Whitson v. State

PATTERSON, Retired Appellate Judge.

The appellant, Sandy Lewis Whitson, appeals his conviction for first-degree robbery and his sentence of life imprisonment.

The issues Whitson asserts on appeal can be understood only after a review of the unusual procedural history of this case. After three days of trial proceedings, a jury returned a guilty verdict against Whitson, on May 23, 2001, for first-degree robbery, and the trial court accepted that verdict.1 Pursuant to that verdict and because Whitson had four prior non-Class-A felony convictions, Whitson was subject to an enhanced sentence of…