State v. Wooten

The issue we face in this criminal cause is whether a trial court had the power to suspend the execution of a portion of a life sentence it imposed following a conviction for murder in the first degree when the only penalty then authorized for that crime under Maryland law was imprisonment for life. Based on the language employed in the pertinent statutes, we conclude the General Assembly intended to answer that question in the affirmative; consequently, we find nothing improper in the trial court’s suspension of all but the first eight years of the life sentence it imposed in this case.

The…