State v. Johnson
State v. Johnson
Opinion of the Court
This appeal follows the revocation of defendant’s probation and involves the au
The trial court sought to suspend the imposition of sentence for the offense of unauthorized use of a movable under authority of La.C.Cr.P. Art. 894(A). That article provides in pertinent part:
“When a defendant has been convicted of a misdemeanor, except criminal neglect of family, the court may suspend the imposition or the execution of the whole, or any part of the sentence imposed and place the defendant on unsupervised probation upon such conditions as the court may fix, where suspension is not prohibited under the law. Such suspension of sentence and probation shall be for a period of one year or such shorter period as the court may specify.” [Emphasis supplied].
Although lawful in a felony case such as simply burglary, La.C.Cr.P. Art. 893, the five-year probationary period imposed by the trial court for the misdemean- or offense exceeded its authority under Art. 894(A). In addition, defendant’s revocation in February, 1980, clearly did not take place within the one-year limit established by Art. 894(A). As the maximum lawful period of probation had run before defendant’s revocation, the trial court lacked any basis for imposing sentence on the misdemeanor offense. Cf. La.C.Cr.P. Art. 898.
Accordingly, we affirm defendant’s convictions and his sentence to nine years’ imprisonment at hard labor for the simple burglary offense. The sentence for the unauthorized use of a movable, however, is vacated and set aside.
We have held that a defendant has no right of appeal from the revocation of probation. State v. Manuel 349 So.2d 882 (La. 1977). In this case, however, the trial court did not impose the sentences challenged here until after it revoked defendant’s probation. In addition, defendant does not dispute the merits of the underlying revocation proceeding. For these reasons, we have therefore treated defendant’s complaint here as an appeal rather than an application for supervisory writs.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.