Dixon v. State
Decision Date | 16 November 1990 |
Citation | 572 So.2d 512 |
Parties | Wallace DIXON v. STATE. CR 89-1008. |
Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
Peggy Hale Cook, Birmingham, for appellant.
Don Siegelman, Atty. Gen., and P. David Bjurberg, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
The appellant, Wallace Dixon, was convicted of the unlawful sale of cocaine, in violation of § 13A-12-211, Code of Alabama 1975. A sentencing hearing was held at which the State proved that the sale occurred within one mile of a public school and that the appellant had two prior felony convictions. Accordingly, the trial court sentenced the appellant to 15 years in the state penitentiary, the minimum allowed by law, pursuant to § 13A-5-9(b)(2), Code of Alabama 1975, and then enhanced that sentence by 5 years, pursuant to § 13A-12-250.
Section 13A-5-9(b) states as follows:
Section 13A-12-250 states as follows:
"In addition to any penalties heretofore or hereafter provided by law for any person convicted of an unlawful sale of a controlled substance, there is hereby imposed a penalty of five years incarceration in a state corrections facility with no provision for probation if the situs of such unlawful sale was on the campus or within a three-mile radius of the campus boundaries of any public or private school, college, university or other educational institution in this state."
The appellant contends that § 13A-12-250 should not be construed to mean that an additional five years be "tacked on" to the original sentence. Instead, the appellant argues that the legislature intended for the additional five years to be a separate, concurrent sentence and, thus, that his case should be remanded to the trial court for resentencing. The appellant cites no authority in support of this contention.
" Pool v. State, 570 So.2d 1260 (Ala.Cr.App.1990), aff'd, 570 So.2d 1263 (Ala.1990). The legislature, by enacting Alabama's "schoolyard statute," intended to create an around-the-clock drug-free atmosphere on or near school grounds, and the legislature clearly intended to protect these areas, as well as the school grounds, from the evils associated with drug activities at all times. Qualls v. State, 555 So.2d 1158 (Ala.Cr.App.1989).
The opening language of § 13A-12-250 uses the words "[i]n addition to." The word "addition" means the act, process, or instance of adding. Lane v. Holderman, 23 N.J. 304, 129 A.2d 8 (1957). The words "addition" and "extension" and their synonyms "increase" and "augmentation" are used interchangeably....
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...25 years' imprisonment, and not a minimum of 5 years' and a maximum of 20 years' imprisonment as he was advised. See Dixon v. State, 572 So.2d 512, 513 (Ala.Cr.App.1990) (the legislature intended that the five-year sentence mandated by § 13A-12-250 be "added to" the existing sentence). On o......
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...trial court was required to sentence the appellant to an additional five years pursuant to Ala.Code 1975, § 13A-12-250. Dixon v. State, 572 So.2d 512 (Ala.Crim.App.1990) (§ 13A-12-250 requires that an extra five years be "tacked on" or "added to" the existing For the reasons set forth above......
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Smith v. State
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