Hartless v. Com.
| Decision Date | 23 February 1999 |
| Docket Number | Record No. 0433-98-3. |
| Citation | 29 Va. App. 172,510 S.E.2d 738 |
| Court | Virginia Court of Appeals |
| Parties | Dennis James HARTLESS v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia. |
Elizabeth P. Murtagh, Assistant Public Defender, for appellant.
H. Elizabeth Shaffer, Assistant Attorney General (Mark L. Earley, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.
Present: FITZPATRICK, C.J., WILLIS and BUMGARDNER, JJ.
On appeal from his conviction of indecent exposure, in violation of Code § 18.2-387, Dennis James Hartless contends that the trial court abused its discretion in sentencing him to an indefinite term of probation. He argues further that his sentence violated his Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment. We modify Hartless's term of probation to be coterminous with his term of suspension of sentence. We affirm the judgment of the trial court thus modified.
Hartless pled guilty to indecent exposure, in violation of Code § 18.2-387. The trial court sentenced him to serve twelve months in jail, with two months suspended upon the following conditions:
This case is governed by two statutes. Code § 19.2-303 provides, in pertinent part:
After conviction, ... the court may suspend... the sentence in whole or part and in addition may place the accused on probation under such conditions as the court shall determine....
Code § 19.2-306 provides, in pertinent part:
The court may, for any cause deemed by it sufficient which occurred at any time within the probation period, or if none, within the period of suspension fixed by the court, or if neither, within the maximum period for which the defendant might originally have been sentenced to be imprisoned, revoke the suspension of sentence and any probation....
Code § 19.2-303 grants a trial court the authority to fix reasonable terms and conditions for the suspension of execution of a sentence, including the imposition of probation. See Nuckoles v. Commonwealth, 12 Va.App. 1083, 1085-86, 407 S.E.2d 355, 356 (1991)
. "The only limitation placed upon the discretion of the trial court in its determination of what conditions are to be imposed is that a condition be `reasonable.'" Dyke v. Commonwealth, 193 Va. 478, 484, 69 S.E.2d 483, 486 (1952).
A court's ability to revoke the suspension of a sentence and to impose that sentence permits it to enforce a probationary requirement as a condition of suspension. To be effective, probation must be concurrent with a coordinate term of suspension of sentence.
Code § 19.2-306 governs the ability of a court to revoke the suspension of a sentence. In the absence of a specified...
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Fazili v. Commonwealth
...from solitary confinement in a maximum-security facility to a few hours of mandatory community service."); Hartless v. Commonwealth, 29 Va. App. 172, 175, 510 S.E.2d 738 (1999) (recognizing that the alternative to probation is the imposition of the court’s sentence). Nor does a convicted de......
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...with a coordinate term of suspension of [post-release confinement]" ordered pursuant to Code § 18.2-10. See Hartless v. Commonwealth, 29 Va. App. 172, 175, 510 S.E.2d 738, 739 (1999) (applying these principles in the context of probation). Logically, the court's "ability to revoke the suspe......
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...held that, "To be effective, probation must be concurrent with a coordinate term of suspension of sentence." Hartless v. Commonwealth, 29 Va. App. 172, 175, 510 S.E.2d 738 (1999) (emphasis added). In Hartless, the circuit court sentenced the defendant to serve twelve months in jail with two......
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