§15-22-50. Authority of circuit and district courts to suspend sentence and place convicted person on probation.

Circuit courts and district courts, subject to the provisions and conditions hereinafter provided, may suspend execution of sentence and place on probation any person convicted of a crime in any court exercising criminal jurisdiction. The court shall have no power to suspend the execution of sentence imposed upon any person who has been found guilty and whose punishment is fixed at death or imprisonment in the penitentiary for more than 15 years. Except as provided in the preceding sentence, the court, after a plea of guilty, after the returning of a verdict of guilty by the jury or after the entry of a judgment of guilty by the court, may suspend execution of sentence and place the defendant on probation, or may impose a fine within the limits fixed by law and also place the defendant on probation.

(Acts 1939, No. 278, p. 434; Code 1940, T. 42, §19; Acts 1955, No. 480, p. 1093; Acts 1975, No. 1205, §10-101; Acts 1985, 2nd Ex. Sess., No. 85-905, p. 177, §2.)