Johnathan Summons v. State of Arkansas

2025 Ark. App. 153

• Court: Court of Appeals of Arkansas
• Decided: March 12, 2025
• Status: Published

Opinion

Cite as 2025 Ark. App. 153 ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS DIVISION I No. CR-23-346

JOHNATHAN SUMMONS Opinion Delivered March 12, 2025 APPELLANT APPEAL FROM THE SALINE COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT V. [NO. 63CR-21-549]

STATE OF ARKANSAS HONORABLE BRENT DILLON APPELLEE HOUSTON, JUDGE

AFFIRMED

RAYMOND R. ABRAMSON, Judge

A Saline County jury convicted appellant Johnathan Summons of driving or boating

while intoxicated, sixth offense, and sentenced him to fifteen years’ imprisonment in case

number 63CR-21-549. The circuit court ordered that Summons serve the sentence

consecutively to his five-year sentence for fleeing in case number 63CR-21-548. Summons

subsequently filed a timely motion for credit pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated section

5-4-404 (Supp. 2019) for time spent in custody, which the circuit court denied. On appeal,

Summons argues this denial was an abuse of discretion. We affirm the circuit court’s order

denying Summons’s motion for jail-time credit.

On February 24, 2021, Summons was arrested and charged in Saline County Circuit

Court case number 63CR-21-549 with the offense of driving or boating while intoxicated,

sixth offense. He was released on bond later that same day. On March 3, the Arkansas Board of Parole (“Parole Board”) issued a warrant for Summons’s arrest in an unrelated criminal

case, Pulaski County Circuit Court case number 60CR-19-2956.

On March 29, Summons was arrested and charged with numerous offenses including

fleeing, and the charges were formally filed in Saline County Circuit Court case number

63CR-21-548. Summons was released on bond for those charges on March 31. However, he

was immediately arrested on the warrant issued by the Parole Board in case number 60CR-

19-2956 and was held in the Saline County jail until he was transferred to the Pulaski County

jail and ultimately to the Arkansas Division of Correction (“ADC”).

On April 28, 2022, a Saline County jury convicted Summons of driving or boating

while intoxicated, sixth offense, in case number 63CR-21-549 and sentenced him to fifteen

years’ imprisonment. On the same day, he pleaded guilty to fleeing in case number 63CR-

51-548, and he was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. The circuit court ordered the

sentences in case numbers 63CR-21-549 and 63CR-21-548 to be served consecutively and

granted Summons credit for four days’ presentence jail time in the Saline County jail.

On appeal, Summons argues the circuit court abused its discretion by misapplying

Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-4-404 because it did not give him credit for the time he

was held in the Pulaski County jail as well as the time he was held in the ADC as a result of

the parole violation in case number 60CR-19-2956. He maintains that in addition to the

four days’ credit he received, he also was owed a total of 393 days for time spent in custody.

We find no merit in his argument that he is entitled to additional days of credit.

2 Section 5-4-404 provides that a defendant is entitled to credit for time “held in

custody for conduct that results in a sentence to imprisonment[.]” Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-

404. Our supreme court has held that credit for jail time served is appropriate only for the

time held in custody as the result of the conduct for which a defendant was sentenced. E.g.,

Bailey v. State, 2019 Ark. App. 53, at 4, 571 S.W.3d 21, 23. Thus, we hold that Summons is

not entitled to credit for the time served for his Pulaski County conviction, case number

60CR-19-2956, in the unrelated criminal cases in Saline County. The circuit court’s order

denying Summons’s motion is affirmed.

Affirmed.

HIXSON and BROWN, JJ., agree.

Johnathan Tyer Summons, pro se appellant.

Tim Griffin, Att’y Gen., by: Rebecca Kane, Ass’t Att’y Gen., for appellee.