A sentence of 12 years at hard labor without parole or probation for an aggravated crime against nature is excessive. A Louisiana appeals court overturned and remanded for a new hearing the sentence of a basketball coach convicted of soliciting a 13-year old for oral sex. The court stated that, under the facts of the case, a sentence exceeding seven and one half years would be constitutionally excessive.

The defendant was a basketball coach at the YMCA. His young victim played basketball at the YMCA gym, although the defendant was not his coach. According to the testimony of the sports director, the boy told her that "Coach Banks caught him in the dressing room, asked for oral sex, said he would pay him money." A unanimous jury convicted the coach, and the judge reserved harsh words for the man before him, telling him that, "[y]ou are supposed to be in a position of trust . . . the children are supposed to be able to look up to you . . . people like you that make parents have to teach their children not to trust anyone, their coach, their teacher." The judge ignored the sentencing guidelines and imposed his own harsh sentence. The defendant appealed, arguing among other things that the judge's sentence was excessive.

Solicitation alone, said the appellate court, is a "great deal less heinous crime" than what usually occurs under the crime against nature statute. In this case, sex did not take place and the victim was not pressured or threatened. The court concluded that the severity of the sentence shocked its sense of justice and failed to make a measurable contribution to acceptable penal goals.