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Published by the Indiana Office of Court Services

Cross v. State, No. 73A01-1303-CR-134, __ N.E.2d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Nov. 6, 2013).

November 7, 2013 Filed Under: Criminal Tagged With: Appeals, C. Bradford

Bradford, J.
Moreover, we find Cross’s claim that the Class A felony classifications should be found to be disproportionate in light of the upcoming overhaul to the criminal classifications and sentencing structure, which has been approved by the General Assembly in House Enrolled Act 1006, to be unpersuasive. The upcoming overhaul to the criminal classifications and sentencing structure is scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2014. Nothing in House Enrolled Act 1006 suggests that the overhaul of the criminal classifications and sentencing structure should apply retroactively. To the contrary, House Enrolled Act 1006 indicates that crimes committed before July 1, 2014, should be charged and sentenced pursuant to the old classifications and sentencing structure. See HEA 1006 § 652. This language falls in line with the controlling Indiana precedent that states that courts must sentence defendants under the statute in effect at the time the defendant committed the offense. See Jacobs v. State, 835 N.E.2d 485, 491 n.7 (Ind. 2005).
Cross claims that by approving the overhaul, the General Assembly has shown that it believes that the Class A felony classifications were disproportionate because, under the criminal classifications and sentence structure that takes effect on July 1, 2014, dealing in cocaine and possession of cocaine will no longer qualify as the highest level of felonies in Indiana. We disagree. The overhaul of criminal classifications and sentence structure did not only affect drug crimes, but all crimes. As such, we believe that the overhaul represents a broad “revamp” of Indiana’s criminal system, not a statement regarding the proportionality of one singular criminal offense. Cross has failed to demonstrate that the Class A felony classifications of his act of possessing more than three grams of cocaine within 1000 feet of a youth program center with the intent to deliver constitutes a “clear constitutional infirmity,” and, accordingly, we reject Cross’s proportionality claim.
BAILEY, J., and MAY, J., concur.

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