In Re the Personal Restraint of Phelan

647 P.2d 1026, 97 Wash. 2d 590
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 14, 1982
Docket47744-2
StatusPublished
Cited by44 cases

This text of 647 P.2d 1026 (In Re the Personal Restraint of Phelan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re the Personal Restraint of Phelan, 647 P.2d 1026, 97 Wash. 2d 590 (Wash. 1982).

Opinion

Williams, J.

The issue in this personal restraint peti *592 tion is whether credit against a maximum prison sentence must be given for: (1) time actually served in detention; and (2) time served under the restrictions of probation but not in actual detention. We hold petitioner is not entitled to credit against his maximum sentence for nondetention probationary time, but is entitled to credit for all jail time served exclusively on the principal underlying charge. To the extent petitioner is entitled to the relief stated herein, we grant his personal restraint petition.

Petitioner, Phillip M. Phelan, was arrested on July 23, 1977, on a charge of second degree rape. He pleaded guilty on August 9, 1977, and remained in custody continuously from the time of his arrest to his sentencing on April 12,

1978. The trial judge imposed the maximum 10-year sentence, but suspended execution of the sentence on the condition that petitioner serve 1 year in the Thurston County Jail and comply with the conditions of his probation. Under the terms of his probation, petitioner was to abstain from alcohol, seek alcohol rehabilitation, and observe all laws of the state. Petitioner was given credit for the 9 months he had served to that point, and was required to serve only 3 months more in the Thurston County Jail until his July 23, 1978, release.

Petitioner was arrested on a number of occasions thereafter for various traffic offenses and drunk driving — all violations of his terms of probation. On May 5, 1979, he was arrested and eventually transferred to the Thurston County Jail. On June 20, 1979, petitioner appeared in court for a probation revocation hearing, but probation was continued after petitioner served an additional 30 days in the county jail.

After his release, petitioner was convicted of several additional traffic offenses. On May 5, 1980, an order of probation suspension, arrest, and detention was issued and served on petitioner while he was serving time for another offense in the Clark County Jail. He was transferred back to the Thurston County Jail on July 10, 1980. On August 13, 1980, petitioner's probation was revoked by the same *593 judge who originally granted his probation. The judge reimposed the maximum 10-year sentence with credit for 14 months served in the Thurston County Jail. That sentence would have expired June 12, 1989. Petitioner was notified in December of 1980 by the Board of Prison Terms and Paroles (Board) that the expiration date of his maximum term had been set at August 12, 1990.

Petitioner then filed a pro se personal restraint petition in Division Two of the Court of Appeals alleging: (1) he was entitled to credit for jail time served; and (2) he was entitled to credit for the entire probationary period. The court required responses both from the Thurston County prosecutor and the Board.

The prosecuting attorney responded, asserting, among other things, that petitioner's maximum sentence actually expired on October 12, 1988. (The basis for 22 months' credit to the 10-year sentence is unclear, but the prosecutor conceded that credit was due for jail time served.) The assistant attorney general, on behalf of the Board, also responded and asserted the trial court had no authority to give petitioner credit for time served and argued the expiration date was properly set by the Board at August 12, 1990. Chief Judge Reed's original order dismissed Phelan's petition and accepted the prosecutor's expiration date of October 12, 1988.

Petitioner and the assistant attorney general each filed motions for reconsideration, but the prosecutor filed only a notice that he had no position on the assistant attorney general's argument. Although recognizing that ordinarily a motion for reconsideration of this type would be treated as a motion for discretionary review in the Supreme Court, see RAP 16.14(c), Chief Judge Reed decided that since the assistant attorney general also moved for reconsideration, the matter should be decided by the Court of Appeals. In his order on reconsideration, Chief Judge Reed modified his initial order by setting the expiration date of petitioner's maximum term at August 12, 1990, consistent with the assistant attorney general's argument. This denied credit *594 for any jail time previously served by the petitioner. We granted petitioner's pro se motion for discretionary review on July 23, 1981, and appointed counsel for purposes of this appeal.

Four separate jail time periods are involved in this case: (1) between petitioner's arrest and guilty plea; (2) between the guilty plea and sentencing; (3) as a condition of probation after sentencing; and (4) while awaiting the revocation hearing. We will discuss each category in turn.

As to the first two categories of jail time, the case of Reanier v. Smith, 83 Wn.2d 342, 517 P.2d 949 (1974), requires that petitioner be given credit for the 9 months he served prior to the imposition of sentencing. In that case, we observed:

Fundamental fairness and the avoidance of discrimination and possible multiple punishment dictate that an accused person, unable to or precluded from posting bail or otherwise procuring his release from confinement prior to trial should, upon conviction and commitment to a state penal facility, be credited as against a maximum and a mandatory minimum term with all time served in detention prior to trial and sentence. Otherwise, such a person's total time in custody would exceed that of a defendant likewise sentenced but who had been able to obtain pretrial release.

(Italics ours.) Reanier, at 346. The above analysis, however, is not limited only to those persons detained prior to trial because of indigency. Whether the pretrial confinement be occasioned by the inability to post bail or the individual's inability to "otherwise procur[e] his release from confinement prior to trial", Reanier requires that credit for time served be granted against the individual's maximum sentence. Therefore, the trial judge acted properly when he credited petitioner with 9 months of presentence jail time, both in his sentencing and revocation of probation orders.

As to the third category of probationary jail time, the Reanier rationale was utilized to grant credit for such jail time in State v. Hultman, 92 Wn.2d 736, 746 n.3, 600 P.2d 1291 (1979). In Hultman, the defendant served 90 *595 days in county jail as a condition of the suspension of his 1-year sentence. The Court of Appeals held the trial court lacked jurisdiction to revoke the probation and reversed. We reinstated the trial court's revocation of Hultman's probation "with the proviso that Hultman be given credit for time in jail." (Footnote omitted.) Hultman, at 746. Footnote 3 of that opinion set out the following rationale for giving him such credit:

While we are cognizant that both State v. Monday, [12 Wn. App.

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Bluebook (online)
647 P.2d 1026, 97 Wash. 2d 590, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-personal-restraint-of-phelan-wash-1982.