Scott County prosecutor upset about sentence in assault case

BENTON, Mo. -- A Sikeston man was sentenced Tuesday to prison before Judge David Dolan at the Scott County Courthouse in Benton.

Robbie Madison, 30, of Sikeston as sentenced to serve 18 years on first-degree assault and 18 years on armed criminal action. The sentences will run concurrently.

The Missouri Department of Corrections sentence advisory report, or SAR, recommended a 12-year sentence to the court despite Madison's three prior felony convictions. Madison requested to be sentenced to 12 years on each count to run concurrent.

Scott County Prosecutor Paul R. Boyd requested the court sentence Madison to 25 years on each count to run concurrent based on his criminal record and his present conviction.

"The trial court was fair in this case. However, it can be tough for the prosecutors across the state to get meaningful sentences within the confines of state statutes that reflect real community values versus the sentencing guidelines embedded in the SARs," Boyd said.

The sentence advisory reports are done by the Department of Corrections, which happens to be the same agency that is assigned to house dangerous offenders, Boyd said. The recommendations he said, come from a computer program that is either flawed because it doesn't take into account all the facts about a defendant or is designed to implement prison sentences at the low end of the criminal penalty statute.

"As a prior and persistent felony offender, Madison was facing from five to 30 years on assault in the first degree. A 12-year sentence recommendation for a defendant who attempted to kill someone and who also has three felony convictions is not responsive to law-abiding community values," Boyd said.

The legislature needs to address repealing the statutes that set up sentencing guidelines pushed on courts through the sentencing reports and let elected trial judges sentence violators based on the facts known to the trial judges with the sentencing provisions already handed down by the legislature, Boyd said.

"Leave the trial judges to reflect their citizens' values in their sentencing and not some computer," Boyd said.

On June 6, Madison was found guilty by a Butler County jury of first-degree assault and armed criminal action for acts occurring on Aug. 18, 2006. Officers from Sikeston Department of Public Safety were dispatched to 318 Dixie in Sikeston around 11:39 p.m. Aug. 18, 2006, based upon a 911 call about shots fired and a woman with a wound to her head. Upon the officers getting to the scene, they observed Marcus Robinson at the residence with three children and Shekiah Robinson down behind the front door inside the residence.

Robinson indicated to the officers that Robbie Madison was the person who shot at him inside the residence. Madison was found three hours later.