Meadows v. State, 922 S.W.2d 341 (Ark. 1996)

Cases | Meadows v. State, 922 S.W.2d 341 (Ark. 1996) | 2018

The defendant entered a plea of nolo contendere to the charge of first-degree battery. His original sentence was reversed because the trial court had no authority to suspend the execution of the sentence. Following a second hearing, the defendant was sentenced to five years imprisonment, with an additional ten years suspended, conditioned upon the defendant, among other things, paying restitution as previously ordered by the court. The defendant appealed, arguing, among other things, that the trial court should have merely corrected the original judgment from a suspension of the execution of the sentence to a suspension of the imposition of the sentence. The Supreme Court of Arkansas affirmed, noting that resentencing was appropriate in cases where the original sentence was illegal, as was the case here.