Kincaid v. State

778 N.E.2d 789, 2002 Ind. LEXIS 856, 2002 WL 31505457
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 12, 2002
Docket06S01-0204-PC-258
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 778 N.E.2d 789 (Kincaid v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kincaid v. State, 778 N.E.2d 789, 2002 Ind. LEXIS 856, 2002 WL 31505457 (Ind. 2002).

Opinion

ON PETITION FOR TRANSFER

BOEHM, Justice.

The Court of Appeals concluded that double jeopardy required that time served on probation must be credited toward a new sentence of probation imposed for the same conviction after a defendant successfully petitions for post-conviction relief. We agree. Kincaid’s claim is also governed by Indiana Code section 35-50-1-5 and Post Conviction Rule 1(10), which require credit for time served by a successful post-conviction petitioner who is resen-tenced. However, because Kincaid did not appeal his sentence until after he violated the terms of his probation, the trial court did not commit reversible error by requiring him to serve out the remainder of his sentence.

Factual and Procedural Background

On September 16, 1997, Terry Kincaid entered into a plea agreement with the State under which he pleaded guilty to Operating While Intoxicated and Resisting Law Enforcement in exchange for the State’s dropping charges of Escape, Attempted Theft, Criminal Mischief, and a violation of probation in another case. On September 22, 1997, the trial court sentenced Kincaid to consecutive one-year sentences, suspended them but for time served, and placed Kincaid on probation for two years. Kincaid’s probationary period was extended an additional year on March 4,1999, due to a violation.

On October 6, 1999, Kincaid filed a petition for post-conviction relief, arguing that his guilty pleas were not made knowingly or voluntarily. On February 3, 2000, after Kincaid had served 636 days on probation, 1 the post-conviction court granted Kincaid’s petition and set aside his convictions. On February 17, 2000, Kincaid again pleaded *791 guilty to Operating While Intoxicated and Resisting Law Enforcement, and received two years probation. However, the trial court did not credit Kincaid with the 636 days of probation he had already served before winning in the post-conviction court. 2

On July 28, 2000, Kincaid violated his probation by again operating a vehicle while intoxicated, and the State filed a petition to revoke probation. Kincaid responded with a Motion to Correct Erroneous Sentence and to Dismiss Petition to Revoke, contending that the trial court improperly failed to credit his sentence with the 636 days he had served on probation under the original sentence. If those days had been credited, he argued, his second “two year” probationary term would have expired before the violation occurred. The trial court denied his motion. 3 Kincaid then filed a motion to reconsider, arguing that denying him credit for the 636 days violated the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy. That motion also was denied. The trial court granted Kincaid leave to seek an interlocutory appeal, but the Court of Appeals denied Kincaid’s petition to do so. After the trial court denied an amended Motion to Correct Erroneous Sentence and to Dismiss Petition to Revoke, Kincaid admitted violating his probation. The trial court ordered Kincaid to serve the remaining portion of his sentence, but stayed the order so that Kincaid might appeal that decision.

The Court of Appeals agreed with Kin-caid’s double jeopardy claim, holding that “Kincaid was subjected to multiple punishments for the same offense.” Kincaid, v. State, 757 N.E.2d 713, 718 (Ind.Ct.App. 2001). To hold otherwise, the court stated, “could have a chilling effect upon a defendant’s decision to file a petition for post-conviction relief to set aside an illegal plea.” Id. This Court granted the State’s petition to transfer.

Credit for Time on Probation

A. Constitutional Grounds

The State contends that the Court of Appeals’ application of double jeopardy principles to Kincaid’s case was erroneous, because “Indiana law provides that a defendant does not earn credit for time served while on probation.” However, the case the State cites, Via v. State, 738 N.E.2d 684 (Ind.Ct.App.2000), is not dis-positive. Via addressed the issue whether probation time must be credited when probation is revoked and the defendant ordered to serve out the same sentence.

We agree that Via correctly held that a probation violation may result in an executed sentence for the full term. But Kincaid is not claiming that double jeopardy requires that a defendant who violates his probation and is ordered to complete his prison term is entitled to credit for the time spent on probation. That point is clearly settled against such a claim under double jeopardy principles, because the probation and prison time are both part of the same sentence. See, e.g., Hall v. Bos *792 tic, 529 F.2d 990, 992 (4th Cir.1975). Rather, Kincaid’s claim is that a defendant who succeeds in a post-conviction relief proceeding that vacates the initial sentence of probation, and who is given a new sentence of probation for the same crimes, is entitled to credit for the probation time already served.

Although the State concedes that probation is a form of criminal punishment, it contends that probation should not be considered punishment for double jeopardy purposes. However, the State cites no cases directly on point, and we agree with the several courts that have rejected this contention, “at least where the question is whether the probationer can be required to re-serve probation time already served.” Kennick v. Superior Court, 736 F.2d 1277, 1281 (9th Cir.1983) (citing United States v. Bynoe, 562 F.2d 126, 128 (1st Cir.1977); United States v. Teresi, 484 F.2d 894, 899 (7th Cir.1973); Oksanen v. United States, 362 F.2d 74, 80 (8th Cir.1966); United States v. Rosenstreich, 204 F.2d 321 (2d Cir.1953)); see also Commonwealth v. Walton, 483 Pa. 588, 397 A.2d 1179, 1184 (1979) (“[A]n order placing a defendant on probation must be regarded as punishment for double-jeopardy purposes.”). In North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 718-19, 89 S.Ct.

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Related

Harris v. State
836 N.E.2d 267 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2005)
People v. Henriques
7 Misc. 3d 453 (New York Supreme Court, 2005)
Kincaid v. Indiana
540 U.S. 818 (Supreme Court, 2003)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
778 N.E.2d 789, 2002 Ind. LEXIS 856, 2002 WL 31505457, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kincaid-v-state-ind-2002.