Phelps v. State

OPINION

MANNHEIMER, Judge.

This case requires us to re-examine and apply the Nealr-Mutschler rule — the rule that, when a defendant is being sentenced for two or more crimes, the defendant’s composite sentence of imprisonment may not exceed the maximum sentence of imprisonment for the defendant’s single most serious offense unless the sentencing judge affirmatively finds that a longer term of imprisonment is necessary to protect the public. See Neal v. State, 628 P.2d 19, 21 (Alaska 1981); Powell v. State, 88 P.3d 532, 537 & n. 9 (Alaska App.2004).

In the present case, the defendant was…