Opinion ID: 2230015
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Option of Life Imprisonment Without Parole

Text: The second sentencing issue raised by the defendant is the applicability of Indiana Code Section 35-50-2-9(g), which gives the judge the option of sentencing the death-qualified defendant to life in prison without parole as an alternative to sentencing the defendant to death. This section took effect on July 1, 1993 and the Act specifically provided that the life without parole provision only appl[ies] to murders committed after June 30, 1993. P.L. 250-1993 § 3. The murders in this case were committed on May 27, 1993. The defendant claims that this limiting provision denies him equal protection of the law. He acknowledges that this question was decided adversely to him in State v. Alcorn, 638 N.E.2d 1242, 1245 (Ind.1994), but claims that Alcorn was wrongly decided. We decline to revisit Alcorn.