Mecham v. Hill

174 P.3d 1051, 217 Or. App. 144, 2007 Ore. App. LEXIS 1816
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedDecember 19, 2007
Docket05104743M; A131385
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 174 P.3d 1051 (Mecham v. Hill) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mecham v. Hill, 174 P.3d 1051, 217 Or. App. 144, 2007 Ore. App. LEXIS 1816 (Or. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

*146 SERCOMBE, J.

Plaintiff appeals a judgment dismissing a writ of habeas corpus as moot because he had been released from prison during the proceedings. That judgment is inconsistent with our decision in Baty v. Slater, 161 Or App 653, 984 P2d 342 (1999), adh’d to on recons, 164 Or App 779, 995 P2d 1176, rev den, 331 Or 191 (2000). In Baty, we held that a petition for a writ of habeas corpus was not rendered moot by a plaintiffs release from imprisonment because adjudication of the controversy would affect the expiration date of his post-prison supervision term. We decline the state’s invitation to overrule Baty. Nonetheless, we affirm the judgment because the writ of habeas corpus lacks merit and should have been dismissed for that reason.

Plaintiff was convicted in 1999 of two counts of attempted rape in the first degree (counts 14 and 15) and one count of attempted sodomy in the first degree (count 16). He was sentenced to probation for the attempted rape convictions and to a term of imprisonment and post-prison supervision for the attempted sodomy conviction. After completion of his incarceration term for the attempted sodomy conviction, plaintiff was jailed several times for violations of the conditions of his post-prison supervision. In 2003, plaintiffs probation on the attempted rape convictions was revoked, and he was sentenced to concurrent sentences of 28 and 38 months’ imprisonment, with 10 years of post-prison supervision minus prison time served.

The judgment revoking probation imposed the following sentence:

“Therefore, the Court orders the following disposition:
“Probation is hereby revoked on all [counts]. Defendant is sentenced to:
“[Count] 14: 8D, 28 months DOC [Department of Corrections], 10 yrs PPS [post-prison supervision] less time served
“[Count] 15: 8B, 38 months DOC concurrent to [count] 14, 10 years PPS less time served [.]”

*147 The sentencing court explained:

“[S]o Count 14, Court revokes probation, sentences you under Gridblock 8-D to 28 months to the Department of Corrections to be followed by 10 years postprison supervision less time actually served in custody.
“And on Count 15, the Court revokes probation and sentenced you — sentences you to a 38-month sentence, that’s the center of the gridblock, with ten years’ postprison supervision less time actually served in custody.
“You will receive credit for all time that you have served on the various probation violations since your release from custody on the count upon which you were serving, Count 16, the count upon which you were serving a prison sentence.
“And any time that the Department of Corrections believes should be credited to either Counts 14 or 15 for time served prior to your having gone into prison, but they’ll make that calculation. * * *
* * * *
“I am hopeful that when you are released in probably somewhere closer to two years because of the time that you’ve done on your violations * *

(Emphasis added.)

At the time plaintiff began serving those sentences, he had been in custody for 74 days for violations of his terms of probation and for time awaiting his probation violation hearings. Plaintiff was separately incarcerated for 223 days for violations of his post-prison supervision conditions imposed as part of his sentence on the attempted sodomy conviction. The county sheriff certified plaintiffs preincarceration custody on counts 14 and 15 and the Department of Corrections credited 74 days against the sentences imposed for the attempted rape convictions. Plaintiff began serving the sentences on those convictions on May 1, 2003. He completed his term of imprisonment on January 20, 2006.

A few months before his release, plaintiff filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Plaintiff alleged that he was being unlawfully detained because he was not given full credit against his attempted rape incarceration terms for his *148 preincarceration jail time served for violation of the terms of his probation. Following the issuance of the writ and its return, the state moved to dismiss the writ because the writ, the return, and the replication showed that plaintiff failed to establish a claim for habeas corpus relief. ORS 34.680(1). More particularly, the state filed an affidavit corroborating that plaintiff was given credit for the time served for the probation violations, but not given credit for the time he was jailed for the post-prison supervision violations arising from his attempted sodomy convictions.

Pláintiff filed an amended replication clarifying that he was claiming credit for the time served on the post-prison supervision violations because that credit was directed by the sentencing court. Plaintiff claimed that the state “has refiised to recognize or comply with the clear terms of the Court’s Judgment and sentence and has allowed Plaintiff credit for only 74 of the 297 days to which he is entitled.” After plaintiff completed his incarceration term on the attempted rape convictions, the state argued that the petition should be dismissed for the additional reason of mootness. The court dismissed the petition as moot and entered judgment against plaintiff.

On appeal, plaintiff argues that the claim was not moot and that “the statutes should be read to allow for credit while [plaintiff] was in custody awaiting the various probation revocation hearings for which he was not revoked.” The state asks that we reconsider and overrule Baty and affirm the dismissal as moot. Alternatively, the state contends that the dismissal of the petition was correct because plaintiffs sentence was properly calculated. We agree that the trial court erred in dismissing the claim as moot, but conclude that the court’s disposition, nevertheless, was correct. The petition should have been dismissed for the alternative reason that was argued by the state: that the time served credit was consistent with statutory requirements.

ORS 137.320 and ORS 137.370 preclude any credit against the sentences imposed for the attempted rape convictions for the time served on the post-prison supervision violations arising from his attempted sodomy conviction. ORS 137.320 provides, in part:

*149

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State ex rel Torres-Lopez v. Fahrion
552 P.3d 135 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2024)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
174 P.3d 1051, 217 Or. App. 144, 2007 Ore. App. LEXIS 1816, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mecham-v-hill-orctapp-2007.