The Suspended Sentence

The Defendant was indicted on two counts of forcible rape and one count of robbery. The trial was held in Alaska in 1969. The jury found him guilty on all three counts. The Division of Corrections, in its presentence report, recommended incarceration and denial of parole. The assistant district attorney who appeared at sentencing recommended concurrent seven-year sentences on the rape convictions, plus a consecutive five-year sentence on the robbery conviction, with two years suspended on the robbery. The Defendant himself told the trial Court he "didn't direct any violence against the girl" and regarded the conduct as consensual; he also claimed that as to the robbery, he "found the money on the floor of the car afterwards and was planning on giving it back." Notwithstanding these admissions of the underlying conduct, and notwithstanding the Division of Corrections' recommendation and the State's sentencing request, the trial Court imposed concurrent one-year terms of imprisonment on all three counts, with parole eligibility at the discretion of the parole board. The State of Alaska appealed the sentence as excessively lenient.