Opinion ID: 2543498
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Whether Long's sentence is unconstitutionally disproportionate.

Text: ¶ 31. Long now challenges his sentence, claiming that life in prison without the possibility of parole for the sale of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a public park is unconstitutionally disproportionate and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. Recently, in Cummings v. State, our Court of Appeals found: [a]s a general rule, a sentence that does not exceed the maximum period of time allowed by statute will not be disturbed on appeal. Wallace v. State, 607 So.2d 1184, 1188 (Miss.1992). A sentence that is grossly disproportionate to the crime committed is subject to attack on Eighth Amendment grounds applying the proportionality test from Solem v. Helm, 463 U.S. 277, 290-291, 103 S.Ct. 3001, 77 L.Ed.2d 637 (1983); but see Harmelin v. Michigan, 501 U.S. 957, 965, 111 S.Ct. 2680, 115 L.Ed.2d 836 (1991) (the Solem test should only apply when a comparison of the crime to the sentence leads to an inference of gross disproportionality). Cummings, 29 So.3d 859, 861 (Miss.Ct. App.2010). Also, this Court has consistently held that sentences under the habitual-offender statute do not constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Id. (citing Huntley v. State, 524 So.2d 572, 575 (Miss. 1988); Jackson v. State, 483 So.2d 1353, 1355 (Miss.1986); Baker v. State, 394 So.2d 1376, 1378-79 (Miss.1981)). While the Cummings court held that Cummings's life sentence did not give rise to the inference of gross disproportionality, and thus, there was no need for an Eighth Amendment proportionality test, this Court notes that the trial court in the case before us conducted a proportionality analysis. Cummings, 29 So.3d at 861. After conducting the proportionality analysis, the trial court found that Long's life sentence was not unconstitutionally disproportionate. Id.