Nichols v. State

¶ 1. On May 11, 2000, Douglas Nichols (Nichols) was tried by a jury in the Circuit Court of Leake County, Mississippi, the Honorable Marcus D. Gordon, presiding, for the crime of burglary of a business pursuant to Miss. Code Ann. § 97-17-33 (2000). The jury found Nichols guilty, and the court sentenced him to pay a $3,000 fine and court costs and to serve a term of seven years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. From that conviction and sentence, Nichols appeals to this Court and raises the following issue: whether the trial court abused its discretion in sentencing…