State v. Lawson

DeBRULER, Justice.

This is an appeal by the State from a judgment declaring Ind.Code § 85-12-1-1 (repealed) violative of the proscriptions of the Eighth Amendment and Art. I, § 16, of the Indiana Constitution against cruel and unusual punishments and of Art. I, § 18, of the Indiana Constitution requiring the penal code to be based upon principles of reformation and not vindictive justice. The deficiency in the statute was stated to be its prohibition against the suspension of the determinate sentence to be meted out upon conviction for committing or attempting to commit a felony while armed.

Upo…