State v. Shuler

OPINION

KLEINSCHMIDT, Judge.

The principal issue on appeal in this case concerns whether the trial court may properly consider prior arrests as an aggravating circumstance in determining a defendant’s sentence. We hold that the court may not consider mere arrests which are unsupported by evidence of bad acts or illegal conduct. The record here reveals that most of the arrests considered by the trial court resulted in convictions and were therefore properly considered. We are convinced from our review of the entire record that even if the trial judge had drawn the distinction between mere…