State v. Wyne

MILLER, Justice:

This is an appeal of a life recidivist conviction from the Circuit Court of Braxton County entered on April 15, 1994, pursuant to W.Va.Code, 61-11-18(e) (1994).1 Two errors are alleged. The first is whether in a life recidivist trial it is necessary for the State to prove the underlying or triggering felony conviction that gave rise to the recidivist charge in addition to the prior felony convictions. The second error is whether the offenses giving rise to the life recidivist sentence were sufficiently non-violent to violate our constitutional proportionality principle.

In…