State v. Polar

2014 WI App 15, 842 N.W.2d 531, 352 Wis. 2d 452, 2013 WL 6418969, 2013 Wisc. App. LEXIS 1016
CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedDecember 10, 2013
DocketNo. 2013AP1433-CR
StatusPublished

This text of 2014 WI App 15 (State v. Polar) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Polar, 2014 WI App 15, 842 N.W.2d 531, 352 Wis. 2d 452, 2013 WL 6418969, 2013 Wisc. App. LEXIS 1016 (Wis. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinions

CURLEY, PJ.

¶ 1. Jeffery Polar, Jr., appeals the order denying his motion for sentence adjustment. Polar was sentenced to seven years of initial confinement and five years of extended supervision for his armed robbery conviction, and three years of initial confinement and five years of extended supervision for his attempted armed robbery conviction. The sentences were to be served consecutively. After he had served eight and one-half years of the total ten-year sentence, Polar moved to adjust his sentences; however, the trial court denied his motion, concluding that, pursuant to [454]*454Wis. Stat. § 973.195 (2011-12),1 Polar filed his motion with respect to the seven-year sentence too late, and too early with respect to his three-year sentence. On appeal, Polar argues that the trial court erred because his sentences should be construed as one, not separately, and therefore his motion was brought at the appropriate time. Because we conclude that the plain language of the statute dictates otherwise — specifically, that the sentences are to be considered separately for adjustment purposes — we affirm.

Background

¶ 2. On August 16, 2004, Polar, along with a co-actor, was charged with two counts of armed robbery, two counts of attempted armed robbery, two counts of false imprisonment, and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm — all as party to a crime. Polar pled guilty to four of the seven counts: count two, armed robbery; count three, felon in possession of a firearm; count five, false imprisonment; and count seven, attempted armed robbery.2 The other charges were dismissed and read-in at sentencing.

¶ 3. After he pled guilty, Polar was sentenced as follows:

Count 2: seven years of initial confinement and five years of extended supervision with 252 days of sentencing credit;
Count 3: one year of initial confinement and one year of extended supervision with 252 days of sentencing credit, to run concurrently to Count 2;
[455]*455Count 5: two years of initial confinement and two years of extended supervision with 252 days of sentencing credit, also to run concurrently to Count 2; and
Count 7: three years of initial confinement and five years of extended supervision with zero days of credit, to he served consecutively to Count 2.

In sum, Polar received a global sentence of ten years of initial confinement and ten years of extended supervision, with 252 days of sentencing credit.

¶ 4. In February 2013, having served approximately eighty-five percent of the total ten-year term of initial confinement, Polar, pro se, filed two petitions for sentence adjustment pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 973.195. The first petition was for count two, the armed robbery with the seven-year initial confinement period; and the second petition was for count seven, the attempted armed robbery with the three-year initial confinement period. In response to Polar's petitions, the Department of Corrections sent the trial court a letter stating that Polar had already completed his initial confinement on count two, and consequently, the petition was filed too late.

¶ 5. The court returned the petitions to Polar, finding that he was ineligible for adjustment on both sentences. The petition on count two was deemed too late because he had already served the seven years of confinement, and the petition on count seven was premature because he had not served the percentage of confinement required to request an adjustment.

¶ 6. Polar moved for a formal ruling on his petitions, and his motion was again denied. The trial court, in a written decision, explained that under Wis. Stat. § 973.195(lr), Polar's sentences for count two and count seven were to be treated individually with respect to [456]*456sentence adjustment. Because the sentences were to be treated individually, adjustment on count two was untimely as Polar already served the entire seven years of confinement, and adjustment on count seven was premature because Polar had not yet served eighty-five percent of the confinement portion of the sentence as required by § 973.195(lg)-(lr). The trial court further determined that Polar could "resubmit a petition for sentence adjustment on count seven after he has served the applicable percentage of confinement time."

¶ 7. Polar appeals.

Analysis

¶ 8. On appeal, Polar challenges the trial court's ruling that, pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 973.195, a defendant must petition for sentence adjustment upon the completion of the applicable portion of each individual sentence, and that, consequently, Polar's petitions— filed after he had served eight and a half years of prison time — were untimely regarding the seven-year armed robbery sentence and premature regarding the three-year attempted armed robbery sentence. Whether the trial court properly interpreted § 973.195 is a question of law we review independently. See State v. Bohannon, 2013 WI App 87, ¶ 18, 349 Wis. 2d 368, 835 N.W.2d 262. When reviewing statutes, our inquiry " 'begins with the language of the statute.'" See State ex rel. Kalal v. Circuit Court for Dane Cnty., 2004 WI 58, ¶ 45, 271 Wis. 2d 633, 681 N.W.2d 110 (citations omitted). We give statutory language "its common, ordinary, and accepted meaning," and give "technical or specially-defined words or phrases" "their technical or special definitional meaning." See id. We must also keep in mind that [457]*457"[cjontext is important to meaning. So, too, is the structure of the statute in which the operative language appears." See id., ¶ 46. Therefore, we interpret statutory language "in the context in which it is used; not in isolation but as part of a whole; in relation to the language of surrounding or closely-related statutes; and reasonably, to avoid absurd or unreasonable results." See id.

¶ 9. Specifically, Polar argues that Wis. Stat. § 973.195 is ambiguous in that it does not expressly dictate whether multiple sentences are to be treated individually or as one for purposes of sentence adjustment. He also argues that interpreting the statute as the trial court did — i.e., to treat Polar's sentences individually rather than as one — is inconsistent with the practice of computing multiple sentences as one, continuous sentence pursuant to Wis. Stat. ch. 302. Polar additionally argues that adopting the trial court's interpretation of the statute would lead to inefficiency and absurd results, as inmates would be required to file multiple petitions for sentence adjustment. We disagree.

¶ 10. Wisconsin Stat. § 973.195(lr) provides:

Confinement in prison, (a) Except as provided in s. 973.198, an inmate who is serving a sentence imposed under s.

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Related

State Ex Rel. Kalal v. Circuit Court for Dane County
2004 WI 58 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 2004)
State v. Dinkins
2010 WI App 163 (Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 2010)
State v. Bohannon
2013 WI App 87 (Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 2013)

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Bluebook (online)
2014 WI App 15, 842 N.W.2d 531, 352 Wis. 2d 452, 2013 WL 6418969, 2013 Wisc. App. LEXIS 1016, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-polar-wisctapp-2013.