Opinion ID: 1096122
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: Right of State to Cross-Appeal

Text: Abram challenges the right of the State to proceed as an appellant in this case. Both sides correctly note that the answer lies in Miss. Code Ann. § 99-35-103(c) (Supp. 1991). [5] That section provides in part that the State may appeal in a criminal case: From a ruling adverse to the state or municipality in every case in which the defendant is convicted and prosecutes an appeal; and the case shall be treated as if a cross appeal had been formally presented by the state. All questions of law thus presented shall be decided by the Supreme Court. The State asserts, accurately in our opinion, that it seeks review of an error of law, or at least in the application of law to the facts, committed by the trial judge after the jury had returned proper verdicts as to guilt and sentence. Thus, the questions raised fit squarely within the statute. Thomas v. State, 73 Miss. 46, 19 So. 195 (1895) resolves this dispute in favor of the State. There the defendant was convicted and sentenced to five years. Afterward, the court denied defendant's request for new trial, but set aside the original sentence and imposed in its stead a sentence of six months because it considered the conviction a misdemeanor, not a felony. 19 So. at 195-96. The defendant objected to the denial of his motion for new trial, and the State objected to the setting aside of the sentence. The Court held under the predecessor to § 99-35-103(c) that the State's cross-appeal was proper. 19 So. at 196. We here hold likewise.