State v. Ohnmacht

SCHULTZ, Justice.

The underlying issue presented by this appeal concerns the power of a sentencing judge to ignore the legislatively prescribed sentence and substitute his own conception of appropriate punishment because he believes the statutory sentence would result in a miscarriage of justice. We hold that a member of the judiciary lacks such authority and is bound to impose the sentence mandated by a valid statute.

The defendant, Michael Dean Ohnmacht, and two accomplices, Ernest Harper and Rodney Freeman, robbed the Shenandoah Pizza Hut and some of its patrons on November 18, 1981. At the…