State v. Ramos

FIDEL, Judge,

concurring:

Unlike my colleagues, I find no answer to the issue of this case in the wording of § 13-812. Though the statute tells us explicitly how to penalize “each person convicted of a felony,” it does not tell us explicitly how to penalize a person convicted of more than one felony. If one looked at nothing but the statutory language, one could not answer that question. We are not so limited, however. In seeking legislative intent, as my colleagues point out, we look also to the statute’s “context, subject matter, effects and consequences, reason or purpose, and spirit of the law.” I find no ambiguity in these factors. I do not believe the legislature intended the $100 victim compensation fund assessment as a kind of pass, covering the payor for as many felonious acts as he might load into a single sentencing. Because I find no ambiguity in the legislature’s purpose, and because I concur in my colleagues’ conclusion that the rule of lenity is inapplicable where legislative intent is clear, I join in affirming the trial court’s judgment and sentence.