Hampton v. Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections

213 So. 3d 394, 2016 La.App. 1 Cir. 0402, 2017 WL 658730, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 247
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 17, 2017
DocketNUMBER 2016 CA 0402
StatusPublished

This text of 213 So. 3d 394 (Hampton v. Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hampton v. Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections, 213 So. 3d 394, 2016 La.App. 1 Cir. 0402, 2017 WL 658730, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 247 (La. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

GUIDRY, J.

12Michael Hampton, a felon convicted of armed robbery, who was freed from his initial term of incarceration on good time release, but later violated the conditions of his release and was re-incarcerated, appeals a judgment of the district court that affirmed the decision of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections (“DPSC”) denying his administrative remedy request (“ARP”). For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On March 18, 1994, Mr. Hampton was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for the crime of armed robbery. On September 2, 1994, Mr. Hampton signed a “Good Time Rate Option and Approval Form,” wherein, in lieu of incentive wages, he agreed “to receive good time at the rate of thirty days for every thirty days in actual custody pursuant to La. R.S. 15:571.3.” Pursuant to his election to receive good time, Mr. Hampton was approved to become eligible to receive good time at the rate of thirty days for every thirty days in actual custody effective March 18, 1994. As a result of his election to receive good time, Mr. Hampton was released from prison on good time supervised parole on June 7, 2003.

In December 2007, Mr. Hampton committed the crimes of simple burglary and attempted simple burglary. He was arrested on December 29, 2007, but allowed to bond out of jail on January 6, 2008. Then on January 13, 2010, he was arrested by officers with the Baton Rouge Police Department, again for the offense of simple burglary. Following that arrest, a parole hold was placed on Mr. Hampton on January 25, 2010. Thereafter, a “Notice of Preliminary Hearing” was provided to Mr. Hampton for violating the terms of his good time release. On May 25, 2010, Mr. Hampton waived his right to a preliminary hearing and final parole revocation hearing and pled guilty to all parole violations. Hence, Mr. Hampton’s good time release was revoked, effective May 25,2010.

laOn October 13, 2010, Mr. Hampton pled guilty to the December 2007 charges of simple burglary and attempted simple burglary and was sentenced to eight and six years imprisonment, respectively, with the sentences to run concurrent with the 20-year sentence Mr. Hampton was serving for armed robbery.

At some point during his re-incarceration, Mr. Hampton’s parole eligibility was marked as “D” rather than “N” on his armed robbery sentence.1 However, on being transferred to the Phelps Reentry Program at Angola State Penitentiary, Mr. Hampton’s master prison record was corrected to reflect that he was not parole eligible.

On November 15, 2012, Mr. Hampton filed ARP No. CPCC-2012-0413, in which he complained about his parole eligibility status being changed from being at the discretion of the parole board to his not being eligible for parole. He further complained about an alleged addition of one month and 16 days to his sentence. After Mr. Hampton’s ARP was rejected at both steps of the DPSC’s administrative review, he filed a petition for judicial review of the denial of his complaints asserted in ARP No. CPCC-2012-0413 on June 11, 2013.2

[396]*396A commissioner with the Nineteenth Judicial District Court3 held a hearing on Mr, Hampton’s petition for judicial review on April 10, 2015, at which time Mr. Hampton appeared in proper person, having again been freed on good time release. On the date of the hearing, but prior to the actual hearing, Mr. Hampton filed a motion for subpoena duces tecum and a motion to amend his petition for judicial review to add a personal injury claim.

|4At the hearing, Mr. Hampton argued that pursuant to La. R.S. 15:574.9(F), the parole board had the authority to reinstate his release on good time supervised parole, and that before his transfer to the Phelps Reentry Program at Angola, his master prison record reflected his parole eligibility as being “D.S.C.B.” or at the “discretion of the board.” He further contended that prior to his good time release, he served one-half of his armed robbery sentence, ten years. In particular, he asserted that he was released from the Hunt Correctional Center on June 7, 2003, after accruing nine years and “some months, and days,” but on leaving Hunt, he was transferred to a Blue Walters program and then to the City of Faith Halfway House in Monroe, Louisiana. Thus, he argued that he had served a complete ten years before being freed on good time release.

The DPSC argued that any reference that may have appeared on Mr. Hampton’s master prison record indicating that he was parole eligible was simply an error that was later noticed and corrected. The DPSC further denied that an additional month and sixteen days was added to Mr. Hampton’s armed robbery sentence. According to the agency’s records, Mr. Hampton only served nine years, ten months, and 15 days before he was freed on good time release.

During the hearing, the commissioner advised Mr. Hampton that she found his parole eligibility argument to be moot, since he had been freed again on good time release. She further advised him that she would recommend that his motions for subpoena duces tecum and to amend his petition for judicial review be denied. As for the time-served calculations, the commissioner directed the DPSC to supplement the record with missing portions of Mr. Hampton’s master prison record for her to review. After the record was supplemented, the commissioner issued a report to the district court recommending that the decision of the DPSC (denying Mr. Hampton’s complaints under ARP No. CPCC-2012-0413) be affirmed, that Mr. Hampton’s petition be dismissed with prejudice, and that the | ^motions Mr. Hampton filed on April 9, 2015 (the date of the hearing before the commissioner), be denied. The district court signed a judgment consistent with the commissioner’s recommendations on November 10, 2015, which judgment Mr. Hampton appeals herein.

DISCUSSION

The first issue presented by Mr. Hampton in this appeal4 concerns whether [397]*397the DPSC’s modification of his master prison record, removing the indication that he was parole eligible, was improper.

Louisiana Revised Statute 14:64(B) provides that whoever commits the crime of armed robbery shall be imprisoned at hard labor without the benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. Moreover, it has been held that the determination of the sentence a defendant is to serve, and what, if any, conditions are to be imposed on that sentence, is made by the trial judge, not the defendant’s custodian. The custodian’s obligation is to see that the sentence imposed is the sentence served. Blair v. Stalder, 99-1860, p. 9 (La.App. 1 Cir. 1/31/01), 798 So.2d 132, 139. Thus, the DPSC is charged with complying with any conditions placed on a sentence by the trial judge. Boddye v. La. Dept. of Corrections, 14-1836, p. 6 (La.App. 1 Cir. 6/26/16), 175 So.3d 437, 441, writ denied, 15-1688 (La. 10/30/15), 180 So.3d 303.

Mr. Hampton does not dispute, and at the hearing before the commissioner, he even acknowledged that he was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, without the benefit of parole, on his armed robbery offense. So despite the temporary | ^indication otherwise in Mr. Hampton’s master prison record, and despite his actually having been afforded a hearing before the parole board in 2011, these actions by the DPSC cannot override the sentence imposed by the trial judge, which is that Mr. Hampton’s armed robbery sentence was to be served without the benefit of parole.

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Related

Council of City of New Orleans v. Washington
9 So. 3d 854 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2009)
Blair v. Stalder
798 So. 2d 132 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2001)
Paul Massey v. Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections
149 So. 3d 780 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2014)
Boddye v. LA. Dept. of Corrections
175 So. 3d 437 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2015)

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213 So. 3d 394, 2016 La.App. 1 Cir. 0402, 2017 WL 658730, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 247, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hampton-v-louisiana-department-of-public-safety-corrections-lactapp-2017.