Howard v. Kentucky
Annotate this CaseAppellant Donald Howard entered an open guilty plea to five counts of first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance, second offense. He was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment with a $1,000 fine on each count with two counts running consecutively for a maximum twenty-year total sentence. He appealed, arguing that the trial court's imposition of the statutory maximum sentence was unconstitutional and that the court erred by imposing a partial fee to the public defender and court costs. After review, the Supreme Court held that the trial court did not err in sentencing Howard, assessing court costs, or imposing a partial fee for the public defender. The Court agreed, however, that the trial court erred by imposing the criminal fines, so the criminal fines imposed in the judgment were vacated and the matter remanded back to the trial court for entry of a conforming judgment.
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