Cases | State v. Murray, 617 a.2d 135 | 2018
The defendant pled no contest to welfare fraud and entered into a deferred-sentence agreement whereby the court deferred imposition of sentence for three years and placed her on probation with payment of restitution as a condition. A large portion of restitution remained unpaid after the end of the three-year period and the trial court extended the defendant’s probation. On appeal, the defendant claimed that the trial court erred in extended her probation period beyond the three years contemplated in the agreement. The court held that the trial court lacked authority to extend the defendant’s probation after it expired, without provision of notice of her violation of probation during its term. A deferred-sentence agreement is a form of contract and the words of the agreement did not clearly inform the defendant of the court’s authorization to extend the period.