King v. Mississippi
Annotate this CaseAfter a federal court declared Mack Arthur King ineligible for the death penalty under "Atkins v. Virginia," the circuit court sentenced him to life without parole. King filed a motion objecting to being sentenced to life without parole, arguing that the only sentencing options available at the time he committed the crime were death and life. He argued that 1994 sentencing amendments which added life without parole as a sentencing option for capital murder could not properly be applied to him, because they would have violated the ex post facto clauses of the United States and Mississippi Constitutions. He also argued that his due-process rights would be violated if the circuit court applied Mississippi Code Section 99-19-107 to him. After review, the Supreme Court found that because Section 99-19-107 did not apply when an individual’s death sentence was rendered unconstitutional, King had to be resentenced to life, since death and life were the only two sentencing options available at the time he was convicted and originally sentenced. King’s sentence was vacated, and the case remanded for resentencing.
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