Opinion ID: 1714125
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: whether the circuit court abused its discretion in failing to order a pre sentence investigation and report.

Text: ¶ 57. Because Horne was a juvenile and the death penalty was unavailable, the circuit court sentenced him to the only sentence currently available for capital murder, life imprisonment without parole. Ostensibly, there are two life sentences available, one with and one without parole. However, under Miss.Code Ann. § 47-7-3(1)(f), the Legislature has taken away the simple life sentence in capital murder cases: No person shall be eligible for parole who is charged, tried, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment under the provisions of Section 99-19-101. See also Pham v. State, 716 So.2d 1100, 1103 (Miss. 1998) ([A]lthough under the relevant code provisions, while there is the apparent necessity of a choice between death, life, and life without parole, in reality there is really only a choice between death and life without parole in the capital case in this context.). Because there was no discretion in the sentence for the murder conviction to be imposed, we cannot find that the circuit court abused its discretion in failing to order a pre-sentence investigation and report.