State v. Ahearn

MEYER, Justice.

Because this case presents us with our first opportunity to fully discuss the policies, purposes, and implementation of the new “Fair Sentencing Act,” we find it appropriate to discuss the issues presented in the context of the historical background of the Act and to set out pertinent portions of the statute. 1 In response to a perceived need for certainty in sentencing, to a perceived evil of disparate sentencing, and to a perceived problem in affording trial judges and parole authorities unbridled discretion in imposing sentences, Governor James B. Hunt, Jr., urged the…