David, J.
The critical issue before us is whether the trial court erred by treating the victim’s injury as an aggravating factor when the injury was an element of the burglary charge that was dismissed pursuant to his plea agreement. Bethea cites Farmer v. State, 772 N.E.2d 1025 (Ind. Ct. App. 2002), and Roney v. State, 872 N.E.2d 192 (Ind. Ct. App. 2007) in support of his argument that the injury to the victim can’t be used as an aggravating factor, since it is an essential element of a dismissed charge.
The legal basis for this line of case law begins with Hammons v. State, 493 N.E.2d 1250 (Ind. 1986). Hammons was tried for murder, but found guilty by jury for the lesser included offense of voluntary manslaughter. During sentencing, the trial court repeatedly declared the error of the jury verdict, and that Hammons had in fact committed murder.1 The trial court imposed the maximum penalty for manslaughter. We reversed, holding the trial court’s sentencing was not merely an act of skepticism with the jury verdict, but was more like an act of compensation to make up for the jury verdict, which was tantamount to sentencing the defendant for the crime for which he was acquitted. Id. at 1253.
Out of Hammons arose a line of Court of Appeals cases which attempted to interpret and apply Hammons . . . .
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Roney is the most recent case that traces its roots back to Hammons. It involved a robbery and murder. Roney pled guilty to murder, and the State agreed to dismiss the felony murder charge and not to file any additional charges relating to the incident. Roney, 872 N.E.2d at 197. . . . Among the aggravating factors the trial court found were that Roney could have been charged with several additional offenses, such as robbery and criminal confinement. The Court of Appeals held that the trial court had effectively circumvented the plea agreement by considering uncharged conduct when the State had agreed to not file additional charges. Roney, 872 N.E.2d at 201. Again, Hammons was not cited, but Farmer and Carlson, relying on Hammons, were cited for this proposition.
The time has come for us to review this historical application of Hammons and determine whether or not Hammons was intended to apply or should apply in guilty plea cases.
Bethea bargained for the dismissal of seven of the nine counts with which he was charged. He bargained to avoid a trial and the risk of seven potential guilty convictions on his record. Bethea, together with his counsel, made a risk assessment, balancing the evidence likely to be presented as well as the possibility of being found guilty on all nine charges with the sentencing possibilities accompanying such convictions. This included a Class A felony count of burglary resulting in bodily injury, three Class B felonies, two Class C felonies, and one Class D felony. The State bargained to ensure a certain conviction on two Class B felonies, Armed Robbery and Criminal Confinement. Once this plea agreement was accepted by the trial court, the four corners of this plea agreement encapsulated the defendant’s degree of criminal liability for which he could be convicted. This particular bargain set forth the crimes for which Bethea could be convicted and the maximum sentence he could receive. The written plea agreement did not limit what the State could offer as aggravating factors or what the defendant could submit as mitigating factors. In other words, it did not limit the sentencing evidence, only the maximum sentence.
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As Senior Judge Shepard wrote recently, “a defendant receives the full benefit of his bargain when multiple charges are dismissed in accordance with the agreement.” Sexton v. State, 968 N.E.2d 837, 841 (Ind. Ct. App. 2012). Our opinion today seeks to clarify this issue for trial courts, and to eliminate the application to guilty pleas with plea agreements. Hammons was uniquely different than the cases decided by the Court of Appeals that followed in that Hammons did not involve a guilty plea. Our opinion today does not foreclose the possibility of the Defendant bargaining as to what can and cannot be potential aggravating and mitigating factors. It is well within the purview of contract law, and consequentially, as mentioned above, the law as it relates to plea bargains, for the Defendant to bargain and the State to accept a plea bargain that forecloses the possibility of the trial court using enhancements from the underlying charges that were dismissed, or from the original charges from which a lesser included plea is taken. However, if a plea bargain lacks such language, we hold it is not necessary for a trial court to turn a blind eye to the facts of the incident that brought the defendant before them. As we stated in Anglemyer v. State, “the nature and circumstances of the crime as well as the manner in which the crime is committed” is a valid aggravating factor. Anglemyer v. State, 868 N.E.2d at 492.
In this case, the court did not err by giving significant weight to the facts presented to it relating to the burglary and other dismissed charges. Although these facts share a relation with the elements of the dismissed Class A felony Burglary Resulting in Bodily Injury, the State’s obligations under the plea agreement were fulfilled upon dismissal of the seven remaining counts and it owed the Defendant no further duty to omit these facts from the aggravating circumstances consideration. Both the State and Defendant agreed to this plea bargain.
Dickson, C.J., and Rucker, Massa, and Rush, JJ., concur.