Crosby v. State

2011 WY 44, 247 P.3d 876, 2011 Wyo. LEXIS 46, 2011 WL 833338
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 10, 2011
DocketS-10-0153
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 2011 WY 44 (Crosby v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Crosby v. State, 2011 WY 44, 247 P.3d 876, 2011 Wyo. LEXIS 46, 2011 WL 833338 (Wyo. 2011).

Opinion

KITE, Chief Justice.

¶1] The cireuit court imposed a sentence on Claude Robert Crosby that exceeded the maximum authorized by the relevant statute. After serving part of the sentence in the community corrections facility where he had been placed, Mr. Crosby left without authorization. He was charged with escape and claims the charge is improper because he was serving an illegal sentence at the time he left the facility. Upon the parties' stipulation, the district court certified two questions to this Court:

1. Whether the original sentence was void ab initio in its entirety, or is it an illegal sentence subject to correction under Rule 35(a), Wyoming Rules of Civil Procedure?
2. Given that the escape charge in the above-captioned matter was filed at a time when the sentence was illegal, is it proper to continue the prosecution of the Defendant for escape, should this Court find that the original sentence was illegal and subject to correction?

¶2] We answer the first part of question 1 "no"; the original sentence was not void ab initio in its entirety. We answer the second part of question 1 "yes"; the original sentence was subject to correction under W.R.Cr.P. 85(a). We answer the second question "yes"; it was proper to continue the prosecution of Mr. Crosby for escape.

FACTS

¶3] Mr. Crosby was arrested in Converse County, Wyoming on December 6, 2007, for driving while under the influence of aleohol in violation of Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 31-5-283(b)(ii) (LexisNexis 2009). He was incarcerated in the Converse County Detention Center. On December 11, 2007, he was found guilty in cireuit court of driving under the influence, his third offense. The cireuit court sentenced him to 365 days in jail with 270 days suspended and 5 days credit for time served from his arrest until sentencing, leaving a balance of 90 days to be served.

[T4] Mr. Crosby served two more days in the detention center and was then transferred to a correctional facility in Campbell County to serve the 88 days remaining on his sentence. Prior to the expiration of the 88 days, Mr. Crosby allegedly left the facility for his work site, reported to his employer and then left the work site without permission. He was charged with escape in violation of Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-5-206(a)(iND(A) (LexisNexis 2009). On March 4, 2010, he was apprehended and brought to the Campbell County detention center.

[T5] On April 30, 2010, the cireuit court in Converse County, which had imposed the DUI sentence, filed an Order Nune Pro Tune reducing Mr. Crosby's sentence of 365 days to 180 days with 90 days suspended. Subsequently, Mr. Crosby filed a motion to dismiss the escape charge in Campbell County asserting it could not stem from an illegal *878 sentence. The State responded, contending the original sentence remained in force because it had not been appealed and could not be challenged in a collateral proceeding. The State argued further that the circuit court properly corrected the sentence and the 90 days Mr. Crosby was ordered to serve was within the maximum sentence authorized by the statute. The district court certified the questions set forth in paragraph 1 above to this Court.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

[T6] The question of whether a sentence is illegal is one of law, which we review de movo. Sarr v. State, 2007 WY 140, ¶ 9, 166 P.3d 891, 894 (Wyo.2007).

DISCUSSION

¶7] Mr. Crosby was found guilty of violating § 31-5-233(b)(ii). It was his third conviction under the statute within five years; therefore, pursuant to § 81-5-283(e), he was subject to a maximum sentence of six months. The 365 day sentence imposed by the cireuit court clearly exceeded the six month maximum sentence and was, therefore, illegal. Sarr, ¶ 9, 166 P.3d at 894 ("... an illegal sentence is one that exceeds statutory limits."). W.R.Cr.P. 85(a) provides that a court may correct an illegal sentence at any time. Here, the cireuit court properly corrected the illegal sentence after it came to its attention.

[T8] The question this Court must decide is whether the illegal sentence was void in its entirety so as to also void the escape charge. Wyoming law is clear that when part of a divisible sentence is illegal or improper, it may be modified by vacating or striking that part which is illegal or improper and affirming the balance. Engberg v. State, 874 P.2d 890, 891 (Wyo.1994); Roose v. State, 753 P.2d 574, 580 (Wyo.1988); Barnes v. State, 670 P.2d 302, 304 (Wyo.1988); Sorenson v. State, 604 P.2d 1031, 1038 (Wyo.1979). When a district court exceeds its sentencing authority and the sentence is divisible, we have the option of remanding for resentenc-ing or simply mandating that the illegal portion be stricken. Ochoa v. State, 848 P.2d 1859, 1365 (Wyo.1993).

[T9] Whether this Court will strike the illegal portion of a sentence depends upon the cireumstances. In Sorenson and Barnes, the Court declined to do so. The district court in Sorenson had sentenced the defendant to incarceration as authorized by statute but then, without statutory authority, imposed psychiatric treatment as a mandatory condition of parole. In Barnes, the district court sentenced the defendant to one year in jail and imposed a $1,000 fine as statutorily permitted, but also ordered him to make restitution, which neither the sentencing statute nor the restitution statute in effect at the time allowed except in cases of suspended sentences or probation. Concluding the district courts might have imposed entirely different sentences had they known the sentences they fashioned were in part improper, this Court remanded the cases to district court for re-sentencing.

¶10] In Roose, 753 P.2d 574, however, the district court sentenced the defendant to the maximum term of imprisonment authorized by statute and ordered the sentence to be served consecutively to any other sentence imposed upon him in the future. Similarly in Engberg, 874 P.2d 890, the defendant was sentenced to life in prison to run consecutively with the remainder of an unexpired life sentence in Missouri and any sentence imposed in Missouri for escape. In both cases, this Court affirmed the terms of imprisonment but vacated the portion making the terms consecutive to other sentences, concluding the district courts had no authority to impose those conditions.

[T11] Mr. Crosby's situation is more like Roose and Engberg than it is Sorenson or Barnes. The cireuit court was authorized to sentence Mr. Crosby to a maximum sentence of six months. It was not authorized to sentence him to serve more than six months. We affirm the term of imprisonment up to six months and strike the remainder. Mr. Crosby had not yet served six months when he allegedly escaped from the correctional facility. At the time he escaped, he was lawfully confined. The prosecution for the escape charge may continue.

*879 ¶12] Mr. Crosby asserts that we held otherwise in Endris v.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Edgar Allen Stitzel v. The State of Wyoming
2024 WY 26 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2024)
Christopher Mark Nesius v. The State of Wyoming
2019 WY 129 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2019)
Smith v. State
2012 WY 130 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2011 WY 44, 247 P.3d 876, 2011 Wyo. LEXIS 46, 2011 WL 833338, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crosby-v-state-wyo-2011.