State v. Auen

I dissent.

The State Legislature has the power to set maximum sentences for crime. The trial courts of this state must use discretion to impose sentences within máximums and mínimums allowed by the legislature. By changing the maximum sentence as set by the legislature, the law-trained magistrate attempted to skirt the constitutional right of a trial by jury. The legislature prescribed a maximum sentence for this offense which included incarceration. A trial court judge affirmed the law-trained magistrate’s decision. Constitutionally, and by enactments of the State Legislature, they were both…