State v. Lewis

Davis Lewis, Jr. appeals his sentence of three years imprisonment for shoplifting, asserting that his sentence was in *326excess of the statutory maximum penalty. We affirm.1

On June 29, 1995, Lewis was convicted at a bench trial for shoplifting a package of loose tobacco and two cigarette lighters. Lewis stipulated at trial that he had been convicted of shoplifting on at least two prior occasions.2 The trial judge sentenced Lewis to three years in prison. The trial judge gave Lewis the following reasons for his sentence:

I normally wouldn’t impose a long period of incarceration for someone…