Thompson v. State, 0-79-88
| Decision Date | 07 November 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 0-79-88,0-79-88 |
| Citation | 620 P.2d 422 |
| Parties | Roger Dale THOMPSON, Appellant, v. The STATE of Oklahoma, Appellee. |
| Court | United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma |
Roger Dale Thompson has appealed the revocation of his suspended sentence by the District Court, Pontotoc County, Case No. CRF-73-113. Since this appeal presents jurisdictional and procedural questions and does not involve matters concerning the revocation hearing itself, it is unnecessary to discuss the evidence presented therein.
The appellant was convicted and sentenced on March 1, 1974, to serve four (4) years, with said sentence to be suspended provided he comply with all terms of his probation. On February 28, 1978, one day prior to the expiration of the suspended sentence, an application to revoke the suspended sentence was filed with the District Court. An additional copy of the original application to revoke was filed on March 21, 1978, and the court issued thereon an order for a preliminary hearing. On April 7, 1978, a warrant for the appellant's arrest was issued, which was executed on May 9, 1978. A preliminary hearing was held on May 19, 1978. A revocation hearing was held on July 28, 1978. Sufficient evidence was presented and, consequently, the appellant's suspended sentence was revoked. The appellant has not perfected this appeal.
The appellant alleges that the District Court did not have jurisdiction over him on the date of the hearing and, thus, erred in revoking his suspended sentence. Laws 1976, c. 160, § 2, which was in effect at the time of the revocation, provided:
Whenever a sentence has been suspended by the court after conviction of a person for any crime, the suspended sentence of said person may not be revoked, in whole or in part, for any cause unless a petition setting forth the grounds for such revocation is filed by the district attorney with the clerk of the sentencing court and competent evidence justifying the revocation of said suspended sentence is presented to the court at a hearing to be held for that purpose within ten (10) days after the date of arrest. 1
The appellant contends that filing a petition for revocation prior to the expiration of a suspended sentence is insufficient to extend the court's jurisdiction beyond that date. He also alleges that it is mandatory that the court issue either an order for hearing or a warrant for arrest prior to the expiration of the suspended sentence in order to extend its jurisdiction.
The appellant admits the statute does not "directly" require the court to do either act. He bases his proposition, however, on the theory of legislative intent. The appellant interprets the ten-day requirement for a hearing after arrest to implicitly compel the immediate action by the court also upon the filing of the petition to revoke.
This is not a viable argument since it requires imposing additional requirements onto a clear and unambiguous statute. In Abshire v. State, Okl.Cr., 551 P.2d 273 (1976), this Court stated that a statute must be interpreted according to its plain expression: there is no room for construction or interpretation when the language is clear and unambiguous.
In addition, case law does not mandate the issuance of an order for hearing or a warrant for arrest in order to extend jurisdiction beyond the expiration date of a suspended sentence. As this Court said in Degraffenreid v. State, Okl.Cr., 599 P.2d 1107 (1979), the effective date in a revocation proceeding is when the application is filed. And in Barthiume v. State, Okl.Cr., 549 P.2d 366 (1976), the ...
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