State v. Celestine

|, Granted, the decision of the court of appeal is reversed in part and defendant’s sentence is reinstated for the reasons that follow.

The trial court and the court of appeal agreed that a sentence less than the mandatory minimum term of 10 years’ imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence for the crime of armed robbery in violation of La. R.S. 14:64 appeared appropriate in defendant’s case. The courts below considered the same factors. At the time of the offense, defendant was an 18-year-old first offender, a recent high school honors graduate,…