Court Opinion

ID: 9674511
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 04:30:04.768978+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:27.899619
License: Public Domain

John I. Purtle, Justice, dissenting. A prisoner ought not to be ordered to serve more than a lifetime without parole. Three hundred and forty-eight years is cruel and unusual. This sentence should be modified because the statute authorizes a maximum sentence of “life.” We ought to modify this sentence instead of using excuses to uphold it. A fairly casual reading of Ark. Stat. Ann. § 41-1001.2(a) (Supp. 1985) gives the distinct impression that the range of penalty in this case, even with the eight prior felony convictions, is from 40 years to life. After a careful reading the specified range is still between 40 years and life. This court should abide by the statute and our own precedent and reduce this time to life in prison, the maximum allowed by law. See generally Singelton v. State, 274 Ark. 126, 623 S.W.2d 180 (1981); and Swaite v. State, 272 Ark. 128, 612 S.W.2d 307 (1981). Things are going to get messy around Cummins if prisoners must be there for more than a lifetime. After the trial court correctly instructed the jury on the range of the penalty, the state requested a 500 year sentence in closing argument. The only reason I can conceive of for this argument and the consequent sentence is a failure to understand the proper application of the statute to the time to be served. In spite of a proper instruction the jury returned a verdict of three hundred forty-eight years, which was accepted by the court in pronouncing sentence. This sentence is no doubt a reflection of the public perception that the Department of Correction and the courts are out of harmony on the length of time a prisoner actually serves in relation to the time sentenced by the courts. Whatever the reason for such unusual sentencing, the courts should abide by legislative enactment and leave the execution of legal sentences to the executive department. Hays, J., joins in this dissent.