Roger Trenton Davis was sentenced in Virginia to two consecutive 20-year terms and $20,000 in fines for possessing with intent to distribute, and distributing, about nine ounces of marihuana. A federal district court had found the sentence so grossly disproportionate as to be cruel and unusual. The Supreme Court reversed in a per curiam opinion, holding that its precedent in Rummel v. Estelle controlled. Justice Powell concurred while calling the sentence "unjust and disproportionate to the offense"; Justice Brennan, dissenting with Marshall and Stevens, called the ruling a "patent abuse of our judicial power".[1]
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References
- Hutto v. Davis, 454 U.S. 370 (1982)Supreme Court of the United States · 1982archived
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