State v. Burkhart

OPINION

COOPER, Justice.

We granted certiorari in this case to review a decision by the Court of Criminal Appeals holding that a trial judge who has imposed a sentence at variance with an express statutory mandate may not correct the sentence to conform to the statute after the judgment has become final.

From the allegations in and exhibits to the pleadings, it appears that the respondent, William Lee Burkhart, was convicted of burglary in the first degree, and sentenced to a term of twelve and one-half to fifteen years. While his appeal of that conviction was pending, he was confined in the…