When sentencing a person of very advanced age, the sentencing judge must identify in the sentencing remarks the manner in which the offender's age and associated medical conditions have been considered. Old age is a mitigating factor because general deterrence may be required to surrender some ground to the need to exercise mercy, taking account of the possibility that the offender may not live to be released. Each year of sentence represents a substantial portion of the remaining life of an elderly offender, which is a weighty mitigating consideration. An error in classifying an offender as a serious sexual offender on counts that do not qualify is material unless it can be said with sufficient certainty that the error did not affect the sentence or cumulation order.
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