Callahan applied for leave to appeal, and the Court of Special Appeals granted the application and reversed, holding that the circuit court erred in determining that Callahan violated the order of probation. See Callahan v. State, 215 Md.App. 146, 160, 79 A.3d 967, 976 (2013). Specifically, the Court of Special Appeals concluded that Agent Briley–Mays's instruction to report for a polygraph examination created “a new, more onerous condition [of probation] that was not fairly within the ambit of those laid down by the [sentencing] court.... To hold otherwise ... would clearly be contrary to the separation of powers doctrine[.]”
Callahan applied for leave to appeal, and the Court of Special Appeals granted the application and reversed, holding that the circuit court erred in determining that Callahan violated the order of probation. See Callahan v. State, 215 Md.App. 146, 160, 79 A.3d 967, 976 (2013). Specifically, the Court of Special Appeals concluded that Agent Briley–Mays's instruction to report for a polygraph examination created “a new, more onerous condition [of probation] that was not fairly within the ambit of those laid down by the [sentencing] court.... To hold otherwise ... would clearly be contrary to the separation of powers doctrine[.
State of Maryland v. Charles William CallahanReported below: 215 Md.App. 146, 79 A.3d 967. Disposition: Both granted.
We have explained that probation is, at its essence, "an act of clemency bestowed by the court." Callahan v. State, 215 Md. App. 146, 156 (2013) (quoting Simms v. State, 65 Md. App. 685, 689 (1986) (emphasis added in Simms), cert. granted, 437 Md. 422 (2014)). Indeed, the Court of Appeals noted that probation "releases a convicted person into the community instead of sending the criminal to jail or prison," and as such, it is "not an entitlement" but a "matter of grace."