Cardinell v. State

McAULIFFE, Judge.

This case involves two principal questions: did the trial judge have authority to reduce the defendant’s sentence when he did; and if not, did the State have any right to appeal that action to the Court of Special Appeals? The first question is readily answered in the negative; under the facts of this case *383the trial judge had no authority to modify the sentence. The second question is more difficult, and requires that we examine and trace a common law right of appeal of the State in criminal cases when the lower court acted without jurisdiction. It also requires that we…