State v. Fountain

88 S.W.3d 411, 350 Ark. 437, 2002 Ark. LEXIS 551
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedOctober 31, 2002
DocketCR 01-890
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 88 S.W.3d 411 (State v. Fountain) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Fountain, 88 S.W.3d 411, 350 Ark. 437, 2002 Ark. LEXIS 551 (Ark. 2002).

Opinion

Ray Thornton, Justice.

The State appeals an original and amended judgment and commitment order in which the Pulaski County Circuit Court suspended four years of the ten-year, statutory-minimum sentence for simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms of appellee, James Eric Fountain. On appeal, the State argues that by suspending four years of appellee’s ten-year sentence, the trial court imposed a void or illegal sentence. On cross-appeal, appellee argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence seized at his home. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Ark. Sup. Ct. R. l-2(a)(7), as there was a previous appeal to our court. See Fountain v. State, 348 Ark. 359, 72 S.W.3d 511 (2002). We reverse the trial court’s imposition of a suspended sentence and conclude that the trial court did not commit error in denying appellee’s motion to suppress the evidence.

On February 12, 2001, the trial court found appellee guilty of simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms, a violation of Ark. Code Ann. § 5-74-106 (Repl. 1997), a class Y felony, and three other drug-related offenses. On April 23, 2001, the trial court imposed sentence on appellee based upon his conviction of simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms. At the sentencing hearing, the court stated, “So on count one in this case it’ll be the judgment and sentence of the Court that you serve a term of ten years in the Arkansas Department of Correction, however, I’m going to suspend four years of that.”

On April 27, 2001, the State filed a motion to reconsider the sentence, arguing that Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-301 (a)(1)(C) (Repl. 1997) prohibited the suspension of four years of appellee’s sentence because appellee was convicted of a class Y felony. On May 8, 2001, appellee filed a response in which he argued that the court did not suspend imposition of his sentence or place him on probation. A hearing was held on the matter on May 14, 2002, and the trial court denied the State’s motion to reconsider appellee’s sentence.

On May 22, 2001, the judgment and commitment order was filed, and on June 21, 2001, an amended judgment and commitment order was filed. This amended' order reflected appellee’s sentence of ten years with four years suspended. From this order, the State appeals, and appellee cross-appeals on the issue of the suppression of the evidence.

For its sole allegation of error, the State argues that the trial court erred by suspending four years of appellee’s ten-year sentence. Specifically, the State contends that the trial court erred by sentencing appellee to ten years’ imprisonment with four years suspended, thereby effectively giving him a six-year sentence.

The State may appeal the imposition of a void or illegal sentence by the trial court. State v. Stephenson, 340 Ark. 229, 9 S.W.3d 495 (2000). A sentence is void or illegal when the trial court lacks the authority to impose it. Thomas v. State, 349 Ark. 447, 79 S.W.3d 347 (2002). Sentencing in Arkansas is entirely a matter of statute, and the sentencing procedures pertinent here are found in Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-101-618 (Repl. 1997). We have consistently held that sentencing shall not be other than in accordance with the statute in effect at the time of the commission of the crime. Meadows v. State, 320 Ark. 686, 899 S.W.2d 72 (1995). Where the law does not authorize the particular sentence pronounced by the trial court, that sentence is unauthorized and illegal, and the case must be reversed and remanded. Id.

When reviewing the sentencing guidelines for a class Y felony, the courts are guided by Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-401 (a)(1) (Repl. 1997) and Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-301 (a)(1)(C) (Supp. 2001). Under Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-401(a)(l), a defendant convicted of a class Y felony shall be sentenced to “not less than ten (10) years and not more than forty (40) years, or life. . . [.]” Id. Arkansas Code Annotated § 5-4-301 (a)(1)(C) provides:

(a)(1) A court shall not suspend imposition of sentence as to a term of imprisonment . . . for the following offenses:
(C) Class Y felonies, except to the extent suspension of an additional term of imprisonment is permitted in § 5-4-104(c) [.]

Id.

The State cites Stephenson, supra, as authority that the trial court erred by sentencing appellee to ten years’ imprisonment with four years suspended. In Stephenson, two appellees were convicted of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, a class B felony, and simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms, a class Y felony. The trial court originally sentenced each appellee to probation on the class B felony and ten years’ imprisonment on the class Y felony. Appellees filed motions to set aside the verdict, and the trial court amended the order to include the imposition of the ten-year sentence with a suspension upon completion of other requirements. We held that the trial court had no authority to suspend the imposition of a sentence or to suspend the execution of a sentence. Id. (emphasis added).

Here, appellee was convicted of simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms, a class Y felony and a violation of Ark. Code Ann. § 5-74-106 (Repl. 1997). The trial court was mandated to sentence appellee to a term of imprisonment of “not less than ten (10) years and not more than forty (40) years, or life.” Ark. Code Ann. §§ 5-4-104(c), 5-4-401 (Repl. 1997). We conclude that the trial court exceeded its statutory authority in suspending the execution of four years of appellee’s ten-year, statutory-minimum sentence. See Stephenson, supra.

In Stephenson, supra, we reversed and remanded for a correction of the sentence. We have also determined that when a sentence is illegal, we may correct it without reversing and remanding. Thomas, supra (modifying Thomas’s sentence to reflect that his probation was not pursuant to Act 346 and that he was not entitled to expungement provisions therein). In the case before us, we correct appellee’s sentence to reflect the statutory minimum of ten years’ imprisonment. 1

In his cross-appeal, appellee argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence seized by North Little Rock police officers at his residence in Little Rock. Specifically, he contends that the North Little Rock officers acted outside their jurisdiction. He further contends that the alleged illegal search violates the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, Art. 2, section 15, of the Arkansas Constitution, and Rule 13.3 of the Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure.

At an omnibus hearing on October 2, 2000, Detective Rick Dunaway of the North Little Rock Police Department stated that he obtained a search warrant from a North Little Rock municipal judge for the search of appellee’s Litde Rock home. During the search, numerous items were seized, including controlled substances and firearms. These items were introduced as evidence against appellee at trial.

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Bluebook (online)
88 S.W.3d 411, 350 Ark. 437, 2002 Ark. LEXIS 551, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-fountain-ark-2002.