Lenz v. State
ANTHONY JAMES LENZ, Appellant,
Appeal from the Superior Court, Third Judicial District, Anchorage, Michael R. Spaan, Judge. Trial Court No. 3AN-12-4450 CR
Anthony James Lenz, in propria persona, Wasilla, for the Appellant.
Terisia K. Chleborad, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Special Prosecutions and Appeals, Anchorage, and Michael C. Geraghty, Attorney General, Juneau, for the Appellee.
Before: Mannheimer, Chief Judge, Allard, Judge, and Coats, Senior Judge. [*]
Anthony James Lenz and another man, Glenn Anderkay, burglarized and vandalized an Anchorage laundromat in May 2012. They smashed the laundromat's glass door, they sprayed the windows with black paint, and they were using crowbars to break into a change dispenser when the police arrived and apprehended them. The damage to the laundromat totaled over $6000.
For this conduct, both Lenz and Anderkay were initially charged with two class C felonies - second-degree burglary and third-degree criminal mischief - and with misdemeanor theft. [1]
Before trial, the State offered plea bargains to both men, but the bargains were different.
With respect to Anderkay, the State did not pursue the felony charges. Instead, Anderkay pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of attempted second-degree burglary (a class A misdemeanor) and to the misdemeanor theft. Anderkay ultimately received a composite sentence of 90 days to serve plus 365 days suspended, coupled with 3 years' probation.
But the State insisted that Lenz plead guilty to one of the felony charges. (The State offered to dismiss one of the two felony charges, and to dismiss the misdemeanor theft charge, if Lenz would plead guilty to the other felony.)
Because Lenz was a third felony offender for presumptive sentencing purposes, he faced a presumptive sentencing range of 3 to 5 years' imprisonment if he pleaded guilty to either felony. [2] However, the State offered to stipulate that Lenz would receive a sentence at the bottom of this presumptive range (i.e., 3 years to serve).
Lenz declined the State's offer, so the State took his case to trial. Lenz was ultimately convicted of the two felony charges of second-degree burglary and third- degree criminal mischief. (The misdemeanor assault charge was dismissed.) After rejecting probation, Lenz received a composite sentence of 4 years to serve.
In this appeal, Lenz argues that the State violated his constitutional right to equal protection of the law when the State declined to offer him the same plea bargain that it offered to his co-defendant Anderkay.
For the reasons explained in this opinion, we find no violation of the equal protection clause, and we ...