State v. Davis

RODOWSKY, Judge.

In Solem v. Helm, 463 U.S. 277, 103 S.Ct. 3001, 77 L.Ed.2d 637 (1983), the Supreme Court held that the sentence of life imprisonment, without parole, imposed under the facts of that case, violated the principle of proportionality embraced within the eighth amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments. In the case before us Drexel Otto Davis (Davis) was sentenced to life imprisonment, without parole, after having been convicted of housebreaking for at least the fourth, separate time. On appeal to the Court of Special Appeals Davis invoked Helm, in addition to…