Thongsavanh Exile


http://www.courts.state.me.us/court_info/opinions/2007_documents/07me20th.pdf
MAINE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT
Decision: 2007 ME 20.  Docket: And-06-46.  Decided: January 30, 2007

STATE OF MAINE v. BRANDON THONGSAVANH

Relevant bit:  "The court also took into account that after entering prison for this
crime, Thongsavanh attacked another inmate resulting in sixty stitches. He ended
up in the high management section and was selected to be exchanged with an
Arizona prisoner who is “one of the country’s most notorious prisoners.” 


The court determined that the sentencing range for Thongsavanh
was twenty-five years to life—roughly seventy years—and then set a basic
sentence of forty-two years. The court reached this basic sentence because the
killing was senseless:

[Thongsavanh] and [McDuffee] had never met. Thongsavanh drove to a party, drank, 
heard that there was a fist fight down the street, and decided to go into that fist 
fight with a knife.

[¶23] The court next reviewed mitigating factors—specifically, that
Thongsavanh was young, lacked an adult criminal record, could be a good
employee when he chose to be, and had “some capacity for human warmth and
compassion.” It then considered the aggravating factors, which it considered to be
serious. The court found Thongsavanh had perjured himself at trial and refused to
accept responsibility, show remorse, or demonstrate any empathy for McDuffee or
his friends and family. The court also found the crime was part of a pattern of

escalating behavior; Thongsavanh had repeatedly been involved in fights and
criminal activity, had threatened family and friends, had failed to maintain
employment to support his two children, and had failed to establish a positive life
outside of institutions. 

The court cited a counselor’s evaluation that Thongsavanh
gets a thrill out of fighting and feels no remorse or empathy afterward.

The court also took into account that after entering prison for this
crime, Thongsavanh attacked another inmate resulting in sixty stitches. He ended
up in the high management section and was selected to be exchanged with an
Arizona prisoner who is “one of the country’s most notorious prisoners.” 

Based on its analysis of the aggravating and mitigating factors, the court sentenced
Thongsavanh to fifty-eight years. Thongsavanh now appeals from both his
conviction and the sentence.