State v. San Miguel

643 P.2d 1027, 132 Ariz. 57, 1982 Ariz. App. LEXIS 403
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedFebruary 11, 1982
Docket1 CA-CR 5158, 1 CA-CR 5159
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 643 P.2d 1027 (State v. San Miguel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. San Miguel, 643 P.2d 1027, 132 Ariz. 57, 1982 Ariz. App. LEXIS 403 (Ark. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

OPINION

JACOBSON, Presiding Judge.

The defendant, Alberto San Miguel, brings this appeal, raising two issues concerning the failure of the trial court to grant him credit for time spent in jail pursuant to a petition to revoke probation and an underlying charge of trafficking in stolen property.

The problems associated with this case arise because the crime for which the defendant was placed on probation occurred prior to the enactment of A.R.S. § 13-709(B). 1 On the other hand, the crime which formed the basis for the revocation of his probation occurred after the enactment of A.R.S. § 13-709(B).

Originally, in criminal cause No. 101348, the defendant was charged with receiving stolen property, pled guilty and was sentenced to three years probation with the condition that he be incarcerated in the Maricopa County Jail for a period of four weekends. At the time this sentence was imposed, he had been incarcerated for eight days because he was unable to make bond.

Subsequently, on July 2,1980, the defendant was charged with a new offense (criminal cause No. 113428) of trafficking in stolen property. Based upon this new offense, probation revocation proceedings were commenced in cause No. 101348.

On August 20, 1980, the defendant was arrested on both the new offense and the probation violation charge. On the following day, the trial court ordered the defendant released on his own recognizance on the new offense (cause No. 113428), but he was to be held without bond on the petition to revoke probation (cause No. 101348).

Following a hearing on the petition to revoke probation and the entering into a plea agreement on the new criminal charge, the defendant was sentenced on both charges on December 11, 1980. As to the crime for which the defendant was placed on probation, the trial court sentenced him to the maximum sentence imposable for that offense (four years). The trial court gave no credit for presentence incarceration nor did it state that it had considered any time the defendant had spent in custody pursuant to the petition to revoke probation in imposing sentence.

As to the trafficking in stolen property charge, the defendant was sentenced to the presumptive term of 7.5 years, with one day credit for presentence incarceration, to run concurrently with the sentence imposed as a result of the revocation of defendant’s probation.

The only error alleged on appeal is the failure of the trial court to give him full credit for presentence incarceration. In this regard, the defendant urges that on the charge for which probation was revoked he is entitled to eight days credit for time spent prior to being placed on probation, plus 113 days credit from the time he was arrested on the bench warrant until he was sentenced on December 11, 1980.

On the trafficking in stolen property charge, he claims credit for 112 days, this time representing the 113 days from the date of his arrest on August 20,1980, to his sentencing on December 11, 1980, less one day credit already granted.

As previously indicated, the crimes for which the defendant was sentenced occurred both before and after the enactment *59 of A.R.S. § 13-709(B) and therefore will be discussed separately.

PROBATION REVOCATION CHARGE

Prior to the enactment of A.R.S. § 13-709(B), there was no statutory authority requiring the crediting of presentence incarceration time. Generally, it was held that a defendant enjoyed no absolute right to such credit against his term of imprisonment and the granting of such credit was discretionary with the trial court. State v. Kennedy, 106 Ariz. 190, 472 P.2d 59 (1970). Thus, at the time the defendant pled guilty to the original charge, Rule 26.10(b), Rules of Criminal Procedure, provided that:

The court shall [upon pronouncing a sentence]
* * * # * *
(2) State that it has considered the time the defendant has spent in custody on the present charge ....

Under this discretionary authority, appellate courts presumed that if the maximum sentence was not imposed, the trial court granted credit for presentence incarceration. State v. Kennedy, supra. The problem arose under this discretionary theory when the defendant received the maximum sentence and he was denied presentence incarceration credit, or the sentence actually imposed plus time spent in presentence incarceration exceeded the maximum sentence. The first case to consider these issues in Arizona was State v. Postell, 19 Ariz.App. 587, 509 P.2d 718 (1973). In Postell, the court noted that while granting presentence incarceration time credit was discretionary with the court, a presumption could not be indulged in that the court granted such credit when the sentence imposed, plus presentence incarceration exceeded the maximum allowable sentence. The Postell court held that where the trial judge failed to state on the record that presentence incarceration was considered in imposing the maximum, the appellate court would modify the sentence to allow such credit.

The second case to consider this issue was State v. Sutton, 21 Ariz.App. 550, 521 P.2d 1008 (1974). In Sutton, the court tacitly recognized the discretionary character of presentence incarceration credit, but held that where the defendant’s presentence incarceration was the result of his inability to make bond (indigency), such credit was constitutionally mandated under the equal protection clause of the United States Constitution where the presentence incarceration time plus the sentence imposed exceeded the maximum allowable sentence.

The rationale of denial of equal protection to mandate credit for presentence incarceration was relied upon in State v. Prevost, 118 Ariz. 100, 574 P.2d 1319 (App.1977); State v. Maese, 27 Ariz.App. 379, 555 P.2d 348 (1976); State v. Salazar, 24 Ariz.App. 472, 539 P.2d 946 (1975); and State v. Salinas, 23 Ariz.App. 232, 532 P.2d 174 (1975). This same reasoning was subsequently adopted by the Arizona Supreme Court in State v. Gray, 122 Ariz. 445, 595 P.2d 990 (1979) and State v. Warde, 116 Ariz.

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Bluebook (online)
643 P.2d 1027, 132 Ariz. 57, 1982 Ariz. App. LEXIS 403, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-san-miguel-arizctapp-1982.