Craig D. Sallie v. State of Mississippi
Craig D. Sallie v. State of Mississippi
Opinion of the Court
¶ 1. Craig Sallie was charged with one count of aggravated assault for shooting Gregory Johnson in the back and one count of possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. A Madison County jury found Sallie guilty of both counts, and the circuit court sentenced him to twenty years and ten years, respectively, with sentences to run concurrently in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC). The circuit court also sentenced Sallie to an additional ten years pursuant to the firearm-enhancement statute under Mississippi Code Section 97-37-37 (Rev. 2014), with that sentence to run consecutively to the other sentences, for a total sentence of thirty years in the MDOC. The Court of Appeals affirmed.
Sallie v. State
,
¶ 2. On writ of certiorari, a majority of this Court found "Sallie was not given adequate pretrial notice that an enhanced punishment would be sought until after his conviction," which violated his right to due process.
Sallie v. State
,
¶ 3. On remand, the circuit court restructured Sallie's remaining sentences to run consecutively instead of concurrently, resulting in a thirty-year sentence without the enhanced penalty portion prescribed by Section 97-37-37. Finding no error, the Court of Appeals affirmed.
Sallie v. State
,
¶ 4. Sallie petitions this Court for certiorari review, raising one issue:
Whether the trial court's decision to change the sentences to run [consecutively] on Count I and Count II was error because the Court of Appeals affirmed those convictions and sentences and the Mississippi Supreme Court remanded only the sentence pursuant to [ Section 97-37-37 ].
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
¶ 5. On November 28, 2011, Johnson walked past Sallie's house en route to his own home. Sallie, who previously had accused Johnson of stealing a bottle of whisky from him, yelled at Johnson, demanding that Johnson come into his (Sallie's) yard. Johnson refused and told Sallie to come into the street so they could settle the dispute "like men." Johnson called Sallie an expletive and then turned to walk away. Sallie pulled out a gun and started shooting. Sallie shot Johnson five times, with one bullet hitting Johnson in the spine, paralyzing him from the waist down.
¶ 6. Sallie was charged with aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The jury found Sallie guilty of both counts. Afterward, the trial court scheduled a sentencing hearing and stated, "I also wish to consider the firearm enhancement as provided by 97-37-37(2)."
See
¶ 7. At the sentencing hearing, Sallie objected to application of Section 97-37-37 based on lack of notice from the State and based on the trial court raising the enhancement sua sponte. The trial court sentenced Sallie to twenty years for aggravated assault, ten years for felon in possession of a firearm; the court then enhanced the sentence by ten years under Section 97-37-37(2).
¶ 8. Sallie appealed, claiming the trial court erred by limiting Sallie's cross-examination of Johnson at trial, and that the firearm enhancement to his sentence post-trial was illegal given that Sallie did not receive pretrial notice that he might be sentenced under that statute. The Court of Appeals found no merit in either assignment of error raised by Sallie.
¶ 9. Addressing the latter issue, the Court of Appeals found the enhanced portion of Sallie's sentence did not run afoul of
Apprendi v. New Jersey
,
¶ 10. This Court granted certiorari, stating:
We agree that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by limiting Sallie's cross-examination of Johnson. Therefore, we limit our review to the question of whether Sallie received fair notice of the firearm enhancement. See Guice v. State ,952 So.2d 129 , 133 (Miss. 2007) (Supreme Court "unquestionably" has the authority to limit the issues on review).
Sallie ( II ), 155 So.3d at 762.
¶ 11. In analyzing the issue, this Court agreed with the Court of Appeals as to Apprendi , that the jury had found the elements of the firearm enhancement beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. at 762-63. But the majority also found that Sallie did not receive fair notice that an enhanced punishment would be sought until after his conviction, which violated Sallie's right to due process. Id. at 764.
¶ 12. The majority concluded as follows:
We decline to find error that would reverse Sallie's convictions. Therefore, we affirm in part the judgments of the Court of Appeals and the trial court. However, we find that Sallie did not receive timely or sufficient notice that the State intended to enhance his sentence using the firearm enhancement. Using the firearm enhancement to increase Sallie's sentence resulted in unfair surprise. Accordingly, we reverse in part the judgments of the Court of Appeals and the trial court, vacate Sallie's sentence, and remand the case to the Madison County Circuit Court for resentencing.
Id .
¶ 13. On remand, the trial court held a sentencing hearing, after which the trial court stated for the record as follows:
All right. I'm going to impose the same sentence as to Count I: 20 years in the custody of the [MDOC.]
The same sentence in Count II: 10 years in the custody of the of the [MDOC], but I'm going to order that those sentences run consecutively to each other.
When I imposed the original sentence and ordered that they run concurrently, I believe[d] that he was going to have another 10-year sentence that would be running consecutively to those sentences, and the [Supreme] Court has now found that that particular enhancement was improper, so that'll be the sentence of the [c]ourt.
¶ 14. Sallie appealed, claiming the trial court was without authority to alter the sentences from running concurrently to running consecutively. The case was assigned to the Court of Appeals.
¶ 15. On appeal, Sallie relied primarily on two cases for his claim that the change to his original sentence was illegal:
Leonard v. State
,
¶ 16. The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's sentencing order.
Sallie
(
III
),
DISCUSSION
¶ 17. Sentencing lies within the complete discretion of a sentencing judge and is not subject to appellate review if it is within the limits prescribed by statute.
Hoops v. State
,
¶ 18. If a case is affirmed on appeal, "the lower court is issued a mandate
to perform purely ministerial acts in carrying out the original sentence."
Harrigill
,
¶ 19. The question here, though, is whether the circuit court had discretionary sentencing authority to modify its original sentence after this Court affirmed Sallie's convictions but vacated Sallie's sentence on the finding that using the firearm enhancement to increase his sentence violated Sallie's right to due process.
¶ 20. We find the answer to this question is yes.
¶ 21. While we know of no prior decision either from this Court or the Court of Appeals that has addressed the precise question presented in this case, a number of cases illustrate the general understanding that when an original sentence has been vacated for illegality, a subsequent sentencing court has discretionary authority over the new sentence.
¶ 22.
Grubb v. State
,
This remand is expressly without prejudice to Grubb's right to seek imposition of the same twenty (20) year sentence imposed by the trial court at his resentencing hearing and without prejudice to the circuit court's right to favorably consider that request, if it so desires .
¶ 23.
Perryman v. State
,
¶ 24. On appeal, the Court of Appeals vacated the new sentence and remanded for resentencing on the basis that Perryman's purported waiver of his right to counsel at the new sentencing hearing was involuntary.
¶ 25. Next, in finding that Perryman had presented no proof of actual vindictiveness, the Court of Appeals noted that "[n]ot only was the second sentence well below the statutory maximum terms, ... it was also crafted to address the violent nature of Perryman's admitted criminal acts." Id. at 1054. The second judge was concerned with Perryman's criminal history, which indicated Perryman had "some violent tendencies." Id . (quoting the trial judge). But the judge also ordered that Perryman receive credit for time served, and ordered MDOC " 'to treat the sentence is if it had been imposed as the original sentence' and to afford Perryman consideration of 'any and all parole, good time, earned time, etc.,' to which he would have been entitled if he had not been improperly sentenced as a habitual offender by the first judge." Id. (quoting the trial judge).
¶ 26. Indeed, this fundamental view with regard to sentencing discretion has been espoused in numerous federal cases addressing the type of circumstance we have
before us here. In
United States v. Pimienta-Redondo
,
¶ 27. The First Circuit reiterated that "[c]riminal sentences do not possess the constitutional finality and conclusiveness that attach to a jury's verdict of acquittal," and "[c]onsequently, neither appellate review of sentences, ... nor increases after appeal ... will ordinarily implicate double jeopardy considerations."
¶ 28. The First Circuit explained that numerous factors underlie a sentencing judge's ultimate sentencing plan, such as an "accused's actual conduct during the criminal enterprise, as well as his life, health, habits and background."
Id.
at 14. And in a multicount case, these factors "are not necessarily altered when a defendant successfully appeals his conviction on one count."
Id.
The First Circuit reasoned that "[a]fter an appellate court unwraps" the original sentencing package by removing "one or more charges from its confines, ... common sense dictates that the judge should be free to review the efficacy of what remains in light of the original plan," and be allowed "to reconstruct the sentencing architecture upon remand, within applicable constitutional and statutory limits, if that appears necessary in order to ensure that the punishment still fits both crime and criminal."
Id.
(citing
United States v. Bentley
,
¶ 29. In
United States v. Shue
,
¶ 30. That is what occurred here. Following this Court's order of remand for resentencing, the circuit judge stated for the record that when he imposed Sallie's original sentence, he thought Sallie "was going to have another 10-year sentence that would [run] consecutively" to the two sentences running concurrently, effectively giving Sallie a thirty-year sentence in the custody of the MDOC. The circuit judge then restructured Sallie's sentence to implement his original intention. As the Court of Appeals held, the circuit court had authority to do so, and we affirm.
CONCLUSION
¶ 31. The judgments of the Madison County Circuit Court and the Court of Appeals are affirmed.
¶ 32. AFFIRMED .
RANDOLPH, P.J., COLEMAN, MAXWELL AND CHAMBERLIN, JJ., CONCUR. KING, J., DISSENTS WITH SEPARATE WRITTEN OPINION JOINED BY WALLER, C.J., AND KITCHENS, P.J. ISHEE, J., NOT PARTICIPATING.
King, J., for the Court. Waller, C.J., Kitchens, Chandler and Coleman, JJ., concurring. Dickinson, P.J., concurring with separate, written opinion joined by Kitchens, Chandler, and Coleman, JJ. Randolph, P.J., concurring in part and dissenting in part with separate, written opinion joined by Lamar and Pierce, JJ.
Ishee, J., writing. Griffis, P.J., Barnes, Carlton, Fair, Wilson and Greenlee, JJ., concurring. Lee, C.J., dissenting with separate, written opinion, joined by James, J.; Irving, P.J., joining in part.
"[U]nless the circuit court has deferred sentence, or placed the defendant upon a suspended sentence and retained jurisdiction for this specific purpose as authorized by statute, the power of the circuit court to alter or mend its sentence is terminated."
Harrigill
,
But see also
Gardner v. State
,
It is certainly true that the Circuit Court had no authority to resentence Gardner until Jurisdiction of the case was revested there, although the view once that the jurisdiction of this Court wholly deprived the trial court of authority to take any action at all has been considerably ameliorated. See, e.g. , Rule 60, Miss. R. Civ. P.; Rules 3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, Miss. Sup. Ct. Rules; Ward v. Foster ,517 So.2d 513 , 516-517 (Miss. 1987) ; Wilson v. State ,461 So.2d 728 , 729 (Miss. 1984).
See also
Creel
,
Ross
adopted the Supreme Court's pronouncement in
North Carolina v. Pearce
,
Dissenting Opinion
¶ 33. Because I disagree that the trial court had the authority to restructure Sallie's sentences for aggravated assault and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, I respectfully dissent.
¶ 34. In Sallie's first appeal, the Court of Appeals affirmed his conviction, and this Court granted certiorari for the limited purpose of "address[ing] the issue of whether Sallie was entitled to notice of the firearm enhancement to his sentence."
Sallie v. State
,
¶ 35. "[W]here a convicted defendant receives an illegal sentence, the sentence must be vacated and the case remanded to the trial court for resentencing because the defendant suffered prejudice."
Sweat v. State
,
¶ 36. Circuit courts do not generally have jurisdiction to resentence defendants.
Creel v. State
,
WALLER, C.J., AND KITCHENS, P.J., JOIN THIS OPINION.
While this language specifying that the Court reversed only the enhancement portion of the sentence could have been repeated several more times for clarity's sake (and perhaps, given the misinterpretations of the Court's opinion, such repetition would have been wise), given that the underlying sentences were not raised or addressed and this Court specified once that it was only reversing the enhancement portion of the sentence, such repetition was unnecessary. It appears that, even absent repetition, this was clear even to the Court of Appeals majority, which stated "the supreme court affirmed the convictions
and sentences
but reversed the sentence enhancement."
Sallie v. State
,
Would the majority's analysis in this case be the same if, for example, on resentencing, the trial court had sentenced Sallie to time served for the aggravated assault and felon in possession convictions? This unfettered discretion the Court gives to trial courts to amend any sentence when only a portion of the sentence is reversed works both ways-a trial court may, upon remand, reduce sentences that this Court affirmed.
It necessarily follows, as explained by the dissent to the Court of Appeals majority, that the circuit court could not resentence Sallie to a sentence greater than its original sentence.
Sallie v. State
,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Craig D. SALLIE A/K/A Craig D. Sallie, Sr. A/K/A Craig Sallie v. STATE of Mississippi
- Cited By
- 6 cases
- Status
- Published