State v. Wilkerson
State v. Wilkerson
Opinion of the Court
It was held in Wade v. State, 231 Ga. 131, 134 (200 SE2d 271) (1973): “Code § 27-2510 provides that where a person is convicted on several counts of a multi-count indictment and sentenced to imprisonment, such sentences shall be served concurrently unless otherwise expressly provided therein.” Based on that statute and on the law then in effect for two-step trial procedures, the court held that the trial court had no authority to change the sentence fixed by the jury, and the jury “must prescribe the sentence to be served on each count,” where there is a multi-count indictment. Wade thus stood for the proposition that where a jury failed to specify consecutive sentences, all sentences were concurrent, and the judge had no authority to change them to consecutive sentences, thus increasing the punishment.
The present case is controlled by Dilas. The appellant could have been sentenced to a maximum of 20 years on the burglary count alone, plus two misdemeanors, a felony theft and assorted other delinquencies. That conviction was never appealed, and the defendant entered upon the service of the probated sentence. On the hearing of the petition to revoke the question was not whether the sentence as entered was technically correct, but whether such sentence “could legally have been imposed.” Since the sentence could have been legally imposed, the trial court erred in holding the sentence void and returning the original case to its court of origin for resentencing.
Judgment reversed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- State v. WILKERSON
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published