Barnes v. State

In this discretionary appeal, Walter Barnes, III, appeals from the trial court’s order revoking his probation. Barnes asserts that the trial court improperly revoked his probation for a term longer than permitted by his original sentence. In its brief, the State concurs and requests that this court remand this case to the trial court for resentencing. On September 19, 2003, the Superior Court of Athens-Clarke County sentenced Barnes to serve 20 years in confinement for burglary and possession of tools for the commission of a crime. The superior court also ordered, however, That the first 10 years of this sentence be served in confinement, and that following the Defendant’s release from confinement the remainder of the sentence herein imposed be served by the Defendant on probation PROVIDED, that the Defendant complies with the General and Special Conditions of Probation herein imposed as a part of this order and sentence. The Defendant is to receive credit for jail time served from 8-13-02 against the confinement portion of said sentence. Based upon this sentence, Barnes was scheduled to begin serving the probationary portion of his sentence on August 13, 2012. At some point, however, the Department of Corrections paroled Barnes from prison, and in 2009 he committed additional burglaries.

In April 2009, the State issued an arrest warrant for Barnes’s probation violations, and the trial court concluded after an evidentiary hearing that the “State proved by a preponderance of the evidence that Barnes committed 5 separate burglaries. . . .” On May 12, 2009, it revoked Barnes’s probation and ordered him to serve the balance of his 20-year sentence in confinement 13 years, 3 months and one day.