People v. Chapa

When the record shows that a local policy has replaced the discretion of a sentencing judge, reversible error has been committed. This defendant must be resentenced.

I

Arturo Chapa was charged in Bay Circuit Court with delivery of and conspiracy to deliver heroin. He pled guilty to the heroin delivery charge in return for dismissal of the conspiracy charge. On April 17, 1977, the judge, in sentencing him to imprisonment for 8 to 20 years, said in part:

"The court is well acquainted with the program that Saginaw County has concerning heroin and it goes without saying that that has considerable…