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Article: Missouri Supreme Court sides with man whose sentence changed
- Article from:
- Daily Record and the Kansas City Daily News-Press
- Article date:
- July 31, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2008 Daily Record and the Kansas City Daily News-Press. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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A judge cannot make a substantive change to a criminal sentence
after a judgment has been entered, the Supreme Court has determined.
Robert Poucher pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a drunken
driving accident in 2002. He was sentenced to serve consecutive
terms of seven and three years in prison, but his sentence was
suspended and he entered a drug treatment program.
However, prosecutors later alleged that he violated his
probation. His attorney said Poucher was told his sentence would be
switched to have the terms run concurrently, so he waived the
probation revocation hearing. A St. Louis County circuit judge then
ordered him to serve the sentences concurrently, effectively
knocking ...