State v. Perez Lara

OPINION

FIDEL, Judge.

After pleading no contest to manslaughter, a class 3 dangerous felony, defendant Rosalio Perez Lara was convicted and sentenced to an aggravated term of 12 years’ imprisonment. On appeal, defendant alleges that the trial court erred in considering two aggravating factors: (1) that defendant killed a human being, and (2) that defendant used a motor vehicle as a dangerous instrument. We reject the latter argument, but accept the former. Because killing another person is an essential and irreducible element of manslaughter, it cannot serve to aggravate the presumptive…