Clarence J. Sutton v. State of Maryland Maryland House of Correction

CHAPMAN, Circuit Judge:

The district court granted a writ of habe-as corpus to Clarence J. Sutton, who has been convicted under the Maryland law of common assault, to the extent that his fifteen-year sentence exceeded ten years. Although no Maryland statutory assault was charged, the district court used the least aggravated form of statutory assault, that of assault with intent to maim, disfigure or disable, which has a maximum penalty of ten years, as the standard for deciding that Sutton’s sentence was a violation of the Eighth Amendment. The State of Maryland appeals and we reverse.

I

Clarence…