Dishroon v. State

722 N.E.2d 385, 2000 Ind. App. LEXIS 58, 2000 WL 49625
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 24, 2000
Docket55A01-9906-CR-201
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 722 N.E.2d 385 (Dishroon 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
Dishroon v. State, 722 N.E.2d 385, 2000 Ind. App. LEXIS 58, 2000 WL 49625 (Ind. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

OPINION

ROBB, Judge

Case Summary

Roger Dishroon was found to have violated the terms of his probation and was ordered incarcerated for six years, the entire balance of his previously suspended sentence. Dishroon appeals the trial court’s determination of his credit for time served. We reverse and remand with instructions.

Issue

Dishroon raises one issue for our review which we restate as whether the trial court erred in computing his credit time by failing to give him credit for the time he served in home detention.

Facts and Procedural History

In 1993, Dishroon entered a plea of guilty to burglary, a Class B felony. 1 Pursuant to the plea agreement, Dishroon was sentenced to the Indiana Department of Correction for six years, all suspended except for 484 days. 2 As a part of the sentencing order, Dishroon was ordered to be placed on home detention once the 484 days were served. Although specifically noted on the sentencing order, Dishroon’s home detention was actually a condition of his probation. Dishroon was on home detention from June 1, 1993 until December 16, 1993.

In July of 1996, the trial court found that Dishroon had violated his probation and ordered that 844 days of his previously suspended sentence be executed. 3 In May of 1999, Dishroon was again found to have violated his probation. The trial court ordered the remainder of the original six year sentence to be executed, and gave Dishroon 686 days credit for time actually served and an additional 686 days good time credit. 4 The trial court did not include the time that Dishroon spent on home detention as either credit for time actually served or good time credit. He now appeals.

*387 Discussion and Decision

The trial court calculated Dishroon’s credit for time actually served by adding the 242 days Dishroon served originally, plus the 422 days he served for violating his probation the first time, plus an additional 22 days that he served prior to his second probation revocation for a total of 686 days. The trial court also gave Dish-roon 686 days of good time credit. Dish-roon argues that he should be given credit for the time he actually served in home detention plus good time credit for that period. Although, as we will discuss below, Dishroon is not entitled to good time credit for time served in home detention, the trial court erred by not including the 198 days that he actually served in home detention in its computation of the credit to which Dishroon was entitled.

I. History/Terminology Confusion

Historically, the difference between credit for time actually served and good time credit has created confusion. Until 1977, the statute defining the credit to which a defendant was entitled in addition to the days actually spent in confinement referred to that credit as “good time.” In 1977, the legislature replaced the word “good” in the statute with the word “credit.” Since that time, this court has struggled with interpretation of where and when a defendant receives credit for time actually served and when a defendant also receives good time credit.

In Wharff v. State, 691 N.E.2d 205 (Ind. Ct.App.1998), trans. denied, Wharff argued that “the distinction between the statutory term ‘credit time’ and the ‘concept of credit for time served’ has been blurred....” Id. at 206. Wharff was sentenced to five years after pleading guilty to burglary. Id. at 205. His sentence was suspended, but he was placed on probation for five years, the first 180 days of which he was to be on electronically monitored home detention. Id. When Wharff s probation was revoked, the trial court determined that he was not entitled to credit for the time he served in electronic home monitoring. Id. We correctly noted that Indiana Code section 35-50-6-6(a) does not allow a defendant to earn good time credit while on probation when we stated that “we have consistently and unambiguously held that a person placed on home detention as a condition of probation is not entitled to [good time] credit....” Id. at 206. We agree with this general proposition. However, the court further noted that Wharff did not cite any statutory mandate to support his argument that he should receive credit for time actually served. Thus, the court concluded, “we cannot agree that home detention as a condition of probation constitutes ‘time served.’ ” Id.

In Kuhfahl v. State, 710 N.E.2d 200 (Ind.Ct.App.1999), we held that “in determining whether a defendant is entitled to credit for time [actually] served [the relevant inquiry] is whether the defendant actually served any part of his sentence; that is, whether he was actually ‘confined’ for some period.” Id. at 203. Because Kuhfahl’s sentence was suspended and was not being served in the Department of Correction and because his home detention was a condition of his probation, we concluded that “Kuhfahl was never confined and, therefore, did not ‘serve time.’ ” Id. Thus, we held that Kuhfahl was not entitled to credit for the time he actually served on home detention.

The Indiana Supreme Court recently addressed this issue in Purcell v. State, 721 N.E.2d 220 (Ind.1999). In Purcell, it was determined that “credit time,” as used in Indiana statutes, “means good time credit, not credit for time served.” 721 N.E.2d at 223. The court noted that its decision in Franklin v. State, 685 N.E.2d 1062 (Ind. 1997), was wrong “[t]o the extent that [it] h[e]ld that Ind.Code 35-38-2.6-6 prohibits an offender sentenced to home detention under a community corrections program from earning credit for time served....” Purcell, 721 N.E.2d at 223-224. This decision has now clarified the confusion created by the use of the term “credit time.”

*388 Because our prior decisions have blurred this distinction between credit for time actually served and credit time (or good time credit) and because of the recent decision in Purcell, we must now disagree with our prior decisions in Whanrff and Kuhfahl. 5

II. A Day for a Day

Although Purcell has now clarified the meaning of ‘credit time,’ we provide the following discussion for further explanation.

Indiana Code section 35-50-6-6 reads as follows:

A person imprisoned for a crime earns credit time

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Bluebook (online)
722 N.E.2d 385, 2000 Ind. App. LEXIS 58, 2000 WL 49625, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dishroon-v-state-indctapp-2000.