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Appeals Court Says Sentence Excessive

Last updated on Monday, March 9, 2015

(KOKOMO) - The Indiana Court of Appeals says a judge who sentenced a man to 20 years in prison for selling 10 prescription pills to a police informant imposed an “inappropriate and excessive” sentence.

Friday's ruling orders Howard Superior Court Judge William Menges to resentence John Norris to 12 years, with eight years served in prison and four years suspended.

The Kokomo Tribune reports Norris pleaded guilty to one felony count of dealing a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school and public park for selling the hydrocodone painkillers to the police informant.

Menges sentenced the Kokomo man in October to the maximum 20-year sentence, with no time suspended to probation.

But the appeals court found that sentence "inappropriate and excessive" citing "the relatively innocuous nature of this offense."

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