Sutherland v. State
| Decision Date | 25 January 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 58145,58145 |
| Citation | 537 So.2d 1360 |
| Parties | Stephen A. SUTHERLAND v. STATE of Mississippi. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Luke J. Schissel, Caroline R. Moore, Greenwood, for appellant.
Mike Moore, Atty. Gen. by Deirdre D. McCrory, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.
Before DAN M. LEE, P.J., and PRATHER and SULLIVAN, JJ.
Stephen Allen Sutherland was indicted in the Leflore County Circuit Court for the capital murder of Travis O. Biddle, a Rankin County peace officer while acting in his official capacity as deputy sheriff and with knowledge that the victim was a police officer under Miss.Code Ann. Sec. 97-3-19(2)(a) (Supp.1988). Additionally, Sutherland was indicted as an habitual criminal offender under Miss. Code Ann. Sec. 99-19-81 (Supp.1988).
At the conclusion of the guilt/innocent phase of the bifurcated trial, the jury returned a verdict of guilty to the charge of capital murder. The jury, at the conclusion of the sentencing phase, returned a verdict of life imprisonment. From this conviction of capital murder and verdict of life imprisonment, there are no assigned errors raised on this appeal.
Finally, the trial court conducted a sentencing hearing on the habitual offender portion of the indictment. Sutherland was found to be a recidivist under Miss.Code Ann. Sec. 99-19-81 (Supp.1988) and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
From this sentence, Sutherland appeals, assigning the following error:
The court erred in sentencing the appellant to a term of life imprisonment without parole under Sec. 99-19-81 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended.
Stephen Allen Sutherland had been convicted of grand larceny in Rankin County on February 3, 1986, and sentenced to the Mississippi Department of Corrections for a term of five (5) years. From that conviction and sentence, on February 6, 1986, Stephen Allen Sutherland, together with Marvin Edward Hoover, and Mary J. Hitt, were being transported from the Rankin County Jail to the State Penitentiary at Parchman by Rankin County Deputy Sheriff, Travis O. Biddle, to serve these sentences.
While enroute to Parchman on Highway 8, West of the town of Minter City in Leflore County, Mississippi, Deputy Biddle was strangled and shot, allegedly by Hoover and Sutherland, and all three escaped in the Rankin County Sheriff's Office automobile. The three were arrested a few hours later. Each was indicted for capital murder, grand larceny and escape in Leflore County Circuit Court.
As indicated previously, Sutherland was convicted of capital murder, and received a life sentence from the jury. The habitual offender sentencing phase followed, and the State's proof followed the indictments.
The indictment alleged that Stephen Allen Sutherland had been convicted of the crime of grand larceny in the Circuit Court of Hancock County, Mississippi, on October 15, 1980, and had been sentenced to serve a term of five (5) years, and further alleged that appellant had been convicted of the crime of grand larceny in the Circuit Court of Jones County, Mississippi, on January 24, 1984, and sentenced to serve a term of two (2) years.
At the sentencing hearing on September 16, 1986, the State put on proof as to the convictions in Hancock County and Jones County. The State also put on proof as to a conviction for grand larceny in Rankin County, Mississippi, on February 3, 1986, for which appellant was sentenced to a term of five (5) years. After this hearing, the court determined that Sutherland was an habitual offender within the meaning of M.C.A. Sec. 99-19-81 (Supp.1988). Sutherland was then sentenced to life imprisonment without parole by the court.
On the appellant's designation of the record for the purpose of this appeal, his counsel designated only the habitual criminal sentencing phase, as there were no errors assigned from the other portions of the bifurcated trial. For this reason, the above record is all that is transcribed for this appeal.
Appellant was indicted as an habitual offender within the meaning of M.C.A. Sec. 99-19-81 (Supp.1988), which provides as follows:
Every person convicted in this state of a felony who shall have been convicted twice previously of any felony or federal crime upon charges separately brought and arising out of separate incidents at different times and who shall have been sentenced to separate terms of one (1) year or more in any state and/or federal penal institution, whether in this state or elsewhere, shall be sentenced to the maximum term of imprisonment prescribed for such felony, and such sentence shall not be reduced or suspended nor shall such person be eligible for parole or probation. (Emphasis added).
However, M.C.A. Sec. 99-19-83 (Supp.1988) mandates the following additional requirement that "any one (1) of such felonies shall have been a crime of violence shall be sentenced to life imprisonment, and such sentence shall not be reduced or suspended nor shall such person be eligible for parole or probation." (Emphasis added).
Appellant, Sutherland, contends that taken together Sec. 99-19-81 and Sec. 99-19-83 create a legislative "hole" causing a constitutional problem of depriving particular defendants of equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, Section 1.
Section 99-19-83, Miss.Code Ann., which mandates a life sentence, requires proof of prior conviction and sentence of felony crimes of violence. Section 99-19-81 requires only proof of prior felony convictions and sentence of one (1) year. Sutherland asserts that the two habitual offender statutes taken together create a special classification impermissible under the Fourteenth Amendment in that only those convicted of murder, rape, or kidnapping can be sentenced to life without parole without proof of a prior conviction of a crime of violence.
Under this scheme, a person convicted of...
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Handley v. State
...99-19-83. See Perkins v. Cabana, 794 F.2d 168, cert. den. 479 U.S. 936, 107 S.Ct. 414, 93 L.Ed.2d 366 (5th Cir.1986); Sutherland v. State, 537 So.2d 1360 (Miss.1989); Davis v. State, 510 So.2d 794 (Miss.1987); Bandy v. State, 495 So.2d 486 (Miss.1986); Jackson v. State, 483 So.2d 1353 (Miss......
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Hoover v. State
...and sentenced to life in August, 1986. His conviction and sentence were upheld by this Court on January 25, 1989. Sutherland v. State, 537 So.2d 1360 (Miss.1989). Marvin Edward Hoover was tried and convicted of capital murder on December 4, 1989. Following the bifurcated sentencing hearing ......
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Magee v. State, 1998-CP-01800-COA.
...Cir.1992); Handley v. State, 574 So.2d 671, 680 (Miss.1990) (citing Perkins v. Cabana, 794 F.2d 168 (5th Cir.1986)); Sutherland v. State, 537 So.2d 1360, 1362 (Miss.1989)). VI. Whether the Lower Court Improperly Involved Itself in the Plea Bargaining ¶ 16. Magee's next assignment of error s......
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Kelley v. State, 2003-CP-02172-COA.
...did not preclude addressing this issue, the constitutionality of this statute has been repeatedly tested. See e.g. Sutherland v. State, 537 So.2d 1360, 1362 (Miss.1989). This issue is without merit, and the circuit court did not err in summarily dismissing ¶ 7. Kelley additionally contends ......