State v. Horton

The most important responsibility of a trial judge in a criminal case is his duty to pronounce sentence after a defendant’s conviction. No other power of the judge has such a potentially devastating effect on the lives of the defendant and his family. No other power so affects the public interest.

It is an anomaly that the exercise of this power, among the greatest that one person .may. exercise over the life of another, is virtually unreviewable. We have made it so. If the sentence does not exceed the maximum provided in the applicable statute, we will not interfere unless the record…