Coleman v. State

Prescott, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. On February 15, 1961, the appellant was sentenced to two years’ confinement in the House of Correction. The execution of the sentence was suspended, and appellant placed on probation for two years, without supervision, on condition of good behavior, payment of hospital (lying in) expenses of $150 of the prosecuting witness, whom appellant had raped, and court costs of $32.00. Appellant was employed for the first fourteen months after the suspension of his sentence, and, although he was directed ²²² to pay $5.00 per week, he had made, at the time of the revocation of his probation a total payment of only $5.00 on account.

The revocation, or striking out, of his probation occurred after a hearing on July 11, 1962. He freely admitted his failure to make the ordered payments, and this was the ground upon which his probation was stricken out. The State has moved to dismiss the appeal upon the ground that the appeal is from an order revoking the suspension of sentence, and the jurisdiction conferred upon the Criminal Court of Baltimore to revoke suspended sentences and strike out probations is a special and limited jurisdiction created by statute, from which no appeal lies. In Swan v. State, 200 Md. 420, 425 , 90 A. 2d 690 , this Court held that such an appeal would lie, “if only for the purpose of determining whether that discretion [given to the trial court] has been abused in any way, or whether an erroneous construction has been placed by the trial judge on the conditions of parole.” See also Edwardsen v. State, 220 Md. 82, 88 , 151 A. 2d 132 , and compare Warden v. Palumbo, 214 Md. 407 , 135 A. 2d 439 .

The motion to dismiss will, therefore, be overruled. However, this affords little, if any, aid and comfort to appellant’s cause. When the trial judge revoked the probation on July 11, 1962, he stated: “I will revoke your probation. You will have to serve your two years in the House of Correction.”'The clerk, apparently in error, made a docket entry as of that date which states: “Probation stricken out and sentenced to two (2) years in the Maryland House of Correction from July 6, 1962,