Sterling v. United States

TERRY, Associate Judge:

This is an appeal from an order denying appellant’s motion to reduce sentence. Appellant pleaded guilty to second-degree murder1 and was sentenced to a term of thirteen to forty-five years in prison. Shortly after he entered Lorton Reformatory, appellant was stabbed in the back in an unprovoked attack by another prisoner. As a result of his injuries, he is now permanently paralyzed from the waist down and will spend the rest of his life in a wheel chair.

On February 12,1985, appellant, through counsel, filed a timely motion to reduce sentence.2 In the motion counsel…