Short answer. No. Rule 120, Section 9 expressly states that nothing in the rule on judgments affects any existing provisions in the laws governing suspension of sentence, probation, or parole. Rule 120 governs how judgment is rendered and its contents; your probation or parole eligibility is governed entirely by those separate laws.
What the law says
Nothing in this rule shall affect any existing provisions in the laws governing suspension of sentence, probation or parole.
Rule 120, Section 9 — Existing provisions governing suspension of sentence, probation and parole not affected by this Rule. Read the full provision →
A deliberate boundary on Rule 120's scope
Section 9 is a savings clause. After laying out how judgment is defined, written, and its contents for both conviction and acquittal, the rule closes by clarifying that none of it touches the separate body of law governing suspension of sentence, probation, or parole. The clause functions as a boundary marker, confirming what Rule 120 does and does not reach within the broader landscape of post-conviction relief.
Why the rule needed to say this
Rule 120 deals with rendering judgment and stating the penalty imposed; probation and parole deal with what happens to a convicted person's sentence afterward, under their own statutes. Without Section 9, there might be room to argue that Rule 120's requirements somehow override or modify those separate frameworks — the section forecloses that reading. It also prevents a convicted person from trying to use Rule 120's requirements about judgment content as a basis for challenging a separate probation or parole decision.
What this means for someone convicted
If you are weighing an application for probation after judgment, look to the probation law itself, not to Rule 120, for the eligibility rules, deadlines, and disqualifications that apply. Rule 120 tells you what the judgment must contain; it has no bearing on whether you qualify to have your sentence suspended through probation. The judgment rendered under Rule 120 is simply the starting point from which a later, separate probation application would then be evaluated under its own governing statute.
What Rule 120 does still control
Even though Rule 120 leaves probation and parole eligibility untouched, it still controls the form and content of the judgment itself — the qualification of the offense, the penalty imposed, and the civil liability, among other required elements. Those judgment contents matter for a probation application in a practical sense, since the penalty stated in the judgment is what a probation officer or court will look to when checking whether the sentence imposed even falls within what the probation law allows. None of this means Rule 120 is irrelevant to probation; it simply means the two bodies of rules operate side by side, each governing its own distinct stage of the case without one overriding or modifying the other.