Jones v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole4/27/2005
Lewis Jones (Jones) petitions for review of the July 16, 2004, order of the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole (Board), which: (1) denied Jones' petition for administrative relief challenging the Board's refusal to give him credit for time spent in custody from June 12, 2003, to October 29, 2003; and (2) deferred a ruling, pending a hearing, on whether Jones is entitled to credit for time he spent in a community corrections center. Counsel for Jones has filed a petition for leave to withdraw as counsel. We reverse that portion of the Board's order refusing to give Jones credit for time spent in custody from June 12, 2003, to October 29, 2003, and deny the petition for leave to withdraw as counsel.
Jones was serving a sentence for third degree murder with a maximum sentence expiration date of August 26, 2004, when, on March 11, 2002, he was paroled to the ADAPPT Community Corrections Center (CCC). (C.R. at 1, 28, 29.) Jones was released from the ADAPPT CCC on October 21, 2002, but, on March 21, 2003, the Board declared Jones delinquent. (C.R. at 32, 35.) On June 6, 2003, the Board issued a detainer warrant and arrested Jones at his daughter's apartment for violating certain conditions of his parole. (C.R. at 32-35.) On August 8, 2003, the Board recommitted Jones as a technical parole violator to serve nine months backtime, when available. (C.R. at 38.) Jones' new maximum sentence expiration date was November 11, 2004. (C.R. at 39.)
On June 10, 2003, Jones was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) in connection with a March 19, 2003, incident; he did not post bail. (C.R. at 40.) Jones was convicted and, on October 29, 2003, received a sentence of forty-eight hours to twelve months. Id. The court order released Jones on parole after forty-eight hours. (C.R. at 69.)
On May 27, 2004, the Board recommitted Jones as a convicted parole violator to serve an additional six months backtime, for a total of fifteen months, when available. (C.R. at 76.) The Board calculated Jones' new maximum sentence expiration date as April 10, 2006; however, in doing so, the Board did not give Jones credit on his original sentence for the time he spent in custody from June 12, 2003, to October 29, 2003. The Board's calculation sheet indicated that Jones had been paroled on October 29, 2003, not forty-eight hours after his arrest on June 10, 2003. (C.R. at 78.) On June 4, 2004, the Board issued an order setting April 10, 2006, as Jones' new maximum sentence expiration date. (C.R. at 79.)
Jones filed a petition for administrative relief with the Board, seeking credit towards his original sentence for the time he spent in custody from June 12, 2003, to October 29, 2003, and for the time he spent in the ADAPPT CCC. (C.R. at 80-81.) The Board scheduled a hearing on whether Jones was entitled to credit for the time he spent in the ADAPPT CCC. The Board denied Jones credit for the time he spent in custody from June 12, 2003, to October 29, 2003. (C.R. at 83.) Jones then filed a petition for review with this court.
Jones argues that he is entitled to credit towards his original sentence for the time he spent in custody from June 12, 2003, to October 29, 2003. We agree.
" hen an offender is held on new criminal charges as well as a detainer lodged by the Board ... the offender is confined for both offenses." Martin v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, 576 Pa. 588, 596, 840 A.2d 299, 303 (2003). With respect to the allocation of credit in that situation, our supreme court has stated:
It is now the opinion of this Court that the Board should not have been divested of its ability to make a determination concerning cre
Page 1 2 Pennsylvania DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|