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The state Supreme Court has upheld the murder conviction and sentence – 20 years with five suspended and the possibility of only four days a month good time – for a teenager who broke into the home of an 82-year-old man, choked him and stole $90 to pay a drug debt in January 2008.
Allen C. Dwyer Jr., 17 at the time of the crime, was sentenced as a serious youthful offender by the late Chaves County District Judge Ralph Shamas. Dwyer’s victim, Tony Quici, died of injuries from the attack, and Dwyer pleaded no contest to felony murder.
Dwyer came forward more than two years later, contacted police, confessed to the robbery and attack and entered a plea agreement with the state.
Prosecutors agreed to recommend a 15-year sentence, but the plea deal contained no agreements as to sentencing.
At the sentencing hearing, the defense offered mitigating evidence about his voluntary surrender and his methamphetamine addiction, and asked for a 10-year sentence with five suspended and mandatory drug treatment upon his release. The defense also sought 30 days per month good-time eligibility, despite language finding the crime to be a “serious violent offense” which by statute limits good time.
On appeal, the defense claimed the sentence amounted to cruel and unusual punishment and that the court improperly limited Dwyer’s potential good-time by disregarding a psychologist’s recommendation.
The unanimous Supreme Court, in an unpublished decision released Thursday, said Shamas had not abused his discretion and that Dwyer could not use an Eighth Amendment “cruel and unusual punishment” argument because he hadn’t raised it in the lower court.
The opinion by Justice Charles Daniels also noted that the defense had not made the psychological evaluation part of the court record, nor are a psychologist’s recommendations binding on the district court.
The district court acted within its authority under state law, which says that when an alleged serious youth offender is found guilty of first-degree murder, the court must sentence him or her under the Criminal Sentencing Act.
— This article appeared on page C2 of the Albuquerque Journal
