Court Opinion

ID: 9571531
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:32:26.994776+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:30:32.980635
License: Public Domain

Johnson, Judge,
concurring specially.
I concur fully in Divisions 1 and 2 of the opinion. I also concur in the conclusion in Division 3 that the trial court erred in making the appellant’s 48-month incarceration in the county jail a condition of probation. I believe the trial court abused its discretion in imposing such a lengthy jail term as a condition of probation. However, I strongly disagree with the holding in Division 3 that a trial judge, absent express statutory authority, has no power to order a defendant to serve a reasonable period of time in jail as a condition of probation.
The legislature has already vested trial courts with broad discretion in imposing conditions of probation. Grant v. State, 176 Ga. App. 460 (1) (336 SE2d 354) (1985). “The judge imposing the sentence is granted power and authority to suspend or probate all or any part of the entire sentence under such rules and regulations as the judge deems proper.” OCGA § 17-10-1 (a) (1). “The court shall determine the terms and conditions of probation.” OCGA § 42-8-35. “In the absence of express authority to the contrary, we see no logical reason why any reasonable condition imposed for probation or suspension of a sentence by a trial court should not be approved.” (Citations and punctuation omitted.) (Emphasis supplied.) Grant, supra at 460. Imposition of a reasonable term of incarceration as a condition of probation is not expressly prohibited by the legislature. Thus, such a condition should be approved. In my view, the broad discretion already given to trial courts by the legislature includes the authority to impose a reasonable period of incarceration as a condition of probation.
This sentencing option is widely employed by trial judges in Georgia. We may infer from the fact that this is a case of first impres*642sion in Georgia that trial judges have not abused their discretion in using this sentencing option. The fact that the legislature has not limited the ability of trial courts to use this sentencing option also supports an inference that trial judges have not abused their discretion. Furthermore, the fact that the legislature has not acted other than as noted above indicates that the broad sentencing discretion it has granted is appropriate and puts in the hands of trial judges another option in fashioning sentences which meet the needs of the community and the defendant. There are a number of instances in which a traditional split sentence hurts the needs of both the defendant and the community. For example, a gainfully employed defendant immediately sent to jail upon sentencing is likely to lose his job. Trial courts have addressed this problem by imposing periods of incarceration on weekends and during vacation periods as a condition of probation in order to fashion an appropriate sentence without hurting society or placing undue burdens upon defendants and their families. The majority opinion, unfortunately, strips trial judges of such effective sentencing options. This court should not further restrict the already limited sentencing options of the State’s trial courts.
Decided December 4, 1992.
Kirbo & McCalley, Thomas L. Kirbo III, Jon V. Forehand, for appellant.
H. Lamar Cole, District Attorney, Charles M. Stines, Assistant District Attorney, for appellee.
Roger A. Baruch, James C. Bonner, Jr., amici curiae.
I am authorized to state that Judge Pope and Judge Cooper join in this special concurrence.