State v. Rattler

I agree that this defendant deserved the 19 year sentence imposed and that the sentence was clearly within the wide discretion of the trial court. This concurrence is filed for the following reason.

This case is instructive of the problem presented when reviewing sentences for drug crimes. In State v. Sharkey, 602 So.2d 249 (La.App. 2d Cir.1992) the majority wrote to reverse a 20-year sentence. Sharkey was a 27 year old defendant who was caught on three separate occasions selling cocaine to an undercover officer in a bar. At each sale the undercover officer saw several rocks of cocaine in…