KNIGHT v. STATE (2025)

MEMORANDUM DECISION

[1] Larry W. Knight appeals his sentence for failure to register as a sex offender as a level 5 felony. We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

[2] Between February 16, 2024, and March 21, 2024, Knight, who had a prior unrelated conviction for failing to register as a sex offender, was required to register as a sex offender and violated the terms of his reporting requirements regarding his employment status.

[3] On April 3, 2024, the State charged Knight with failure to register as a sex offender as a level 5 felony. On July 23, 2024, Knight and the State filed a Conditional Guilty Plea Agreement pursuant to which Knight agreed to plead guilty and receive a sentence of three years “with the sentence being OPEN as to placement.” Appellant's Appendix Volume II at 27.

[4] On July 23, 2024, the trial court held a hearing at which Knight pled guilty. On August 10, 2024, the court held a sentencing hearing. Knight presented the testimony of Crystal Friend, the office manager at Rock Valley Stone. She testified that Knight was an employee of Rock Valley Stone beginning in April or May 2023. She indicated that, at that point, Knight was homeless and sleeping in a tent behind railroad tracks and she would pick him up for work, take him home, and take him to his therapy appointments. She indicated that Knight “had issues” as an employee and that his “mental status is ․ not quite where all of ours is.” Transcript Volume II at 15. She stated that Knight had “a history of schizophrenia, bipolar, depression, anxiety.” Id.

[5] According to Friend's testimony, Knight had a seizure at the quarry on February 16, 2024, which was the last day he worked for Rock Valley Stone. Friend told Knight that she would pick him up “three or four days a week, bring him out to our house and do yard work, weed eating, mowing the grass, that kind of stuff, so he would be able to pay his rent.” Id. at 16. When Friend “did show up, [Knight] did not come.” Id. Friend stated that “that is around the time that [Knight] fell off the wagon ․ and did some drugs, and wound up back in rehab.” Id. She also stated that “he was still home in his apartment ․ for a week before he ended up going to rehab.” Id.

[6] Knight testified and, when asked why he “just stopped showing up to work for Rock Valley Stone,” he answered:

Well, my bone got broke. My front door got pushed in, and I didn't know what to do. So I told them they're leaving, I told them I was going to call the cops if they wouldn't leave. They broke my phone. And that was awhile before, and then I got depressed and sad. And I took all my meds that I had in the house, and I took them and I – I just felt like I wanted to end it all[.]

Id. at 24. He indicated that the people who broke into his house were those who he “let in on a daily [basis] to shower and eat [his] food.” Id. He also indicated that he attempted to take his life when he took “all those pills.” Id. at 25. He asked the court to sentence him to “a year and a half executed and a year and a half on probation.” Id. at 26. The prosecutor requested an executed sentence of three years.

[7] The court considered Knight's criminal history as an aggravating circumstance and his guilty plea as a mitigating circumstance but not a “strong one” given that “[he] did receive a good benefit from the State in that the cap of three years being the advisory sentence for a Level 5 felony.” Id. at 30. It also mentioned Knight's mental health and Friend's testimony regarding Knight's “limited cognitive ability or the ability to understand things going on around him in his daily life” as “a mitigating circumstance in this case, given the nature of what the offense is.” Id. at 30-31. The court sentenced Knight to three years with 730 days in the Department of Correction and 365 days suspended to probation.

Discussion

[8] Knight argues that the trial court abused its discretion when it suspended only one year of his three-year sentence “rather than the one and one half (1 1/212) years [he] requested the trial court suspend.” Appellant's Brief at 8. He points to his period living in a tent, lack of family support, mental health disorders, and guilty plea.

[9] We will set aside a sentence suspension only upon a showing that the trial court abused its discretion. Morgan v. State, 675 N.E.2d 1067, 1074 (Ind. 1996). Generally, we review the sentence for an abuse of discretion. Anglemyer v. State, 868 N.E.2d 482, 490 (Ind. 2007), clarified on reh'g, 875 N.E.2d 218. An abuse of discretion occurs if the decision is “clearly against the logic and effect of the facts and circumstances before the court, or the reasonable, probable, and actual deductions to be drawn therefrom.” Id. A trial court abuses its discretion if it: (1) fails “to enter a sentencing statement at all;” (2) enters “a sentencing statement that explains reasons for imposing a sentence—including a finding of aggravating and mitigating factors if any—but the record does not support the reasons;” (3) enters a sentencing statement that “omits reasons that are clearly supported by the record and advanced for consideration;” or (4) considers reasons that “are improper as a matter of law.” Id. at 490-491. If the trial court has abused its discretion, we will remand for resentencing “if we cannot say with confidence that the trial court would have imposed the same sentence had it properly considered reasons that enjoy support in the record.” Id. at 491. The relative weight or value assignable to reasons properly found, or those which should have been found, is not subject to review for abuse of discretion. Id.

[10] The determination of mitigating circumstances is within the discretion of the trial court. Rogers v. State, 878 N.E.2d 269, 272 (Ind. Ct. App. 2007), trans. denied. The court is not obligated to accept the defendant's argument as to what constitutes a mitigating factor, and the court is not required to give the same weight to proffered mitigating factors as does a defendant. Id. An allegation that the trial court failed to identify or find a mitigating factor requires the defendant to establish that the mitigating evidence is both significant and clearly supported by the record. Anglemyer, 868 N.E.2d at 493. If the court does not find the existence of a mitigating factor after it has been argued by counsel, it is not obligated to explain why it has found that the factor does not exist. Id.

[11] The record reveals that Knight agreed to plead guilty to failure to register as a sex offender as a level 5 felony and the plea agreement provided for a sentence of three years with the sentence being open as to placement.¹ The trial court acknowledged Knight's guilty plea and cognitive ability. The court also heard testimony regarding Knight's period of homelessness, seizure, and broken phone. It also heard testimony from Friend about her offer to pick up Knight three or four days a week and provide other work for him. The presentence investigation report indicates that Knight has convictions for theft as a class D felony in 2015, two counts of child molesting as class B felonies in 2014, and failure to register as a sex or violent offender as a level 6 felony in 2021. We cannot say that the trial court abused its discretion.

[12] For the foregoing reasons, we affirm Knight's sentence.

[13] Affirmed.

FOOTNOTES

1.   Ind. Code § 35-50-2-6 provides that a person who commits a level 5 felony shall be imprisoned for a fixed term of between one and six years, with the advisory sentence being three years.

Brown, Judge.

Altice, C.J., and Tavitas, J., concur.