Smith v. Commonwealth
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Appellant pled guilty to possession of drug paraphernalia (PDP), second offense, pursuant to a plea agreement and received a five-year pretrial diversion. At the time Appellant entered into the diversion, the penalty for second offense PDP, a felony, was one to five years in prison. The statute was amended in April 2010, however, making the penalty for a second or subsequent offense of PDP, now a misdemeanor, ninety days to twelve months in jail. Appellant subsequently pled guilty to DUI. At her sentencing hearing, Appellant requested that the trial court continue her diversion, given that second offense PDP was now a misdemeanor, or apply the new sentence for second offense POP. The trial court voided the diversion agreement and sentenced Appellant to felony time in accordance with the prior law. The court of appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court reversed, (1) when Appellant violated the terms of her diversion agreement, the court was vested with the authority to void the contract in its entirety; but (2) because there was no final judgment entered when Appellant violated the terms of her diversion, any law that had gone into effect that would mitigate Appellant's sentence should have been applied.
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