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 precedent for any proposition of law.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT

When Jason A. Abbott was eighteen years old, he stabbed to death his grandparents, his aunt, and his aunt's boyfriend, and he nearly killed another aunt.   Abbott pleaded “guilty but mentally ill” to two consolidated counts of first-degree murder ¹ (each count representing two victims) and one count of first-degree assault,² under a negotiated plea agreement.   He also admitted an aggravating factor:  that the offenses were committed against members of a social unit made up of those living together in the same dwelling.³

At the sentencing hearing, Superior Court Judge David V. George concluded that the composite sentence should isolate Abbott from the public so that he would not be automatically released from jail within his lifetime.   The judge also made a finding that it was necessary to impose consecutive sentences to protect the public.   But the judge concluded that medical research might someday find a way to control Abbott's dangerous mental illness.   He stated that the sentence was intended to allow Abbott to apply for discretionary parole when he reached an age of sixty-six to seventy-seven years of age.   Judge George concluded that he was imposing the shortest sentence that would accomplish the appropriate sentencing goals.

The judge imposed a sentence of ninety-nine years' imprisonment on each count of first-degree murder and eleven years on the first-degree assault charge.   Thirty years of one murder sentence and the entire sentence for first-degree assault were imposed consecutively, yielding a composite sentence of 140 years' imprisonment.   The superior court did not restrict Abbott's ability to seek discretionary parole.

Abbott now appeals.   He argues that the sentence violates the principle of “parsimony”-that “the defendant's liberty should be restrained only to the minimum extent necessary to achieve the objectives of sentencing.” ⁴  Abbott argues that the judge should have imposed the sentence for the assault charge concurrently so that he would be eligible for discretionary parole in his early sixties.   In other words, Abbott contends that the composite sentence should be 129 years' imprisonment.   But Abbott does not establish that the judge committed any clear error when he concluded that public safety required a slightly longer sentence.

The principle of parsimony does not replace our obligation to review the sentence to determine whether it is “clearly mistaken.” ⁵  The Alaska appellate courts have several times affirmed similar sentences for first-degree murder cases involving multiple victims, where the circumstances suggested that the defendant should spend his life in prison to protect the public.⁶  We conclude that the sentencing decision in this case was not clearly mistaken.

We therefore AFFIRM the superior court's judgment and sentence.

FOOTNOTES

FN1. AS 11.41.100..  FN1. AS 11.41.100.

FN2. AS 11.41.200..  FN2. AS 11.41.200.

FN3. AS 12.55.155(c)(18)(A)..  FN3. AS 12.55.155(c)(18)(A).

FN4. Pears v. State, 698 P.2d 1198, 1205 (Alaska 1985)..  FN4. Pears v. State, 698 P.2d 1198, 1205 (Alaska 1985).

FN5. Pickard v. State, 965 P.2d 755, 760 (Alaska App.1998)..  FN5. Pickard v. State, 965 P.2d 755, 760 (Alaska App.1998).

FN6. See Nukapigak v. State, 663 P.2d 943, 945-46 (Alaska 1983);  Watkinson v. State, 980 P.2d 469, 473 (Alaska App.1999);  Kanulie v. State, 796 P.2d 844, 848-49 (Alaska App.1990);  Collins v. State, 778 P.2d 1171, 1175-76 (Alaska App.1989);  Hastings v. State, 736 P.2d 1157, 1160 (Alaska App.1987);  Krukoff v. State, 702 P.2d 664, 666 (Alaska App.1985)..  FN6. See Nukapigak v. State, 663 P.2d 943, 945-46 (Alaska 1983);  Watkinson v. State, 980 P.2d 469, 473 (Alaska App.1999);  Kanulie v. State, 796 P.2d 844, 848-49 (Alaska App.1990);  Collins v. State, 778 P.2d 1171, 1175-76 (Alaska App.1989);  Hastings v. State, 736 P.2d 1157, 1160 (Alaska App.1987);  Krukoff v. State, 702 P.2d 664, 666 (Alaska App.1985).

BOLGER, Judge.