Zack Cozar v. State of Mississippi

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI

BEAM, JUSTICE,

FOR THE COURT:

¶ 1. Following a three-day jury trial in DeSoto County, Mississippi, defendant Zachary Cozart was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to thirty years in the custody of in the Mississippi Department of Corrections, pursuant to Mississippi Code Section 97-3-25(b) (Rev. 2014). Cozart appealed, arguing error in violation of the state’s Ex Post Facto Clause. The Court of Appeals found that, although Section 97-3-25(b) was not enacted until after the defendant’s crime, Cozart waived any objection to the harsher sentence when he agreed to a…