State v. Chase in Winter

Pursuant to a plea agreement, Fabian Curtis Chase in Winter (Chase in Winter) pled guilty but mentally ill to kidnapping, SDCL 22-19-1(3), and aggravated assault, SDCL 22-18-1.1(5). The seven remaining counts * of the information were dismissed. He was sentenced to serve two hundred years in the penitentiary on the kidnapping conviction and a concurrent fifteen years on the aggravated assault conviction.

On appeal, Chase in Winter contends that the two-hundred-year sentence is an abuse of discretion and violates the Eighth Amendment’s proscription against cruel and unusual punishment. We…