Oh, My

This was discussed here yesterday. I thought the punishment phase would be "interesting." It was but in a way I didn't expect. The jury sentenced the guy to 10 years on each count but Judge Elizabeth Berry decided to stack one of the 10 year sentences on top of the others creating a 20 years sentence. (Story.)

The "stacking" issue has always disturbed me. The judge has absolute discretion to stack the sentences in this situation, but the jury is never told this. I would think that if they wanted to give him 20 they would have said 20.

Edit: On the parole issue, the jury was instructed that a defendant charged with this sort of crime is not eligible for parole until 1/2 of his sentence is served. Then they are instructed that they are not to consider that law when assessing punishment against this particular defendant. And it is one screwed up law.