Peoples v. State
Peoples v. State
Opinion
The appellant's probation was revoked and a two-year prison sentence placed into effect. This is an appeal from that revocation of probation.
Appellant had pleaded guilty to burglary and grand larceny. He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment but that sentence was suspended. Ninety days of his sentence was required to be served in the county jail and upon release the appellant was to be on supervised probation for a period of three years. The probation is understood to have begun on September 9, 1979 and was to have concluded on September 9, 1982.
After appellant was placed on probation, a charge was brought against him for forging or altering a drug prescription and he was placed in the Jacksonville, Alabama, jail. The judge who had originally placed the appellant on probation, thereupon had a warrant of arrest issued from the court directing the appellant's arrest and requiring him to be brought before the court to show cause why his probation should not be revoked. The arrest warrant was not executed until October 25, 1982. The appellant made bond three days later and a revocation hearing was held on December 16, 1982. At hearing the appellant was represented by counsel. Testimony at that hearing established that two officers of the Jacksonville Police Department served two warrants on the appellant on the evening of July 11, 1982, and at that time discovered him to be in possession of marijuana. The court revoked the appellant's probation on the grounds of violation of the Alabama Uniformed Controlled Substances Act, and the sentence of imprisonment was put into effect.
In this case, the probation revocation hearing was not held until December 16, 1982, after an October 25 arrest on a warrant issued on July 23. If revocation proceedings had not been initiated, the probation of the appellant would have concluded on September 9, 1982. Again, we hold that the issuance of the warrant of arrest for violation of probation tolled the running of the probationary period. Failure to hold the hearing until after the originally intended expiration date of the probationary term does not deprive the court of jurisdiction. To hold otherwise would invite probationers to leave this state until after the term of their probation and then return here with impunity. Certainly such a result was not intended.
All this is apparent from pages 28 and 29 of the reporter's transcript. Evidently there was also a contention that the appellant had been found guilty of some offense in Calhoun County on April 2, 1981, (R 29), but there was no legally acceptable proof made as to that, and the court declined to permit the conviction to be proved by hearsay. We must conclude that there was a report such as required by §
"Mr. Peoples, from the evidence that has been offered here today, this Court is reasonably satisfied by the evidence that you have been in possession of marijuana by the evidence offered to this Court.
"You have several other charges against you that have been a complete failure to prove, [sic] and this Court is not considering those. But I am going to consider the testimony of the officers that testified in here that the substance that they had, from their experience, was marijuana. For that reason, I am going to revoke your probation. So there will be an Order entered to that effect. Go with the Sheriff."
In addition, it is apparent that the minimal due process requirements of Armstrong v. State,
For the reasons stated above, this judgment should be, and hereby is, affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
All the Judges concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Robert A. Peoples v. State.
- Cited By
- 16 cases
- Status
- Published