Word: helm
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...vote, the court ruled explicitly for the first time that the mere length of a prisoner's sentence can be so excessive, considering the crime committed, that it violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on "cruel and unusual punishments." Jerry Helm, 36, was convicted in 1979 in South Dakota of passing a bad check for $100. The crime ordinarily carries a maximum sentence of five years and a fine of $5,000. But Helm had six prior felony convictions (three for burglary, one for grand larceny, one for obtaining money under false pretenses and one for drunk driving...
...tossing out the sentence, the court noted that all of Helm's crimes were relatively minor, that none involved violence and that the punishment he received was the same or stiffer than that imposed in the state for far more serious crimes. The decision may prompt judges to be less draconian in sentencing small-tune offenders, but civil liberties lawyers expect no flood of petitions from current prisoners, in part because most state sentences cannot be challenged after 120 to 200 days...
While upperclassmen sat at the helm of almost all undergraduate publications, this year saw the birth and demise of another newspaper by and for freshmen...
Harvard crew is back--with a new generation of oarsmen rowing against new and tougher rivals. And Harry Parker, skipper of the Crimson dynasty, is still at the helm...
...guided one of the largest ships afloat through eight months and 46,500 uneventful miles at sea. Suddenly Captain Robert J. Kelly, at the helm of the carrier U.S.S. Enterprise and a mere 1,700 yds. from voyage's end in San Francisco Bay, felt what he called "a very deep feeling in the pit of my stomach." His 1,123-ft.-long, 75,700-ton nuclear-powered vessel had veered out of its 42-ft.-deep channel and slid to a stop in 29 ft. of water...