Full Opinion

Cite as 2026 Ark. App. 414 ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS DIVISION II No. CR-25-735 LAWRANCE MAHOMES Opinion Delivered September 16, 2026 APPELLANT APPEAL FROM THE CONWAY COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT V. [NO. 15CR-20-44] STATE OF ARKANSAS HONORABLE JERRY DON RAMEY, APPELLEE JUDGE REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR RESENTENCING WENDY SCHOLTENS WOOD, Judge Lawrance Mahomes appeals a Conway County Circuit Court sentencing order revoking his probation and sentencing him to eighty-four months’ imprisonment. On appeal, Mahomes contends that his underlying probationary sentence was illegal because he was not eligible for probation as a habitual offender; therefore, his case must be remanded for resentencing. We agree and reverse and remand for resentencing. 1 On May 6, 2020, Mahomes pled guilty to failure to appear and was sentenced to sixty months’ probation. Ark. Code Ann. § 5-54-120 (Repl. 2024). The sentencing order reflects that Mahomes was sentenced as a habitual offender under Arkansas Code 1 See Mahomes v. State, 2026 Ark. App. 92 (reversing and remanding for resentencing, finding merit to the identical argument in companion case). Annotated section 5-4-501(a) (Supp. 2025). On November 3, 2022, the State filed a petition to revoke Mahomes’s probation, and the court entered a sentencing order revoking it on February 14, 2024, as amended on March 28, 2024. The court sentenced him as a habitual offender to eighty-four months’ imprisonment. Mahomes filed this appeal. Mahomes contends that his May 6, 2020 probationary sentence was illegal because he was not eligible for probation as a habitual offender. Consequently, the court had no authority to subsequently revoke the probationary sentence and sentence him to eighty- four months’ imprisonment. He contends that his case must be remanded for resentencing. The State concedes the error and agrees. Sentencing in Arkansas is entirely a matter of statute, and no sentence shall be imposed other than as prescribed by statute. Hewitt v. State, 2020 Ark. App. 172, at 2, 598 S.W.3d 531, 532. A sentence is void or illegal when the circuit court lacks authority to impose it. Id., 598 S.W.3d at 532. Stated another way, when the law does not authorize the particular sentence pronounced by the circuit court, the sentence is unauthorized and illegal. Id. at 2–3, 598 S.W.3d at 532. Arkansas law prohibits a circuit court from placing a defendant on probation if the defendant has been previously convicted of two or more felonies in accordance with the habitual-offender statute. Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-301(a)(2)(B) (Supp. 2025). In the underlying conviction for which Mahomes was sentenced to probation, Mahomes was sentenced as a habitual offender under Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-4-501(a). 2 Therefore, Mahomes’s underlying probation sentence violated section 5-4-301(a)(2) and is illegal. See, e.g., Mahomes, 2026 Ark. App. 92, at 3–4; Hewitt, 2020 Ark. App. 172, at 3–4, 598 S.W.3d at 531. Accordingly, we reverse and dismiss the probation-revocation proceeding and remand to the circuit court to sentence Mahomes within the statutory range as a habitual offender for his underlying failure-to-appear conviction. Reversed and remanded for resentencing. TUCKER and HIXSON, JJ., agree. Robert M. “Robby” Golden, for appellant. Tim Griffin, Att’y Gen., by: A. Evangeline Bacon, Ass’t Att’y Gen., for appellee. 3