Steven Clippinger v. State of Indiana

Summary

The Indiana Supreme Court held that Indiana law permits consecutive sentences of life imprisonment without parole under Indiana Code section 35-50-1-2(c). Although the trial court's revised sentencing order inadequately addressed the required aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the court independently reweighed them and imposed two consecutive life-without-parole sentences for murder. The court also affirmed the consecutive twenty-year sentence for possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon.

Holdings

1. A sentence of life imprisonment without parole is a 'term of imprisonment' under Indiana Code section 35-50-1-2(c), and the statute therefore authorizes consecutive life-without-parole sentences.
2. The revised sentencing order remained inadequate because it considered nonstatutory aggravating factors in imposing the life-without-parole sentences, but the error could be remedied by the Supreme Court's independent reweighing of the aggravating and mitigating circumstances.
3. The challenge to the subsequent sentencing hearing was moot because the trial court issued a revised sentencing order after the Supreme Court's remand and no new issue was presented concerning that order.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Indiana Code section 35-50-1-2(c) authorizes a trial court to impose consecutive sentences of life imprisonment without parole.
2. Whether the trial court's revised sentencing order adequately identified and evaluated the aggravating and mitigating circumstances required for a sentence of life without parole.
3. Whether the trial court improperly conducted a further sentencing hearing after initially imposing life-without-parole sentences.

Disposition

affirmed