Case Name: Roger Trenton DAVIS, Appellee, v. Jack F. DAVIS, Director, Virginia State Department of Corrections, and R. M. Muncy, Superintendent, Powhatan Correctional Center, Appellants
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1979-06-29
Citations: 601 F.2d 153
Docket Number: No. 77-1782
Parties: Roger Trenton DAVIS, Appellee, v. Jack F. DAVIS, Director, Virginia State Department of Corrections, and R. M. Muncy, Superintendent, Powhatan Correctional Center, Appellants.
Judges: 
Reporter: Federal Reporter 2d Series
Volume: 601
Pages: 153–155

Head Matter:
Roger Trenton DAVIS, Appellee, v. Jack F. DAVIS, Director, Virginia State Department of Corrections, and R. M. Muncy, Superintendent, Powhatan Correctional Center, Appellants.
No. 77-1782.
United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.
Heard En Banc April 2, 1979.
Decided June 29, 1979.
Robert H. Herring, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Richmond, Va. (Anthony F. Troy, Atty. Gen. of Virginia, K. Marshall Cook, Asst. Atty. Gen., Richmond, Va., on brief), for appellants.
Edward L. Hogshire, Charlottesville, Va. (Paxson, Smith, Boyd, Gilliam & Gouldman, P.C., Charlottesville, Va., on brief), and John C. Lowe, Charlottesville, Va. (Charles G. Evans, Anchorage, Alaska, Lowe & Gordon, Ltd., Charlottesville, Va., on brief), for appellee.
Before HAYNSWORTH, Chief Judge, WINTER, BUTZNER, RUSSELL, Circuit Judges, FIELD , Senior Circuit Judge, and WIDENER, HALL and PHILLIPS, Circuit Judges, sitting en banc.
Senior Judge Field sat as a member of the en banc court, but upon being informed that the third sentence of 28 U.S.C. § 46(c) had been repealed by § 5(a) of the Omnibus Judgeship Act of 1978, withdrew from further participation in the case.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM:
The petitioner was prosecuted in a court of the Commonwealth of Virginia upon charges of possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute and its distribution. Upon conviction, although less than nine ounces of marijuana were involved in the offenses, the court imposed a fine of $20,000 and a sentence of imprisonment of forty years. The district court concluded that the penalties imposed were so disproportionate to the offenses as to amount to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. On that basis, a writ of habeas corpus was awarded, and the Commonwealth of Virginia has appealed.
We affirm for reasons sufficiently stated by the district judge in his opinion. 432 F.Supp. 444 (W.D.Va.1977). This action supersedes the panel opinion. 585 F.2d 1226 (4th Cir. 1978).
AFFIRMED.