Citation

Georges H, Blue M. J. Am. Acad. Psychiatry Law 2013; 41(2): 304-306.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, Publisher American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

In Sanders v. State, 63 So.3d 497 (Miss. 2011), the Mississippi Supreme Court agreed with the decision of the appellate court and affirmed the conviction and sentence of Mr. Sanders. The court rejected each claim made by Mr. Sanders and affirmed the circuit court's judgment in suspending his confinement to the psychiatric state hospital on Count I until completion of his life sentence for his conviction on Count II. With regard to his claim that the verdict was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence, the court cited the United States Supreme Court's precedent in United States v. Powell (469 U.S. 57 (1984)) for the proposition that "consistency in the verdict is not necessary. Each count in an indictment is regarded as if it was a separate indictment" (Powell, p 62). The court ruled that the trial court properly exercised its discretion in requiring Mr. Sanders first to serve his mandatory life sentence before his term of an indefinite confinement in a mental institution.

Language: en