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Richard Harrisonv.The State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
Docket No.A14A2313
DecidedJanuary 30, 2015
Reporter330 Ga. App. 570; 768 S.E.2d 762
JudgesCourt of Appeals of Georgia; Presiding Judge Andrews, Judge McFadden, and Judge Ray
Tags
CriminalCriminal ProcedureSentencingEvidenceStatutory InterpretationDouble JeopardyVacaturRemand
Case Summary

Richard Harrison pleaded guilty to child molestation and received five years in prison followed by ten years of probation; the trial court later added a condition requiring him to violate no laws. After Harrison admitted theft by taking and failure to pay court-ordered obligations, the trial court revoked his probation in full for more than eight years. The Court of Appeals held that OCGA § 42-8-34.1(d) limited revocation for the admitted felony theft to the lesser of the remaining probation term or the applicable five-year maximum. Although the State did not prove the trailers’ value exceeded the felony threshold, Harrison’s admission to felony theft supplied a basis to apply the lowest felony range under the rule of lenity. The court held that adding the no-new-law condition was rehabilitative, not increased punishment; it rejected Harrison’s notice challenge as unpreserved and found no double-jeopardy violation. It vacated the revocation order and remanded for resentencing.

Opinion

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