Garcia v. State

PARKER, Judge.

Garcia appeals the trial court’s sentence which is an upward departure from the sentencing guidelines. Garcia was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment. The recommended guidelines sentence was three to seven years imprisonment. We affirm Garcia’s conviction, but remand for resentencing.

Garcia was indicted for first-degree murder in the shooting death of his former girlfriend. The jury returned a verdict of third-degree murder, listing the underlying felony as an aggravated assault with a firearm.1

At the sentencing hearing, the trial court observed the following:

The facts of…