State v. Terrebonne
Decision Date | 13 November 1978 |
Docket Number | No. 62270,62270 |
Citation | 364 So.2d 1290 |
Parties | STATE of Louisiana v. Ricky J. TERREBONNE. |
Court | Louisiana Supreme Court |
John Wilson Reed, New Orleans, for defendant-relator.
William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., John M. Mamoulides, Dist. Atty., Abbott J. Reeves, Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-respondent.
A Grand Jury indicted the defendant, Ricky J. Terrebonne, for distribution of heroin, a violation of LSA-R.S. 40:966A. After trial, the jury adjudged him guilty. On April 15, 1976, the trial judge sentenced him to life imprisonment, subject to a credit for time served. On appeal, this Court affirmed the conviction and sentence. La., 354 So.2d 1356 (1978).
Defendant subsequently filed a habeas corpus petition in the district court, alleging that both the statute under which he was convicted and the sentence of life imprisonment were in violation of the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article 1, Section 20 of the Louisiana Constitution (1974), prohibiting cruel, excessive, and unusual punishment. The trial judge denied the petition. This Court granted supervisory writs to consider defendant's allegation. La., 359 So.2d 199 (1978).
In this Court, the defendant frames his argument as follows:
At the time of the offense, the penalty was set forth in LSA-R.S. 40:966B(1), as amended by Act 207 of 1973. That section provided:
"(U)pon conviction (a violator) shall be sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor and, in addition, may be required to pay a fine of not more than fifteen thousand dollars." 1
In State v. Whitehurst, La., 319 So.2d 907 (1975), we noted that neither probation nor parole was barred by the statute. 2
In a series of decisions beginning in 1975, we upheld the constitutionality of this penal clause against similar attacks. See State v. Whitehurst, supra; State v. Hopkins, La., 351 So.2d 474 (1977); State v. Stetson, La., 317 So.2d 172 (1975).
The federal courts have likewise upheld its constitutionality. See, e. g., La. Affiliate of NORML v. Guste, 380 F.Supp. 404 (E.D.La.1974); affirmed, 511 F.2d 1400 (5th Cir. 1975); cert. denied 423 U.S. 867, 96 S.Ct. 129, 46 L.Ed.2d 96 (1975).
In State v. Stetson, supra, we stated:
In Carmona v. Ward, 576 F.2d 405 (2nd Cir. 1978), the defendant attacked the New York mandatory maximum life sentence for drug felonies as cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. In upholding the statute, the United States Court of Appeal, quoting from People v. Broadie, 37 N.Y.2d 100, 371 N.Y.S.2d 471, 332 N.E.2d 338, cert. denied 423 U.S. 950, 96 S.Ct. 372, 46 L.Ed.2d 287 (1975), stated:
Life imprisonment is the maximum penalty for the distribution of narcotics in a substantial number of states. See, e. g., Arizona (Ariz.Rev.Stat. §§ 36-1002.02(A)-03(A) 1974 and Supp.1977); Idaho (Idaho Code § 37-2732(a)(1)(A) (1977); Missouri (Mo.Ann.Stat. § 195-200(1), (4) (Vernon Supp.1978); Montana (Mont.Rev.Codes Ann. § 54-132 (Supp.1977); Rhode Island (R.I. Gen.Laws § 21-28-4.01(A)(1) (Supp.1977), and Texas (Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 4476-15, § 4.03 (Vernon 1976).
The defense advances a forceful argument that the life sentence is disproportionate to the crime, especially since it makes no distinction among the various classes of distributors. The identical argument was made and rejected in Carmona v. Ward, supra. As emphasized in that...
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