Sisson v. State, 56738
| Decision Date | 19 February 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 56738,56738 |
| Citation | 483 So.2d 1338 |
| Parties | Melanie A. SISSON v. STATE of Mississippi. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Falton O. Mason, Jr., Oxford, for appellant.
Edwin Lloyd Pittman, Atty. Gen. by Wayne Snuggs, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.
Before WALKER, P.J., and DAN M. LEE and ROBERTSON, JJ.
This case presents the question whether, after the running of the period for which execution of a sentence of imprisonment in a criminal case has been suspended, the circuit court has power to order service of the imposed but suspended sentence.
On April 7, 1981, upon her plea of guilty to an indictment charging burglary of a dwelling, Melanie A. Sisson was sentenced by the Circuit Court of Lafayette County, inter alia, to a term of three (3) years imprisonment. The sentencing order that day entered, however, provided
The Court hereby suspends the execution of the above sentence for a period of three (3) years.... Serve three (3) years on probation. 1
On December 20, 1984, some three years, 135 days following the original sentencing order, Sisson allegedly committed an aggravated assault upon a law enforcement officer. In due course the State petitioned for revocation of the suspension of Sisson's theretofore imposed sentence, and the Circuit Court committed Sisson to the custody of the Department of Corrections for service thereof. Sisson appeals to this Court arguing that the Circuit Court's authority to order service of the August 7, 1981 sentence terminated at the end of the three year suspension period. We agree and reverse.
Miss.Code Ann. Sec. 47-7-33 (1972) vests in the circuit court, upon appropriate findings and conditions, the power "to suspend the imposition or execution of sentence, and place the defendant on any such probation as herein provided, ...." The period of probation shall not exceed five years, except in circumstances not relevant here. Miss.Code Ann. Sec. 47-7-37 (1972). The suspension period may be such term as the court may order and may certainly be less than five years where the circuit judge deems such shorter period appropriate.
In the case at bar the August, 1981 order provided that three year sentence was imposed, only that the execution of the sentence be suspended for a like period of three years. See Leonard v. State, 271 So.2d 445, 447 (Miss.1973). The only sensible reading of this language is that within three years of August 7, 1981, the circuit court, upon proper conditions, retained the authority to revoke the suspension and order service of the previously imposed three...
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Bennett v. State, 57496
...of a suspended sentence from three to five years after expiration of the three years period as beyond their authority. Sisson v. State, 483 So.2d 1338 (Miss.1986). In Wallace v. State, 466 So.2d 900 (Miss.1985), this Court explains, "In order for a plea of former jeopardy to avail, it must ......
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Norwood v. State
...there are circumstances wherein a court does retain the authority to correct clerical errors in its orders...." Sisson v. State, 483 So.2d 1338, 1339 (Miss. 1986). In addition, a trial "court does have inherent power to correct judgments obtained through fraud, accident or mistake, which is......
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Fields v. State, 2001-CP-00880-COA.
...retained the authority to correct clerical errors in its orders. Williams v. State, 583 So.2d 620, 625 (Miss.1991); Sisson v. State, 483 So.2d 1338, 1339 (Miss. 1986). In entering the amended judgments, the court acted within its inherent authority "to correct clerical errors ... and to mak......
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Harvey v. State
...the term of that sentence has "expire[d] without the occurrence of conditions justifying revocation of the suspension," Sisson v. State, 483 So.2d 1338, 1339 (Miss.1986), such are not the facts of the case before us. The October 31, 1997 written sentencing order provided that Harvey was sen......