Opinion ID: 1111241
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: fine imposition

Text: Miss. Code Ann. § 99-19-32 (1972) reads as follows: § 99-19-32. Fines and assessments upon persons convicted of offenses punishable by imprisonment for more than one year; deposit of Criminal Justice Fund. (1) Offenses punishable by imprisonment in the State Penitentiary for more than one (1) year and for which no fine is provided elsewhere by statute may be punishable by a fine not in excess of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00). Such fine, if imposed, may be in addition to imprisonment or any other punishment or penalty authorized by law. (2) In addition to any fine imposed by the court under this section, there shall be imposed and collected an assessment, in an amount equal to the fine imposed, from each person upon whom the court imposes a fine. Each such assessment shall be paid to the court in which such fine is imposed, and all such assessments shall be forwarded to the State Treasurer on the day when the funds are credited to the treasury of the county, in accordance with Section 7-9-21. The State Treasurer shall then deposit such funds in a special fund hereby created in the State Treasurey to be designated the Criminal Justice Fund. The Legislature may make appropriations from the Criminal Justice Fund for the purpose of defraying such costs as the state incurs in the administration of the criminal justice system of this state. [Emphasis added] On January 31, 1986, pursuant to the above statute, the trial judge sentenced Whittington to serve a term of life imprisonment in the Mississippi Department of Corrections and to pay a fine of $4,000 and all costs. Then on February 3, 1986, the circuit clerk of Franklin County also pursuant to the above statute added a $4,000 assessment. Whittington contends that this statute violates his constitutional rights to due process. Whittington, however, was given a trial on the merits and was found guilty and pursuant to § 99-19-32 was fined $4,000 and assessed an amount equal to the fine imposed, all as authorized by statute. AFFIRMED. ROY NOBLE LEE, C.J., and PRATHER, ANDERSON and GRIFFIN, JJ., concur. DAN M. LEE, P.J., and SULLIVAN, J., dissent. ROBERTSON and ZUCCARO, JJ., concur in affirmance with separate written opinion and join DAN M. LEE'S dissent as to Part I.