In People v. Orrante (1962) 201 Cal.App.2d 553, the trial court summarily granted probation to the defendant without ever imposing sentence. The granting of probation was prohibited by statute, since the defendant had been convicted of murder while armed with a deadly weapon. (Pp. 555, 566.) The initial question before the appellate court was whether the People were entitled to appeal from the order granting probation. The court first concluded that the order was not appealable under subdivision 5 (now subd. (a)(5)) of section 1238, which authorizes an appeal from an "order made after judgment . . . ." The Orrante court reasoned that since the trial court had never imposed sentence, there was no judgment against the defendant and the order granting probation therefore could not be considered an order after judgment. (P. 556.) The Orrante court then turned its attention to subdivision 6 (now subd. (a)(6)) of section 1238, which allows the People to appeal from an "order modifying the verdict or finding by reducing . . . the punishment imposed." (Pp. 556-557.) The court pointed out that, since the defendant had pleaded guilty and such a plea was the equivalent of a verdict and dispensed with the necessity of any finding by the court, the order granting probation clearly had the effect of modifying a verdict or finding. (P. 557.) The Orrante court next turned to the question whether subdivision 6 was inapplicable because the order granting probation merely modified the punishment which should have been imposed rather than that actually imposed by the trial court. (P. 557.) The Court concluded that this question should be answered in the negative and that the applicability of subdivision 6 should not be dependent upon "the procedural formalism of the trial court first imposing the punishment and then reducing it." (Pp. 557-558.) The Orrante court stated, "We are of the opinion that where the trial court suspends the imposition of sentence and grants probation, when it has no jurisdiction to make such orders, 'the purpose and ultimate effect of the court's order,' to adopt the language of Burke, supra, is to reduce the punishment and the order is appealable under subdivision 6 of section 1238." (P. 558.)