Sweets v. State

2001 WY 126, 36 P.3d 1130, 2001 Wyo. LEXIS 157, 2001 WL 1587937
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 13, 2001
Docket01-91
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 2001 WY 126 (Sweets v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sweets v. State, 2001 WY 126, 36 P.3d 1130, 2001 Wyo. LEXIS 157, 2001 WL 1587937 (Wyo. 2001).

Opinion

GOLDEN, Justice.

[11] Appellant Michael Wayne Sweets filed a pro se motion for presentence incarceration credit of one year and three months. At the time of his second conviction, Sweets was incarcerated for a conviction of indecent liberties with a minor, and for a period of time his second sentence ran concurrently with the first. As the district court determined, the period of confinement for his first *1131 conviction is not presentence incarceration as defined by this Court, entitling Sweets to presentence credit against his second sentence. Accordingly, the district court did not err in denying the motion.

ISSUES

[T2] The parties present the following issue for review:

Did the trial court properly deny Appellant's motion for credit for presentence incarceration?

FACTS

[18] On January 6, 1998, Sweets sold marijuana to a confidential informant working for the Southwest Wyoming Drug Enforcement Team. In August of 1998, Sweets was convicted for indecent liberties with a minor and began serving a sentence at the Wyoming State Penitentiary. On May 26, 2000, an Information was filed charging Sweets with one count of delivery of a controlled substance, marijuana, in violation of Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 85-7-108l1(a)(ii). Sweets was transported from the Wyoming State Penitentiary to the Sweetwater County jail and incarcerated there while he awaited trial on the drug delivery charge. On July 6, 2000, Sweets pled guilty to the drug delivery charge and was sentenced to a stipulated two to five years to be served concurrently with the sentence for the indecent liberties convietion. At the sentencing hearing, Sweets claimed that part of the plea agreement was a credit of thirty-one days, and the trial court awarded that amount against the second sentence. The record does not tell us what the thirty-one days relates to, but presumably it is the period of time that Sweets spent in jail before receiving his second sentence. The trial court also explained to Sweets that, although his sentences ran concurrently, the second conviction might extend his incarceration after he has served out his sentence on the first conviction.

[T4] On March 19, 2001, Sweets filed a motion for eredit for presentence incarceration in the district court stating that he had been confined for a period of one year and three months, and Renfro v. State, 785 P.2d 491 (Wyo.1990), stated that "credit will be automatically granted for presentence incarceration time on all sentences." From these unclear statements, the trial court determined Sweets was requesting presentence credit for the period served on "an unrelated charge," and denied the motion. This timely appeal followed.

DISCUSSION

[15] We begin by presuming that the district court decided that Sweets' motion must be considered as requesting presen-tence credit for the time period that he served for his indecent liberties conviction. Presentence confinement is defined as

incarceration for inability and failure to post bond on the offense for which the sentence is entered and does not include revoked probation or other confinement that would continue to exist without regard for bond posting capabilities....

Renfro, 785 P.2d at 498 n. 8.

[416] Under this definition, Sweets' incarceration for the time period that he served on the earlier unrelated conviction for indecent liberties with a minor is not presentence confinement. Sweets was confined because of the earlier sentence and is not entitled to presentence confinement credit when his confinement was not because of inability to post bond on the drug delivery charge, but because he was incarcerated to continue serving his sentence on his prior conviction. That confinement would have continued regardless of his ability to post bond and, therefore, Sweets is not entitled to any pre-sentence credit. Smith v. State, 932 P.2d 1281, 1282 (Wyo.1997).

[17] Sweets' receipt of thirty-one days presentence credit at the time of his sentence for the second conviction is not contrary to the law. It is within the trial court's discretion to grant or deny eredit for time served in presentence detention if (1) the detention is not due to the defendant's indigency, and (2) the sum of the time spent in presentence detention plus the sentence given upon conviction does not exceed the maximum allowable sentence. Hedge v. State, 696 P.2d 51, 52 (Wyo.1985). In this *1132 case, it appears that at the time of sentencing the district court determined that Sweets believed that this credit was part of his plea agreement, and it was within the sentencing court's discretion to award it. Having granted some credit not required by law, however, does not entitle Sweets to any other credit.

[18] We also consider whether Sweets is entitled to any relief under applicable rules. If Sweets' motion is considered a motion to correct an illegal sentence or reduce a sentence, W.R.Cr.P. 85 is invoked:

Rule 35. Correction or reduction of sentence.

(a) Correction. -The court may correct an illegal sentence at any time. Additionally the court may correct, reduce, or modify a sentence within the time and in the manner provided herein for the reduction of sentence.
(b) Reduction.-A motion to reduce a sentence may be made, or the court may reduce a sentence without motion, within one year after the sentence is imposed or probation is revoked, or within one year after receipt by the court of a mandate issued upon affirmance of the judgment or dismissal of the appeal, or within one year after entry of any order or judgment of the Wyoming Supreme Court denying review of, or having the effect of upholding, a judgment of conviction or probation revocation. The court shall determine the motion within a reasonable time. Changing a sentence from a sentence of incarceration to a grant of probation shall constitute a permissible reduction of sentence under this subdivision. The court may determine the motion with or without a hearing.

[19] We recently discussed the applicable standard of review in Mead v. State, 2 P.3d 564, 566 (Wyo0.2000):

A motion to correct an illegal sentence under W.R.Cr.P. 85(a) is addressed to the sound discretion of the sentencing court. Cardenas [v. State], 925 P.2d [239] at 240 [Wyo. 1996]; Brown v. State, 894 P.2d 597, 598 (Wyo.1995). Similarly, a motion for reduction of sentence is subject to the sound discretion of the sentencing court. Barela v. State, 936 P.2d 66, 69 (Wyo.1997); Carrillo v. State, 895 P.2d 463, 464 (Wyo.1995); McFarlane v. State, 781 P.2d 931, 932 (Wyo.1989); Peper v. State, TTG P.2d 761, 761 (Wyo.1989).
ood

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

Related

Shannon Edward Stevenson v. The State of Wyoming
2023 WY 99 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2023)
Elmer R. Petersen v. The State of Wyoming
2019 WY 132 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2019)
Elmer Candelario v. State
2016 WY 75 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2016)
Kyle Benton Askin v. State
2016 WY 9 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2016)
Daniel Lee Nunes
2015 WY 58 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2015)
Cameron Curtis Hagen
2014 WY 141 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2014)
Teddy Dean Daniels
2014 WY 125 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2014)
Jerele Craig Cothren, Jr. v. The State of Wyoming
2013 WY 125 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2013)
Trevor C. Lake v. The State of Wyoming
2013 WY 7 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2013)
Hagerman v. State
2011 WY 151 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2011)
Hernandez v. State
2009 WY 49 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2009)
Gould v. State
2006 WY 157 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2006)
Patrick v. State
2005 WY 32 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2005)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2001 WY 126, 36 P.3d 1130, 2001 Wyo. LEXIS 157, 2001 WL 1587937, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sweets-v-state-wyo-2001.