Once a Sentence Expires, The Court Has No Jurisdiction Either to Amend or Modify It.

State v. Hannam, Minn.Ct.App., 1/18/2010.  Back in 2006 the state charged Mr. Hannam with four counts of ineligible person on possession of a firearm.  Upon conviction, he got four concurrent sixty month sentences.  On the first appeal, the appellate court said that all four convictions arose out of the same behavioral incident so it threw out three of the four convictions and remanded for resentencing.

The trial court resentenced Mr. Hannam to twenty-seven months, rejecting the state’s argument that the correct sentence was the mandatory minimum sixty months.  That sentence expired during the ninety days that the state had to file a notice of appeal.

The problem was, however, the state did not file its notice of appeal until until after expiration of the sentence.  Once the sentence expired, the appellate court lost jurisdiction either to amend or modify the sentence, even an improper one.  A sentence expires once a defendant completes the terms of imprisonment and supervised release.  See State ex rel. Peterson v. Fabian, 784 N.W.2d 843, 846 (Minn. App. 2010).  The expiration of sentence bars any further sanctions for that conviction.  State v. Whitfield, 483 N.W.2d 102, 104 (Minn. App. 1992).