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Riley v. State

Defendants who committed armed robbery before the effective date of the First Offender Act, which prohibits defendants convicted of serious violent felonies from being eligible for first offender treatment under OCGA § 42-8-60, were entitled to first offender status.

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After being charged with two counts of armed robbery, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and possession of a sawed-off shotgun, Michael Barnes and Larry Riley plead guilty and were sentenced to 15 years, with eight to serve, followed by seven years probation. Because the trial court gave Barnes and Riley first offender status under OCGA § 42-8-60, it did not sentence them to serve the ten-year mandatory minimum sentence required by OCGA § 17-10-6.1 b for serious violent felonies. As a result, the Department of Corrections refused to pick up Riley and Barnes from the Liberty County jail, contending they were given an illegal sentence because they were not given the mandatory ten-year minimum sentence.

After another hearing, the trial court declared the previous sentence void and re-sentenced Barnes and Riley to 15 years, with ten to serve. Both Barnes and Riley appealed this to the Georgia Supreme Court, claiming that the sentence violated the Constitutional prohibition against ex post facto laws. They argue that at the time the crimes were committed there was no prohibition against according them first offender status.

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