Green v. Pierpont

657 S.W.2d 743, 1983 Mo. App. LEXIS 4353
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 15, 1983
DocketNo. 13377
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 657 S.W.2d 743 (Green v. Pierpont) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Green v. Pierpont, 657 S.W.2d 743, 1983 Mo. App. LEXIS 4353 (Mo. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

CROW, Judge.

This original proceeding in habeas corpus requires us to decide whether a prisoner granted parole by a circuit court after serving part of a jail sentence is entitled to credit against the sentence for the time spent on parole if the court thereafter revokes the parole.

In 1981, petitioner was convicted of burglary in the second degree, § 569.170, RSMo 1978, and sentenced to one year’s imprisonment in the county jail. He served 137 days; then, in January, 1982, the circuit court placed him on parole for two years. Sixteen months later, the court revoked, the parole and returned petitioner to jail. Thirty days thereafter, petitioner was released anew on parole. One week later, the court again revoked parole, and committed petitioner to jail to serve the remainder of his sentence. The court denied petitioner credit against his sentence for any of the time he was on parole.

Petitioner thereupon filed his petition for writ of habeas corpus with us, arguing that he is entitled to credit against his sentence for all of the time he spent on parole, and, given that credit, he has served his sentence and must be released.

We issued an order to respondent, the official in whose custody petitioner is held, § 221.020, RSMo 1978, to show cause why the writ should not be granted. Rule 91.-05.1 Respondent filed his answer at the time designated, and the cause was thereafter argued and submitted.

At the time of petitioner’s 1982 parole, the statute authorizing circuit courts to grant parole — and probation — was § 549.-061, RSMo 1978. At that time, parole was defined by § 549.058(2), RSMo 1978, as “the release of a prisoner to the community by the court ... prior to the expiration of his term, subject to conditions imposed by the court ... and to its supervision.” Parole, by definition, was thus limited to persons in confinement serving a sentence previously imposed. Parole therefore differed from probation, in that probation was defined as a procedure under which a defendant found guilty of a crime upon verdict or plea was released by the court without imprisonment, subject to conditions imposed by the court and subject to the supervision of a probation service. § 549.058(3), RSMo 1978. The distinction between parole and probation was noted in Gordon v. State, 501 S.W.2d 489, 490 n. 1 (Mo.App.1973).

Section 549.058, RSMo 1978, defining parole and probation, was repealed effective August 13, 1982, by Laws 1982, p. 438. Parole and probation are presently defined by § 217.650, RSMo Cum.Supp.1982, which became effective August 13, 1982, the same day § 549.058 was repealed. Their definitions are essentially unchanged. Section 549.061, RSMo 1978, authorizing circuit courts to grant parole and probation, was similarly repealed effective August 13, 1982, by Laws 1982, p. 438. The power of circuit courts to grant parole and probation is now codified as § 217.765.1, RSMo Cum. Supp.1982, which became effective the same day, August 13, 1982.

Prior to January 1, 1979, revocation of parole and probation by the courts was covered by § 549.101, RSMo 1969. Under paragraph 1 of that section, a court that revoked parole or probation was granted discretion to allow credit, in mitigation of the sentence, for all or part of the time the defendant was on parole or probation. Gordon, 501 S.W.2d at 490.

Section 549.101, RSMo 1969, was repealed effective January 1, 1979, by Laws 1977, p. 658. On January 1, 1979, § 559.036, RSMo 1978, took effect. This section, which deals only with probation, authorizes the courts, upon revocation of probation, to mitigate any sentence of imprisonment by reducing the prison or jail term by all or part of the time the defendant was on probation. § 559.036.3, RSMo 1978. Since January 1, 1979, there has been no similar statute dealing with parole. Section 217.765.2, RSMo Cum.Supp.1982, which took effect August [745]*74513, 1982, authorizes circuit courts to revoke parole — and probation — but is silent as to the allowance of credit against a sentence for time spent on parole or probation.

Thus, when petitioner’s first and second paroles were revoked this year (1983), there was no statute authorizing the court to allow credit against petitioner’s sentence for the time he spent on parole. Had petitioner been on probation, instead of parole, § 559.036.3, RSMo 1978, would have authorized the court, in its discretion, to reduce the jail term by allowing credit for all or part of the time petitioner was on probation.

Having sketched this background, we next observe that at the time petitioner was granted parole in 1982, there was another series of statutes dealing with parole (but not probation): §§ 549.261-.275, RSMo 1978. Those statutes authorized the Missouri Board of Probation and Parole (“the Board”) to parole any person confined in any correctional institution administered by state authorities, § 549.261.1, RSMo 1978, and established the procedure for revoking Board paroles, § 549.265, RSMo 1978. Among the statutes in that series was a provision that, subject to one exception not material here, time served on parole shall be counted as time served under the sentence. § 549.265.3, RSMo 1978. Under another provision, § 549.275.1, RSMo 1978, the period served on parole was to be deemed service of the term of imprisonment and, subject to an exception not material here, the total time served could not exceed the maximum term or sentence.

That series of statutes, which originated as Laws 1957, pp. 385-387, applied only to paroles granted by the Board, not to judicial paroles. State v. Hicks, 376 S.W.2d 160, 163 (Mo.1964). Hicks, noting the distinction between probation and parole, and also the distinction between judicial paroles and Board paroles, held that § 549.275, RSMo 1959 (the precursor of § 549.275, RSMo 1978), did not apply to a sentence ordered executed by a circuit court after revoking a defendant’s probation. Accordingly, the defendant there was entitled to no credit against his sentence for the time he was on probation.

It is thus evident that long before petitioner was granted his 1982 parole, a dual system of granting and revoking paroles existed in Missouri. One set of statutes governed judicial paroles and another set governed Board paroles. Both statutory schemes still exist. Judicial paroles are currently authorized by § 217.765.1, RSMo Cum.Supp.1982, and Board paroles are authorized by § 217.690.1, RSMo Cum.Supp. 1982. The Board’s authority to revoke the paroles it grants currently appears in § 217.720, RSMo Cum.Supp.1982, and the courts’ authority to revoke the paroles they grant currently appears in § 217.765.2, RSMo Cum.Supp.1982. This history, though prolix, is essential in evaluating petitioner’s argument.

Petitioner’s contention that he is entitled to credit against his sentence for the time he spent on parole is based on two statutes: §§ 217.720.32 and 217.730.1,3 RSMo Cum.Supp.1982. These statutes formerly appeared as §§ 549.265.3 and 549.-275.1, RSMo 1978, respectively, and were located in the series of statutes pertaining to Board paroles. The two statutes were relocated in chapter 217 in 1982 by H.B. 1196, Laws 1982, pp. 435-475. As observed earlier, however, they originated in S.B. 132, Laws 1957, pp. 380-388.

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657 S.W.2d 743, 1983 Mo. App. LEXIS 4353, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/green-v-pierpont-moctapp-1983.