Court Opinion

ID: 9578613
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:46:46.631548+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:54.373971
License: Public Domain

Weltner, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent to the first division of the majority opinion, as I cannot agree with what has been the rule of excluding from appellate review all sentences which do not exceed the statutory maximum. From the opinion in this case on appeal, McCormick v. State, 163 Ga. App. 267 (293 SE2d 35) (1982), it appears that McCormick (a used car dealer) was involved in a transaction involving seven drafts which were deposited with a bank in November 1978, resulting in a total loss to the bank of $22,270.
For his part in a check-kiting operation, he was sentenced to a total of 40 years in prison.
In my opinion, such a sentence is plainly beyond constitutional limit, and constitutes a deprivation of liberty without due process of law, as prohibited by Art. I, Sec. I, Par. I, of the Constitution of Georgia of 1983, and a denial of equal protection of the laws, as prohibited by Art. I, Sec. I, Par. II, thereof.
I am most assuredly aware of the problems that any appellate court will encounter upon entering the preserve of sentence review. Nor can I suggest a formula to be applied in every case. It is sufficient for me that in this case, the sentence is plainly disproportional, and hence violative ,of the Bill of Rights of our state.