State Ex Rel. Nixon v. Russell

MICHAEL A. WOLFF, Judge.

Introductory Summary

Harold Estes pleaded guilty in 1999 and received sentences totaling ten years on ten counts of unlawful merchandising practices, a nonviolent class D felony. A 2003 statute allows an offender convicted of a nonviolent class C or D felony, who has no prior prison commitments, to petition the sentencing court — after the offender has served 120 days — to serve the remainder of the sentence on “probation, parole, or other court-approved alternative sentence.” Section 558.016.8, RSMo Supp. 2003.

The question presented here is whether this 2003 statute…