Preview:

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA


Present:  Judges Coleman, Willis and Senior Judge Hodges
Argued at Norfolk, Virginia


SEAN DION KEELING
               OPINION BY
v.  Record No. 2118-96-1      JUDGE JERE M. H. WILLIS, JR.                    JULY 29, 1997
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA


FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF VIRGINIA BEACH
Kenneth N. Whitehurst, Jr., Judge

  Richard C. Clark (Office of the Public Defender, on brief), for appellant.

  Kimberley A. Whittle, Assistant Attorney General (James S. Gilmore, III, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.


Sean Dion Keeling contends that the trial court erred in revoking his suspended sentence.  We find no error and affirm.    On May 6, 1992, the trial court accepted Keeling's guilty plea to charges of malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.  It sentenced him to serve eight years and four months, with three years suspended.  The conditions for suspension included:  
  [4] That the defendant make restitution . . . in an amount not to exceed $10,000.  Said restitution shall be paid on a schedule set by his probation officer.  Exact amount of restitution shall be determined on 6-15-92.
Keeling was released from incarceration on December 23, 1993, under concurrent probation and parole supervision.  Although the precise amount of restitution had not been determined on June 15, 1992, Keeling signed an agreement with his probation and parole officer on January 4, 1993, requiring him to pay $100 per month in restitution.1
On November 21, 1995, Keeling's probation officer notified the Commonwealth's Attorney that Keeling had failed to make the restitution payments.  The trial court entered an order to show cause against Keeling.  
At the show cause hearing on August 6, 1996, testimony revealed that Keeling had paid only $865 on his restitution obligation.  Despite repeated reminders from his supervising probation officer, Keeling paid only $50 in 1995.  Medical bills for the victim exceeded $38,000, and further surgery relating to the 1991 malicious wounding was anticipated.
The trial court revoked the suspension of Keeling's sentence.  It then re-suspended execution of the sentence, conditioned, in part, on his payment of the restitution, which the trial court fixed at $10,000.
"'A court which has ordered a suspension of sentence undoubtedly has the power to revoke it when the defendant has failed to comply with the conditions of the suspension.'"  Russnak v. Commonwealth, 10 Va. App. 317, 321, 392 S.E.2d 491, 493 (1990) (quoting Griffin v. Cunningham, 205 Va. 349, 354, 136 S.E.2d 840, 844 (1964)).  See Code

Download 2118961.pdf

Virginia Law