Arthur v. State

950 N.E.2d 343, 2011 Ind. App. LEXIS 1001, 2011 WL 2237791
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 8, 2011
Docket28A01-1008-CR-489
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 950 N.E.2d 343 (Arthur v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Arthur v. State, 950 N.E.2d 343, 2011 Ind. App. LEXIS 1001, 2011 WL 2237791 (Ind. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

OPINION

DARDEN, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Michael K. Arthur appeals the provision of the trial court’s order that denied him eligibility for credit time while placed on home detention in a community corrections program. The State cross-appeals the trial court’s modification of Arthur’s sentence.

We reverse as to the former, and we affirm as to the latter.

ISSUES

Arthur: Whether the trial court abused its discretion and misinterpreted Indiana Code section 35-38-2.6-1 and 35-38-2.6-6 to hold that Arthur was not eligible for credit time 1 while on home detention through a community corrections program.
State: Whether the trial court erred in modifying Arthur’s sentence.

FACTS

On January 25, 2010, the State and Arthur filed with the trial court their signed “Negotiated Plea Agreement” in two cases — 28D01-0911-FD-570 (“570”), and 28D01-0908-CM-399 (“# 399”). The agreement provided that in # 570, Arthur would plead guilty to a class D felony; and in #399, Arthur would plead guilty to a class D felony. The agreement further provided that in # 570, the State would recommend that Arthur be sentenced to 1½ years, with 180 days suspended, “to be served on work release if eligible”; and that on # 399, the State would recommend that Arthur be sentenced to 1 ½ years, also “to be served on work release if eligible.” (App.41,100).

The trial court took the tendered plea agreement under advisement, and on that same day, January 25, 2010, it ordered both a pre-sentence investigation report and an evaluation “to determine whether [Arthur] is eligible and a good candidate for alternative sentencing programs.” Id. at 43, 102. The evaluation, filed with the trial court on February 25, 2010, reviewed information about Arthur, noted the two specific class D felony offenses to which Arthur was “expected to plead guilty,” and found him “an acceptable candidate for work release” with the county community corrections program. Id. at 165.

On February 26, 2010, the trial court “accepted] the plea of guilty and accepted] the terms of the Negotiated Plea Agreement” as to both # 570 and # 399, and it entered judgments of conviction *345 thereon. Id. at 104, 45. On #570, the trial court imposed a 1 ½ year sentence, and ordered Arthur “committed to the Greene County Community Corrections Work Release Center for a term of one and one-half years.” Id. at 105. On #399, the trial court imposed a 1½ year sentence, suspended 90 days, and ordered him committed to the community work release center “for a term of 1 year,” to be served “upon completion of’ the sentence imposed in # 570. Id. at 47, 48.

On June 16, 2010, Arthur filed a petition for modification of his place of commitment. He asserted that as a union millwright, he was facing difficulty in job placement because the union’s dispatch system for jobs was incompatible with rules at the work release center, and that the rules also precluded his participation in work-related education programs. Arthur sought modification of his place of “commitment to serve the balance of his sentence on home detention.” Id. at 54. According to his petition, the deputy prosecuting attorney had advised that although he did “not join in” the request for change of placement he would “not oppose the Court’s exercising discretion to grant the request.” Id.

On July 1, 2010, the trial court held a hearing on the petition for modification. Greg Roudebush of the county community corrections program testified that he was Arthur’s case manager, and that there had been “no trouble” whatsoever with Arthur since his placement at the work release center on February 27, 2010, and Arthur had complied with all its rules. (Tr. 5). Roudebush testified that the only “reason why under [the] rules [Arthur] would not be eligible to do ... home detention rather than work release” would be if “residence” conditions could not be met. Id. Arthur testified that he had lost and was continuing to lose union millwright employment placements due to his inability to respond immediately to dispatch calls because use of his cell phone was not allowed at the work release center. He also testified that the work release center commitment precluded his participation in the union’s employment enhancement courses. The State expressly noted for the record that it had “agreed not to oppose the Petition.” Id. at 19. At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court stated that it would “order that Community Corrections do an evaluation to determine if Mr. Arthur is eligible,” and would take the matter under advisement. Id. at 21.

On July 14, 2010, Roudebush filed a report advising that “Arthur is an acceptable candidate for the GPS home detention program.” (App. at 167).

On July 30, 2010, the trial court entered its orders for “modification of commitment from community corrections work release to community corrections home detention” in # 570 and in # 399. (App.8, 115). Therein, the trial court ordered that Arthur “serve the remainder of this sentence” on GPS-monitored home detention, but that he “not receive [Credit Time] for his sentence served on home detention.” Id. The trial court reasoned that the new amendment of Indiana Code section 35-38-2.6-6 only allowed “[Credit Time] effective July 1, 2010 for persons receiving a direct placement”; however, but because Arthur’s sentence was “not a direct placement,” therefore, he was “not eligible to receive good time credit.” Id.

DECISION

1. Arthur’s Issue

Arthur argues that the trial court erred when it held that the change or amendment to Indiana Code section 35-38-2.6-6 did not apply when it ordered Arthur’s placement on home detention on *346 July 30, 2010; and that if the statutory provision only applied to those persons sentenced for crimes carrying non-sus-pendable sentences, then its application violates the state and federal constitutions.

As to his first argument, we turn to the statutory provisions relating to community corrections programs, which include placement “on home detention as part of a community corrections program.” I.C. § 35-38-2.6-4.5. Before the new amendment, effective July 1, 2010, the term “credit time” provision for community corrections placements stated that “ ‘ home’ means the actual living area of the temporary or permanent residence of a person” but does “not include” a hospital, health care facility, hospice, group home, maternity home, residential treatment facility, boarding house or public correctional facility; and that “[a] person who is placed in a community corrections program under this chapter is entitled to earn credit time under IC 35-50-6 unless the person is placed in the person’s home.” I.C. § 35-38-2.6-6(a) (superseded by amendment effective July 1, 2010 pursuant to P.L. 105-2010 Sec. 14).

Focusing on the bold-print language above, our Supreme Court held in

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
950 N.E.2d 343, 2011 Ind. App. LEXIS 1001, 2011 WL 2237791, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arthur-v-state-indctapp-2011.