State ex rel. Nixon v. Dierker

22 S.W.3d 787, 2000 Mo. App. LEXIS 1146, 2000 WL 1048141
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 25, 2000
DocketNo. ED 77708
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 22 S.W.3d 787 (State ex rel. Nixon v. Dierker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Nixon v. Dierker, 22 S.W.3d 787, 2000 Mo. App. LEXIS 1146, 2000 WL 1048141 (Mo. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

WILLIAM H. CRANDALL, Jr., Presiding Judge.

This is an original proceeding in certiorari to review the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus by the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis.1 We quash the writ.

On May 2, 1988, Marvin C. Logan pleaded guilty to two counts of assault in the first degree. At the plea hearing, the prosecutor presented the following recommendation to the sentencing court:

We are recommending on Count I Mr. Logan be sentenced to [a] seven year[s] period of imprisonment, Missouri Department of Corrections. We are recommending that sentence be served concurrently with the six year[s] sentence he is now doing, and we are allowing him the benefit of all jail-time that he accumulated with regard to the previous sentence....

On Count I, the court sentenced Logan to a term of imprisonment of seven years, to be served concurrent with a six year sentence he was serving on a previous offense of receiving stolen property for which he was sentenced in November 1986. Logan was to be given credit for all time served on that previous offense. On Count II, the court sentenced Logan to a term of imprisonment of seven years, to run consecutive to the sentence imposed on Count I. Execution of sentence on Count II was suspended and Logan was placed on five years probation. Logan received no jail time credit on that count.

When the Missouri Department of Corrections (hereinafter DOC) initially calculated Logan’s sentence, it complied with the court’s sentence: The seven year sentence on Count I began on August 6, 1986 [789]*789and expired on August 5, 1993, and the seven year sentence on Count II began on July 12,1991 and expired on July 11, 1998. On February 7, 1992, the court revoked Logan’s probation and ordered him committed to the DOC to serve the seven year sentence on Count II, with credit applied thereto for seven months’ probation. On August 5,1993, Logan received an “Official Discharge” on Count I. As to Count II, Logan was placed on parole under the supervision of the Missouri Board of Probation and Parole on November 22, 1995. In July 1998, when Logan violated his parole, he was returned to custody. In May 1999, the DOC recalculated the sentence credit received on Count I and determined that the seven year sentence on Count I did not begin until May 2, 1988 and expired on May 1, 1995, and that the seven year sentence on Count II began on October 1, 1994 and expired on September 30, 2001.

On January 12, 2000, Logan was placed on parole on the condition that he successfully complete a work release program. Logan filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, alleging that he was entitled to jail time credit for the time served on the six year sentence for receiving stolen property and to be released from the custody of the DOC. The habeas court granted the writ and entered an order to show cause why Logan should not be discharged from custody. Later the habeas court ordered Logan released on his own recognizance.

Although the habeas court agreed that the sentencing court improperly credited Logan with time served on the previous offense, the habeas court stated that the “defect was in the form in which the sentencing court adopted the bargain, not in its substance.” The habeas court vacated and set aside the May 1988 judgment and sentence and remanded the cause to the Circuit Court of I . Louis County for purposes of amending the sentence and judgment “to reflect a sentence of five years and three months on said count I.” The attorney general then filed a petition for writ of certiorari seeking review of the court’s grant of habeas corpus relief.

Initially, we address the issue of whether habeas corpus was an appropriate remedy in this case. “Any person restrained of liberty within this state may petition for a writ of habeas corpus to inquire into the cause of such restraint.” Rule 91.01; see also section 532.010, RSMo (1994). Rule 91 proceedings are limited to determining the facial validity of confinement. Brown v. Gammon, 947 S.W.2d 437, 440 (Mo.App. W.D.1997). Under the statutes that have codified the common law writ, the “facial validity” of confinement is determined on the basis of the entire record of the proceeding in question. Id. Habeas corpus is also available in cases where circumstances are so rare and exceptional that a manifest injustice would result in the absence of habeas corpus relief. Id. Because Logan was restrained of his liberty within this state and was inquiring into the cause of his restraint, a petition for a writ of habeas corpus was appropriate in this case. See 91.01(b)

The attorney general contends the habe-as court was without jurisdiction to order specific performance of a plea agreement that improperly included an award of jail time credit. The attorney general argues that pursuant to section 558.031, RSMo (1994),2 the sheriff and the DOC, not the [790]*790sentencing court, were charged with the duty of determining jail time credit and such credit could not be granted for time served on an unrelated offense. He argues that Logan should be remanded to custody and given the opportunity to withdraw his plea of guilty under Rule 29.07(d).

We agree that under section 558.031 it was improper for the sentencing court to award Logan jail time credit. First, the award of jail time credit was not a matter of discretion for the sentencing court, but was a matter for the DOC. See State ex rel. Jones v. Cooksey, 830 S.W.2d 421, 424 (Mo. banc 1992). The discretion of the sentencing court is solely for the purpose of suiting the punishment to the crime.3 Id. We agree that it was improper for the sentencing court to grant Logan jail time credit for the reason that the May 1988 sentence for which he sought jail time credit was unrelated to the prior conviction of November 1986. Jail time credit cannot be granted for time served on an unrelated offense. See State ex rel. Lightfoot v. Schriro, 927 S.W.2d 467 (Mo.App. W.D. 1996); see also State ex rel. Blackwell v. Sanders, 615 S.W.2d 467 (Mo.App. E.D. 1981) (court refused to give the defendant credit for jail time served on a concurrent sentence before the defendant was even arrested on the second charge).

Recognizing that it was improper for the sentencing court to grant jail time credit, the habeas court nevertheless determined that the plea agreement was not illegal or against public policy. The habe-as court distinguished the present case from cases holding that jail time credit cannot be awarded for time served on an unrelated offense on the basis of “the unequivocal evidence of the sentencing court’s intent.” The habeas court found that the parties to the plea agreement as well as the sentencing court intended to grant Logan jail time credit and that it was “the form of the judgment that was defective, not the substance of the agreement.” As such, the habeas court remanded to the sentencing court to correct the sentence so that it would “reflect a sentence of five years and three months” on Count I.4

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Bluebook (online)
22 S.W.3d 787, 2000 Mo. App. LEXIS 1146, 2000 WL 1048141, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-nixon-v-dierker-moctapp-2000.