Yeager v. State, 45226
| Decision Date | 19 July 1972 |
| Docket Number | No. 45226,45226 |
| Citation | 482 S.W.2d 637 |
| Parties | James Douglas McArthur YEAGER, Appellant v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee. |
| Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
Dan J. Anderson, Richardson, for appellant.
Henry Wade, Dist. Atty., James B. Scott, Asst. Dist. Atty., Dallas, Jim D. Vollers, State's Atty., and Robert A. Huttash, Asst. State's Atty., Austin, for the State.
The offense is murder with malice; the punishment, five hundred (500) years.
Appellant's sole ground of error is that his punishment is cruel and unusual within the meaning of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States and Article 1, Sec. 13, of the Constitution of Texas, Vernon's Ann.St. Specifically, he contends that Art. 1257, Vernon's Ann.P.C., provides for cruel and unusual punishment since it sets no limit on the number of years a jury may assess and conceivably permit sentences of 'one million' or more years. Alternatively, he suggests that the statute actually does not permit a sentence of 500 years. He claims that the wording of Article 1257, V.A.P.C., providing the punishment for murder as '. . . confinement in the penitentiary for life or for any term of years not less than two (2)' means that the jury may only assess life or a term of years less than a reasonable life expectancy but more than two (2).
Recently, in Sills v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 472 S.W.2d 119, 120, we dealt with a similar contention and concluded, as we do here, that a very long sentence:
See also Miller v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 465 S.W.2d 150.
Finding no reversible error, the judgment is affirmed.
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...limits set by the Legislature, as this is, that we will not disturb the jury's verdict. We abide by such ruling. Yeager v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 482 S.W.2d 637. Cf. Sills v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 472 S.W.2d Finding no reversible error, the judgment is affirmed. ...
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