BARNES, Presiding Judge.
Christopher Terrance Middleton appeals from the trial court's order denying his motion to correct a void sentence. He contends that his sentence was void as a matter of law because it violated the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
The record reflects that in August 1998, Middleton pled guilty to one count of armed robbery, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of kidnapping, and one count of theft by taking. The charges arose after Middleton physically and sexually attacked a 54-year-old female victim and stole her car and money from her purse on September 14, 1997. Middleton was 14 years old when he attacked and robbed the victim.
Following Middleton's guilty plea, the trial court sentenced him to a twenty-year prison term for kidnapping and to a consecutive ten-year prison term for armed robbery, for a total of thirty years imprisonment. The court sentenced him to concurrent prison terms on the remaining counts. Pursuant to OCGA § 17-10-6.1, Middleton's 30-year sentence was without parole.
In November 2010, Middleton filed his motion to correct a void sentence, contending that his sentencing as a juvenile to 30 years imprisonment without the possibility of parole violated the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment found in the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. He argued that his sentence was void under the reasoning of the United State Supreme Court's recent decision of Graham v. Florida, ___ U.S. ___, 130 S.Ct. 2011, 176 L.Ed.2d 825 (2010). The trial court denied the motion,
For a court to find a punishment so disproportionate as to be cruel and unusual under the Eighth Amendment, the punishment must fall within one of two classifications. See Graham, ___ U.S. at ___ (II), 130 S.Ct. at 2021-2022. First, a punishment may be unconstitutionally cruel and unusual in the rare circumstance where the defendant's sentence is "grossly disproportionate" to the underlying crime. Id. at ___ (II), 130 S.Ct. at 2022. Second, a punishment is unconstitutionally cruel and unusual if it violates certain narrow "categorical restrictions" enunciated by the United States Supreme Court. Graham, ___ U.S. at ___ (II), 130 S.Ct. at 2021-2022. See, e.g., Kennedy v. Louisiana, 554 U.S. 407, 413, 128 S.Ct. 2641, 171 L.Ed.2d 525 (2008) (Eighth Amendment prohibits imposing death penalty upon defendants "where the crime did not result, and was not intended to result, in death of the victim"); Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551, 568(III)(B), 125 S.Ct. 1183, 161 L.Ed.2d 1 (2005) (Eighth Amendment prohibits imposing death penalty upon a juvenile offender); Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304, 321(IV), 122 S.Ct. 2242, 153 L.Ed.2d 335 (2002) (Eighth Amendment prohibits imposing death penalty upon mentally retarded defendants).
Most recently, in Graham, the United States adopted a categorical restriction against "the imposition of a life without parole sentence on a juvenile offender who did not commit homicide." Graham, ___ U.S. at ___ (III)(D), 130 S.Ct. at 2034. The Court explained that "[a] State need not guarantee the offender eventual release, but if it imposes a sentence of life it must provide him or her with some realistic opportunity to obtain release before the end of that term." Id.
Middleton's sole argument before the trial court was that his sentence violated the categorical restriction imposed in Graham. But the juvenile offender in Graham was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, whereas Middleton was sentenced to a definite term of years without the possibility of parole. And as our own Supreme Court recently emphasized, "nothing in [Graham] affects the imposition of a sentence to a term of years without the possibility of parole." (Citation and punctuation omitted.) Adams v. State, 288 Ga. 695, 701(4), 707 S.E.2d 359 (2011). Thus, the categorical restriction imposed in Graham is inapplicable to the present case, and the trial court committed no error in denying Middleton's motion to correct a void sentence.
Judgment affirmed.
ADAMS and BLACKWELL, JJ., concur.