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In the Circuit Court for Calvert County Case No. K 95-485

REPORTED IN THE COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS OF MARYLAND No. 742 September Term, 2009

GEORGE JOHN BERESKA, JR. v. STATE OF MARYLAND

Eyler, James R., Woodward, Raker, Irma S. (Retired, specially assigned), JJ.

Opinion by Raker, J.

Filed: September 17, 2010

This case is an appeal from the denial of appellant's "Motion to Revise Judgment based on Mistake or Irregularity, or in the Alternative, Petition for Writ of Error Coram Nobis," filed in the Circuit Court for Calvert County on January 22, 2009. Appellant raises a single issue for our review, which he articulates as follows: "Whether the Maryland General Assembly violated the Ex Post facto Clauses of the Maryland and United States Constitutions when it enacted a sentencing law, and applied it retroactively to conduct committed prior to enactment, with the new, more onerous law, prohibiting probation before judgment, whereas the former law authorized probation before judgment?" After briefing, oral argument, and supplemental briefing, we perceive that this case can be resolved by answering a single dispositive question: "Did the Circuit Court for Calvert County have any authority or jurisdiction on August 9, 2004 to permit appellant to withdraw his guilty plea entered on March 14, 1996, and then to permit him to enter a guilty plea to a reduced charge?"

Procedural Background Appellant George John Bereska, Jr. entered a guilty plea in the Circuit Court for Calvert County on March 14, 1996, to the offense of third-degree sexual assault, based on his conduct in June and July of 1995. The court sentenced appellant to six years of incarceration with all but thirty days suspended, and five years of supervised probation. In October, 1995, the General Assembly amended Md. Code, Article 27 (1974, 1995 Cum. Supp.),

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