State v. Smith

Pope, Judge.

Defendant Smith was convicted of 13 counts of armed robbery, three counts of kidnapping, and one count of aggravated assault. During sentencing, the trial court, over objection by the State, merged the armed robbery convictions into four counts, one for each of the four locations where the robberies had occurred. The defendant was thereupon sentenced to four concurrent life terms, to be followed by four concurrent 20-year terms. Before us now is a direct appeal by the State from the sentencing order, as well as a cross-appeal by the defendant which is directed to the merits of his…