Duncan v. Missouri Department of Corrections2/11/2003
Ronald Duncan ("Mr. Duncan") appeals the judgment of the trial court denying his petition for declaratory judgment. Mr. Duncan sought to challenge the Department of Corrections' ("DOC") application of section 558.031, RSMo Cum. Supp. 1998, to his conviction for Driving While Intoxicated-Alcohol-Persistent Offender, sections 577.010 and 577.023, RSMo Cum. Supp. 1998. He claims that he is entitled to 324 days of jail time credit for this conviction. The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.Factual and Procedural HistoryMr. Duncan pleaded guilty in the Circuit Court of Madison County, Missouri, case numbered CR297-270FX, on January 8, 1998, to one count of DWI Third Offense. He was sentenced to two years imprisonment, suspended execution of sentence, and placed on five years of probation. Mr. Duncan violated the terms of his probation by consuming alcohol and driving while intoxicated on October 17, 1998. A field violation report charging Mr. Duncan with violating the terms of his probation was filed with the trial court on October 28, 1998. Thereafter, on January 13, 1999, a probation violation warrant was issued. In the interim, Mr. Duncan was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated in St. Francois County, Missouri, on January 10, 1999. The trial court revoked Mr. Duncan's probation on March 4, 1999, after finding that he had violated his probation on October 17, 1998, by consuming alcohol. The trial court also ordered that his two year sentence for the DWI-Third offense be executed. Mr. Duncan was delivered to the DOC on March 8, 1999.
Mr. Duncan was sentenced on January 21, 2000, in the Circuit Court of St. Francois County, case numbered CR599-000053F, on a change of venue from Madison County to five years imprisonment in the DOC to run concurrent to the Madison County sentence that he was already serving. Thereafter, Mr. Duncan filed a pro se petition for declaratory judgment on May 21, 2001, seeking 377 days of jail time credit to apply to his conviction in St. Francois County. His petition was denied on November 11, 2001. This appeal followed.
Mr. Duncan raises five points on appeal. Points four and five are not well articulated. For reasons discussed later in this opinion, points four and five are not addressed. Accordingly, three of Mr. Duncan's points on appeal are enumerated here. He claims that the trial court erred in denying his petition for declaratory relief because he was entitled to judgment granting him 324 days of jail time credit for the time period from March 4, 1999, to January 21, 2000, in that: (1) it undermines the purpose of section 558.031, RSMo Cum. Supp. 1998, to deny him jail time credit for this period, and the fact that he was serving time for a probation violation of an earlier offense during this time period is irrelevant; (2) the trial court relied on the DOC's internal policy regarding prisoner eligibility for jail time credit rather than section 558.031 RSMo Cum. Supp. 1998, in denying his petition and that the DOC's policy is more stringent than section 558.031, RSMo Cum. Supp. 1998; and (3) the trial court incorrectly found Goings v. Missouri Department of Corrections, 6 S.W.3d 906 (Mo. banc 1999), is inapplicable to this case. In effect, Mr. Duncan argues that the trial court erred in denying his petition for declaratory judgment in that he should have received jail time credit from March 4, 1999, the date his probation was revoked on a prior conviction, to January 21, 2000, the date he was sentenced on a subsequent charge and conviction, the St. Francois County DWI charge, because that "time in custody" was "related to the offense" for which he was sentenced on January 21, 2000. Thus, Mr. Duncan claims that the time he was in custody f
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