Dewees v. State

444 N.E.2d 332, 1983 Ind. App. LEXIS 2568
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 25, 1983
Docket1-782A192
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 444 N.E.2d 332 (Dewees 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
Dewees v. State, 444 N.E.2d 332, 1983 Ind. App. LEXIS 2568 (Ind. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

NEAL, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Defendant-appellant Christopher Dewees (Dewees) appeals the denial of his motion for presentence jail credit.

We affirm.

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS

Dewees was arrested by Henry County authorities and confined to jail on a theft charge on August 12,1981. An information was filed on August 18, 1981. Dewees made bond on September 1, 1981, and remained free pursuant to the bond until September 3, 1981, when he was rearrested by Henry County authorities on new, unrelated theft and burglary charges. The bond under the earlier charge was never withdrawn, and Dewees remained in the Henry County jail until December 30, 1981, when, upon his plea of guilty pursuant to a written plea bargain, he was given a four-year executed sentence for the earlier theft charge. The later, unrelated burglary and theft charges were dismissed pursuant to the same plea bargain. The trial court credited Dewees with 21 days presentence jail time (apparently from August 12 to September 1).

ISSUE

The sole issue on appeal is whether Dew-ees is entitled to presentence jail credit against his sentence for theft under the earlier charge, in which he was bonded out, *333 for the time spent in jail because of his rearrest on the later charges, which were dismissed according to the plea bargain disposing of both eases.

DISCUSSION AND DECISION

This particular issue is one of first impression. The applicable statutes, enacted in 1976 and amended in 1977, are Ind.Code 35-50-6-4(a) and 35-50-6-3(a):

“35-50-6-4 Credit time assignments
... (a) A person imprisoned for a crime or imprisoned awaiting trial or sentencing is initially assigned to Class I.”
“35-50-6-3(a) Credit time classes
... (a) A person assigned to Class I earns one (1) day of credit time for each day he is imprisoned for a crime or confined awaiting trial or sentencing.”

The predecessor of these statutes was Ind. Code 35-8-2.5-1 (1976, Repealed) which provided that credit be given for days of presentence confinement,

“... as a result of the criminal charge for which sentence is imposed or as a result of the conduct on which such charge is based.”

Ind.Code 35-8-2.5-2 (1976, Repealed) provided in substance that if the sentences ran concurrently, the credit would be applied to each sentence, and if the sentences ran consecutively the credit would be applied to the aggregate term of the sentences.

Franks v. State, (1975) 262 Ind. 649, 323 N.E.2d 221, decided under the old statute, held that when a defendant is awaiting two trials on different crimes during the same period and is convicted and sentenced separately but concurrently, he is entitled to presentence credit on each sentence. Brown v. State, (1975) 262 Ind. 629, 322 N.E.2d 708, discussed the constitutional and philosophical underpinnings for the old statute. The Supreme Court noted that the statute requiring credit for all presentence confinement attributable to the same offense, in addition to implementing Fifth Amendment double jeopardy protection,

“. .. responds to potential equal protection problems which would arise if pre-sentence confinement were the result of the inability of a criminal defendant to post bail and thereby secure his release pending trial, resulting in different periods of total confinement being served by two prisoners who had been convicted of the same offense, solely because one had the money to post bail and the other did not. Law and procedures which discriminate against indigent defendants are inconsistent with the promise of equal treatment under law.
* * * * * *
... The law confines the use of pre-trial detention to only one end: namely, that the criminal defendant be present for trial. This limitation is implicit in the concept of bail. Art. 1, § 17, Indiana Constitution.” (Citations omitted.)

Id. at 712, 322 N.E.2d 708. Owen v. State, (1979) Ind., 396 N.E.2d 376, followed the reasoning of Franks. Cooley v. State, (1977) 172 Ind.App. 199, 360 N.E.2d 29, held that the old statute applied only to time spent in confinement “as a result of the criminal charge for which sentence is imposed or as a result of the conduct on which such charge is based,” and held that time spent on a different office in Illinois could not be so applied to an Indiana sentence. See also, Burnett v. State, (1982) Ind.App., 439 N.E.2d 174; Woodson v. State, (1978) Ind.App., 383 N.E.2d 1096.

In Dolan v. State, (1981) Ind.App., 420 N.E.2d 1364, Judge Staton made an exhaustive analysis of the above cases and the change in the statute. The Dolan court held at 1372 that Owen and Franks established the rule that,

“... a defendant is to be granted presen-tence time served credit for the time spent imprisoned from the date of arrest for a charge to the date of sentencing for that charge.”

Dolan concluded that the new provisions, Ind.Code 35-50-6-4(a) and 3(a) merely continued the rule of Owen and Franks. The Dolan court stated that the omission of the “result of” phraseology found in the repealed provision worked no change.

*334 “The Legislature’s omission of the ‘result of phraseology creates a second problem. Seemingly, IC 35-50-6-3 has the less restrictive prerequisite for pre-sentence credit. The defendant is credited for time ‘confined awaiting trial or sentencing.’ One possible interpretation of this statute would allow a defendant convicted and sentenced for one offense credit toward that one sentence for time spent ‘awaiting trial or sentencing’ for any offense. Such an interpretation and application of this legislation would be unreasonable and clearly violate the intent of the Legislature. This we will not do. See, Pryor v. State (1973), 260 Ind. 408, 296 N.E.2d 125; Marks v. State (1942), 220 Ind. 9, 40 N.E.2d 108; State v. Moles (1975), 166 Ind.App. 632, 337 N.E.2d 543.

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Bluebook (online)
444 N.E.2d 332, 1983 Ind. App. LEXIS 2568, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dewees-v-state-indctapp-1983.