Cotton v. State

In Cotton v. State, 256 Ark. 527, 508 S.W.2d 738 (1974) the jury made a finding that the defendant had used a firearm in committing robbery and imposed a sentence of twenty-one years. After the jury was dismissed, the judge added an additional seven years imprisonment to the sentence. The court held: "Here, though the jury did reply affirmatively to the interrogatory submitted as to whether Cotton used a firearm, the jury did not render the punishment therefor, the seven years being added by the court. This constituted error. Accordingly, this portion of the judgment must be reversed for two reasons. First, the Information did not contain a charge against Cotton of using a firearm in the robbery, and second, the jury did not fix the amount of time to be imposed for violation of this statute." (Cotton v. State, 256 Ark. at 530, 508 S.W.2d at 741.)