Tyree Hill v. State of Indiana

28 N.E.3d 348, 2015 Ind. App. LEXIS 261, 2015 WL 1449519
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 31, 2015
Docket49A02-1409-CR-632
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 28 N.E.3d 348 (Tyree Hill v. State of Indiana) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tyree Hill v. State of Indiana, 28 N.E.3d 348, 2015 Ind. App. LEXIS 261, 2015 WL 1449519 (Ind. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

NAJAM, Judge.

Statement of the Case

[1] Tyree Hill appeals the trial court’s order for him to serve the entirety of his original sentence in the Department of Correction (“DOC”) following the court’s revocation of his placement on home detention. Hill raises a single issue for our review, namely, whether the trial court abused its discretion when it resentenced him without expressly taking into.- account evidence that Hill claims demonstrates that he has a mental disability. We reject this argument on appeal. .However, because it is clear from the face of the trial court’s sentencing order that it erred when it ordered Hill to serve the entirety of his previously suspended sentence in the DOC without credit for the time Hill had served on home detention, we reverse and remand for resentencing.

Facts and Procedural History

[2] On September 26, 2013, Hill pleaded guilty to strangulation, a Class D felony, and resisting law enforcement, as a Class A misdemeanor. Pursuant to the terms of his plea agreement, the trial court sentenced Hill to 730 days on home detention with GPS monitoring, which were to be served through, the Marion County Community Corrections program. According to the conditions of his placement on home detention, Hill was not permitted to leave his residence except for traveling to and from a fixed location for employment or if Hill had received permission from his case manager at least forty-eight hours beforehand.

[3] On February 7, 2014, Troy Blazier, Hill’s case manager, discussed with Hill several unapproved absences Hill had committed, and Blazier formally warned Hill that he must not leave his residence without permission. Nonetheless, on July 11, Blazier received an alert that Hill had left his residence without permission. On July 12, Blazier received another alert.

[4] On July 15, the State filed a notice of community corrections violation against Hill. The trial court held a hearing on the notice on. August 13. At that hearing, Hill’s sister, Terrin York, testified that Hill suffers from “a mental disability. He has a shunt in his head ... to help him function and [to] keep water off his brain.” Tr. at 12. But Hill had informed Blazier that his absence on July 11 was due to a trip to the grocery store, and his absence on July 12 was to attend a family reunion.

[5] The trial court found that Hill violated the terms of his home detention when he left his residence for unapproved reasons on July 11 and July 12. Accordingly, the court revoked Hill’s placement in home detention. The court then addressed the proper amount of credit time to which Hill was entitled as follows:

Well, because of that other case, I don’t know whether he’s entitled to credit time on this case or not. I can’t tell from the orders.... Under the.circumstances, we will show that placement at Community Corrections is revoked. The balance of the sentence will be imposed. ... That will be, at least, 730 days at the [DOC], less whatever credit you are legally entitled to.

Id. at 29-30. However, in its ensuing written sentencing order, the trial court ordered Hill to serve his entire original 730-day sentence in the DOC, with only sixteen days of credit time awarded. Those sixteen days reflected Hill’s actual days incarcerated immediately prior to the court’s hearing on the State’s notice of community *350 corrections violation. Appellant’s App. at 13. This appeal ensued.

Discussion and Decision

[6] Hill appeals the trial court’s order that he serve the entirety of his original sentence following the court’s revocation of his home detention. Generally, a defendant is not entitled to serve a sentence in either probation or a community corrections program. Monroe v. State, 899 N.E.2d 688, 691 (Ind.Ct.App.2009). “Rather, placement in either'is a ‘matter of grace’ and a ‘conditional liberty that is a favor, not a right.’ ” Id (quoting Cox v. State, 706 N.E.2d 547, 549 (Ind.1999)). Once a court has exercised this grace, the judge has considerable leeway in deciding how to proceed. Prewitt v. State, 878 N.E.2d 184, 188 (Ind.2007). It is thus within the discretion of the court to determine the conditions of the defendant’s placement and to revoke that placement if those conditions are violated. Heaton v. State, 984 N.E.2d 614, 616 (Ind.2013). Accordingly, a court’s placement decision is subject to review for abuse of discretion. Smith v. State, 963 N.E.2d 1110, 1112 (Ind.2012). An abuse of discretion occurs where the decision is clearly against the logic and effects of the facts and circumstances before the court. Id

[7] Under Indiana Code Section 35-38-2.6-5: : r

If a person who is placed [in a community corrections program] under this chapter violates the terms of the placement, the court may, after a hearing, do any of the. following:
(1) Change' the terms of the placemént.
(2) Continue the placement.
(3) Revoke the placement and commit the person to the department of correction for the remainder of the person’s ■sentence.

(Emphasis added.)

[8] Here, Hill’s only argument bn appeal is that the trial court abused its discretion when it did not account for his mental disability when it resentenced him. For support, he cites Patterson v. State, 659 N.E.2d 220, 222-23 (Ind.Ct.App.1995), in which we stated: “The probationer’s mental state at the time and under the circumstances of the alleged violation is a factor to be considered. We therefore hold that/ at a minimum, a probationer’s mental state must be considered in the dispositional determination of a probation revocation proceeding.”

[9] However, in Patterson, the probationer was alleged to have violated the conditions of his probation when he committed a new criminal offense. Indeed, our statement above was couched in that context: “[b]ecause the conduct” alleged to have been d violation of the conditions of probation “must be unlawful, this requirement of proof would seem to contemplate a degree of culpability with regard to the alleged conduct.” Id at 222. And even if the probationer were to present evidence on his behalf, this would not necessarily be “dispositive” on appeal, as it is “well within the prerogative of the [trial] court to determine'that, notwithstanding the asserted mental condition, the circumstances [of the probationer’s conduct] indicated a knowing or intentional course of conduct.” Id at 223. .

[10] Patterson is easily distinguished from Hill’s case.

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28 N.E.3d 348, 2015 Ind. App. LEXIS 261, 2015 WL 1449519, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tyree-hill-v-state-of-indiana-indctapp-2015.