Appeals Court Upholds Aeschliman Sentence

The Idaho Court of Appeals has upheld a prison sentence of 18 years to life for Danny Ray Aeschliman, who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder by torture for beating his wife to death.

Aeschliman, 42, has been at the Mini-Cassia Criminal Justice Center in Burley since being sentenced last April by 1st District Judge James Judd for the Kootenai County slaying of Mary Ann Aeschliman, 25.

He appealed his sentence, arguing that the minimum 18-year term was excessive and that 10 years would be enough to ensure his rehabilitation. But the three-judge Court of Appeals ruled unanimously on Thursday that “the opportunity for rehabilitation as a means of achieving protection for society from a defendant’s conduct is not the controlling factor.”

In fact, Judge Darrel Perry wrote, “The gravity of the offense in this case is sufficiently egregious to justify a severe measure of retribution and deterrence.”