State v. Weidenfeller
State of Nebraska v. Leo A. Weidenfeller
Opinion of the Court
Text extracted by OCR from a scanned original; check the original for exact wording.
McCown, J.
The defendant was convicted of sodomy and sentenced to 1 to 2 years imprisonment. The sole basis for the appeal is that the sentence is excessive.
The defendant was 44 years old. His prior record revealed only minor traffic violations. The charge of sodomy on which he was convicted here was with a 14-year-old boy. As a part of a plea bargain, another count involving sodomy with an 11-year-old boy was dismissed. The defendant’s statements and the presentence investigation report indicate similar conduct with another boy who was 12 years old. The charge on which defendant was convicted was not a single isolated incident. The opinion of the psychiatrist and psychotherapist for the defendant was that there would be no recurrence of the defendant’s criminal conduct. No evidence was introduced by the State.
The defendant contends that he should have been granted probation. Probation is a favored sentencing alternative, particularly for first offenders, and some of the criteria for granting probation are present here. Nevertheless, the nature and circumstances of the crime, the age of the minor involved, and the evidence of similar conduct with other minors, make it impossible to find that the sentencing court abused its discretion. The maximum allowable sentence was 20 years and the sentence of 1 to 2 years imposed was at the lower level of *507 the statutory limits. There was no abuse of discretion.
Unless, an abuse of discretion appears, a sentence within statutory limits will not be disturbed on appeal. State v. Morosin, 187 Neb. 521 , 192 N. W. 2d 165 . The judgment is affirmed.
Affirmed.
How later courts describe this case
Explanatory parentheticals written by citing courts — 1 in all; the most informative distinct ones are shown.
-
(life imprisonment upon adjudication as third felony habitual offender not excessive, because sentences for predicate offenses were very light)
Cited by 3 cases
View all citing references →Relies on it most ⓘ
Most recent
Citing references are not a citator: they show that a later opinion cites this case, not whether it followed, distinguished, or overruled it. Check negative history before relying on this case.