PEOPLE OF MI V RICARDO FELIX VEGA JR
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN,
UNPUBLISHED
November 23, 2004
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v
No. 249578
Ingham Circuit Court
LC No. 01-000717-FC
RICARDO FELIX VEGA, JR.,
Defendant-Appellant.
Before: Cooper, P.J., and Fitzgerald and Hoekstra, JJ.
COOPER, P.J. (concurring).
I agree with the majority and vote to affirm defendant’s convictions. I write separately,
however, to express my concern with the defendant’s disproportionately low sentence for this
serious offense. Defendant was convicted of raping his seven-year-old biological daughter. The
complainant’s mother indicated in the presentence investigation report that defendant’s sexual
abuse of his daughter could have begun when she was as young as two. Although the
prosecution recommended a lengthy sentence, the sentencing judge departed downward from the
recommended minimum sentencing guidelines range and sentenced defendant to a three-and-ahalf year minimum sentence. A sentencing court may only depart from the minimum sentencing
guidelines range based on substantial and compelling reasons.1 This departure was taken after a
short sentencing hearing and was based in great part on the desire of the complainant’s mother
that the defendant receive a shorter sentence because the seven-year-old child still loves her
father and wants to continue to see him. Although the prosecution has not cross-appealed from
this sentence, I note that the sentencing court’s departure was highly inappropriate as the reasons
stated were neither substantial nor even minimally compelling.
/s/ Jessica R. Cooper
1
MCL 769.34(3); People v Babcock, 469 Mich 247, 256-258; 666 NW2d 231 (2003).
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