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Gerrell Collinsv.The State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
Docket No.A20A1908
DecidedFebruary 3, 2021
JudgesCourt of Appeals of Georgia
Tags
CriminalCriminal ProcedureSentencingStatutory InterpretationVacaturRemand
Case Summary

Gerrell Collins was convicted of aggravated child molestation and false imprisonment and received prison sentences that did not include the probationary terms required by the sentencing statutes then in effect. Years later, he moved to modify his sentence. The trial court dismissed the motion as untimely. The Court of Appeals held that the sentences were void because the written judgment and oral pronouncement omitted mandatory split-sentence components, including probation. An illegal sentence may be corrected even when the defendant did not timely raise the defect through the ordinary appellate process. The court therefore vacated the dismissal of Collins’s motion and remanded for resentencing. Because that disposition required a new sentencing proceeding, the court did not address Collins’s remaining arguments about the sentence.

Opinion

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