Williams v. State
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NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION
ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS
DIVISION IV
No. CACR08-794
Opinion Delivered FEBRUARY 25, 2009
BRANDON WILLIAMS
APPELLANT
V.
APPEAL FROM THE CRITTENDEN
COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT,
[NO. CR2006-426]
STATE OF ARKANSAS
HONORABLE DAVID BURNETT,
JUDGE
APPELLEE
AFFIRMED
RITA W. GRUBER, Judge
Brandon Williams appeals from the revocation of his suspended sentence, contending
that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to revoke because his period of suspension had not
begun at the time of the revocation. We hold that the trial court had jurisdiction to revoke
Williams’s sentence, and we affirm its order.
On April 25, 2006, Williams pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance with
intent to deliver, for which he was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment, and to sale of a
controlled substance, for which he was given a ten-year suspended imposition of sentence to
be served “consecutive to ADC.” Williams was paroled on October 9, 2006. While on
parole, Williams was arrested on new charges. The State filed a petition to revoke his
suspended imposition of sentence on June 1, 2007. The trial court entered an order revoking
his suspended sentence on March 12, 2008, and sentenced him to ten years’ imprisonment
on the conviction for sale of a controlled substance.
Williams’s sole point on appeal is that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to revoke his
suspended sentence. Specifically, he argues that his suspended sentence had not yet begun
when the court revoked it and would not begin until after his period of parole had ended.
To support his argument, Williams relies upon the following language in Ark. Code Ann. §
5-4-307(c) (Repl. 2006): “If a court sentences a defendant to a term of imprisonment and
suspends imposition of sentence as to an additional term of imprisonment, the period of the
suspension commences to run on the day the defendant is lawfully set at liberty from the
imprisonment.” He then cites Ark. Code Ann. § 16-93-701 (Repl. 2006), which states that,
while on parole, the prisoner “shall remain in the legal custody of the institution from which
he was released.” Williams claims that, because he was in the “legal custody” of the Arkansas
Department of Correction (ADC) while on parole, he was not “lawfully set at liberty from
the imprisonment.” Williams is wrong.
Williams’s suspended sentence began on the day he was “lawfully set at liberty from
the imprisonment.” Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-307(c). Parole is defined by statute as “the release
of the prisoner into the community by the Parole Board prior to the expiration of his or her
term, subject to conditions imposed by the board and to the supervision of the Department
of Community Correction.” Ark. Code Ann. § 16-93-101(1) (Repl. 2006). Thus, by
definition, during parole, a prisoner has been lawfully released into the community. Being
in the “legal custody of” and subject to “the supervision of the Department of Community
Correction” is not imprisonment. Parole is a lawful release from prison and constitutes being
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CACR08-794
“lawfully set at liberty from the imprisonment” under Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-307(c).
Moreover, we said in Vann v. State, 16 Ark. App. 199, 201, 698 S.W.2d 814, 815
(1985), that the appellant’s suspended sentence in that case commenced on the day he was
paroled from prison. See also Chadwell v. State, 80 Ark. App. 133, 91 S.W.3d 530 (2002)
(citing Vann for its holding that a suspended sentence begins to run when the defendant is
released on parole). Here, Williams’s period of suspension began on the day he was released
on parole, October 9, 2006, even though he remained under the supervision of the ADC.
Accordingly, the trial court had jurisdiction to revoke Williams’s suspended sentence on
March 12, 2008.
Affirmed.
P ITTMAN and B AKER, JJ., agree.
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CACR08-794
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