This is a review of an unpublished decision of the court of appeals filed on March 29, 1984, affirming an order of the circuit court for Milwaukee county, Rudolph T. Randa, Circuit Judge.
The facts are undisputed. Duane Lee Martin, the defendant, was convicted of armed robbery, party to a crime, in violation of secs. 943.32(1) (a) and (2) and
The defendant moved to vacate the conviction and sentence for armed robbery, arguing that armed robbery was a lesser included crime of second-degree felony murder and that convictions and sentences for both crimes violated the defendant’s constitutional protection against double jeopardy. The circuit court (Judge Randa) granted defendant’s motion to vacate the conviction and sentence for armed robbery, consistent with
State v. Gordon,
The court of appéals affirmed the order of the circuit court, and we affirm the decision of the court of appeals.
There are three issues on review: first, whether, upon vacating the defendant’s conviction and sentence for a lesser included felony on double jeopardy grounds, the circuit court has authority to resentence the defendant for the greater offense, (here, second-degree felony
The three issues presented for review are questions of law, and this court need not give deference to the determinations of the circuit court or court of appeals.
We turn first to the power of the circuit court. Upon vacating the conviction and sentence for the lesser included offense (armed robbery), may the circuit court vacate the sentence for the greater offense (second-degree murder) and resentence the defendant when the defendant had commenced serving the sentence for the greater offense?
This court' has recognized the inherent power of a trial court to change and modify its sentence. In
Hayes v. State,
While Hayes affirmed the inherent power of the trial court to modify a sentence, it left open the question of what limitations are placed upon the trial court’s inherent power by the federal and state constitutions, by the state statutes, and by considerations of sound sentencing discretion and the administration of the criminal justice system. Specifically the Hayes court noted that double jeopardy questions might be raised if the sentence was increased upon modification. 1
Consequently, we turn to the second question presented, that is, whether the circuit court’s increase of the defendant’s sentence for second-degree felony murder violated the defendant’s federal double jeopardy protections. 2 The fifth amendment instructs that no person “shall be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.”
“Although the federal constitutional guarantee against double jeopardy has ‘its roots in antiquity,’ it is ‘one of the least understood . . . provisions of the Bill of Rights’ and the holdings of the United States Supreme Court can ‘hardly be characterized as models of consistency and clarity.’ ”
State v. Bohacheff,
The issue of double jeopardy arises in a number of contexts, e.g., reprosecution after mistrial, multiple proceedings at the defendant’s instigation, reprosecution after acquittal, reprosecution after conviction, and multiple punishments for the same offense, and involves several concepts that cannot be encompassed readily in a single formulation. In lieu of a single formulation, courts have described the various purposes of the clause: to protect the defendant from multiple trials and multiple punishments for the same offense; to preserve the finality of judgments; to protect the integrity of final judgments; to bar the government from a second chance to supply evidence which it failed to furnish in the first proceeding; and to protect the defendant’s right to have the trial completed by a particular tribunal.
The rationale underlying the prohibition against double jeopardy has been' described by the United States Supreme Court as follows:
“The constitutional prohibition against ‘double jeopardy’ was designed to protect an individual from being subjected to the hazards of trial and possible conviction more than once for an alleged offense .... The underlying idea, one that is deeply ingrained in at least the Anglo-American system of jurisprudence, is that the State with all its resources and power should not be allowed to make repeated attempts to convict an individual for an alleged offense, thereby subjecting him to embarrassment, expense and ordeal compelling him to live in a continuing state of anxiety and insecurity, as well as enhancing the possibility that even though innocent he may be found guilty.” Green v. United States, 855 U.S. 184 , 187-88 (1957), quoted with approval in United States v. DiFrancesco,449 U.S. 117 , 127-28 (1980). 3
A corollary of this principle of fairness is that the defendant once convicted and punished, should not live in a state of anxiety and insecurity for fear of further punishment for the same offense. The double jeopardy clause assures finality and fairness in the administration of the criminal justice system.
United States v. DiFrancesco,
The defendant contends that an increase in the sentence for second-degree felony murder after the defendant has begun to serve the sentence violates the prohibition of double punishment inherent in the double jeopardy clause.
The
Lange-Benz
rule barring modification of a sentence after the commencement of the sentence was refined in
Bozza v. United States,
In
United States v. DiFrancesco,
This case does not require us to consider DiFrancesco inasmuch as we conclude that this case falls within the Bozza exception to the applicability of the double jeopardy clause to increased sentences: a trial court may increase the sentence if the initial sentence is illegal.
Although the defendant in this case characterizes the initial sentence for the second-degree felony murder as valid, this court treats the sentence for second-degree felony murder, when imposed along with a sentence for the underlying lesser included felony, as based on misinformation of constitutional magnitude and hence illegal.
A series of Wisconsin cases involving challenges to convictions under lesser included offenses and under
In
State v. Upchurch,
Robinson v. State,
Finally, in
State v. Gordon,
The Ronzani-Gordon line of cases demostrates that when a defendant is convicted of and sentenced for two offenses which are later held to be the same offense, and when one conviction and sentence is vacated on double jeopardy principles, the validity of both punishments is implicated, the sentences for both offenses are illegal, and resentencing on the valid conviction is permissible. Although these cases do not explicitly set forth the basis for distinguishing between legal increases of illegal sentences and illegal increases of valid but erroneous sentences, the reason for placing this case in the former category is clear from an analysis of the nature of the offender’s challenge in each case and the principles of the double jeopardy guarantee.
The defendant asserts in this case that he has not challenged the sentence for second-degree felony murder and that the state has no statutory authority to seek modification of the sentence for that charge. We conclude that by attacking the armed robbery conviction on double jeopardy grounds, as the defendant did in this case, the
Here, as in each case described, the underlying premise of the offender’s challenge appears to be that an increased sentence would be multiple punishment for the same offense. This position is not persuasive. In each case described, the offender would not be punished once for the totality of the offense unless there was a resentencing. In each case, the original sentencing judge, contrary to law, spread the sentence for the totality of conduct over what she or he thought were two offenses, but which were actually a single offense. The opportunity for resentencing permits the sentencing judge to reimpose, within statutory limits, the punishment she or he originally imposed considering the gravity of the conduct of which the offender was found guilty. In the present case, the defendant would not be legally punished once until the sentence for the single conviction of felony murder also took into account the armed robbery. As we shall discuss later, the opportunity for abuse inherent in a broad judicial power to increase initial sentences is not present in this case and in the RonzaniGordon line of cases.
In each of the cases described the offender’s challenge to the increased sentence may also be based on the theory that an increased sentence is analagous to a reprosecution after a judgment of acquittal. Reprosecution after acquittal is barred by the double jeopardy clause.
7
The offender’s argument therefore is that an
Whether or not the acquittal analogy is persuasive, and the United States Supreme Court did not find it persuasive in
DiFrcmcesco,
it is inapplicable in this case and in the
Ronzani-Gordon
line of cases. At the initial sentencing in these cases the offender was not acquitted of the harsher punishment but was sentenced to the harsher punishment by means of two sentences rather than one. On resentencing, the sentencing judge would reimpose an appropriate penalty for the entire conduct being punished — murder during the commission of armed robbery. Furthermore, the
Ronzani-Gordon
line of cases does not involve subjecting an offender to more years in prison on fewer counts without further evidence of additional crimes. In these cases the offender is being resentenced on the same “counts.” The offender’s challenge to one of the convictions is not based on the assertion that he is innocent of, or should be acquitted of, the challenged count, but on the implicit acceptance of guilt on that count and the assertion that the valid conviction for the greater offense encompasses the challenged conviction. On resentencing in these cases the offender is not being punished for a conviction which was invalidated because the offender was acquitted of the offense. Rather the invalidity charged offense is
Adhering to the disposition and rationale of the cases discussed above, we hold that vacating the conviction and sentence of armed robbery on double jeopardy grounds in this case necessarily rendered the sentence for felony murder illegal and that the circuit court’s resentencing for the felony murder charge in this case did not violate the double jeopardy guarantees.
The defendant relies on
State v. North,
Having concluded that the circuit court has the inherent power to resentence on the remaining valid conviction and that, consistent with the double jeopardy clause, the resentencing may result in an increased penalty for the remaining conviction, we turn now to the third issue.
The defendant asserts that the circuit court’s reliance on the record of the original sentencing proceeding raises a due process question, namely whether the circuit court may increase a sentence in the absence of new objective factors justifying a more severe sentence.
“Due process of law, then, requires that vindictiveness against a defendant for having successfully attacked his first conviction must play no part in the sentence he receives after a new trial. And since the fear of such vindictiveness may unconstitutionally deter a defendant’s exercise of the right to appeal or collaterally attack his first conviction, due process also requires that a defendant be freed of apprehension of such a retaliatory motivation on the part of the sentencing judge.” Id. at 725.
The
Leonard
rule, which applies to resentencings after retrial or to mere resentencings, is broader than the
Pearce
rule, which applies only to resentencing after retrial.
Grobarchik v. State,
Because we concluded that the sentence for felony murder was invalid, we further conclude that the first element of the
Leonard
rule, namely the “new factors” element, does not apply. In
Grobarchik v. State,
The second element of the
Leonard
rule does, however, apply: the circuit court must state its grounds for increasing the sentence. This element is designed to insure that the sentencing judge does not modify a criminal sentence for the purpose of penalizing a defendant who exercises postconviction rights.
Grobarchik v. State, supra,
“When a defendant is resentenced for the purpose of correcting a prior invalid sentence,. and when, as compared with the original sentence, the liberty interests of the defendant are substantially and adversely affected, the trial court must state on the record the reasons for so modifying the first sentence. His reasons must be based upon a desire to implement the original dispositional scheme as manifested by the record in the first sentencing proceeding .... This requirement will insure that resentencing will not be motivated by a desire to penalize the defendant for the exercise of his post-conviction remedies.” Id. at 474 (citations omitted).
For the reasons set forth, we affirm the decision of the court of appeals.
By the Court. — The decision of the court of appeals is affirmed.
Notes
Hayes v. State,
As will be evident in the remainder of the discussion, double jeopardy is potentially involved at two points in this case. First, the defendant successfully moved the trial court to vacate his conviction on armed robbery on double jeopardy grounds. Second, the double jeopardy clause is potentially implicated by the trial court’s resentencing on the remaining conviction. Only the second aspect of double jeopardy is at issue in this case.
For a discussion of the double jeopardy clause, see
e.g., United States v. DiFrancesco,
In
Bozza v. United States,
At least two additional statements by the
TJpchwrch
court support the proposition that the original punishment was invalid in its entirety. The court specifically stated, “The consecutive
sentences
of January 23, 1980 were invalid,”
State v. Upchurch,
The waiver doctrine has not heen treated consistently by the United States Supreme Court. See,
e.g., Murphy v. Massachusetts,
An acquittal is accorded special weight under the double jeopardy clause; an acquitted defendant may not be retried even
It would have been preferable had this matter been assigned to the sentencing judge, Judge Fine, rather than to another judge.
