Summary
The Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed the denial of Richard C. Barnes’ 2018 motion seeking credit for time served on a 1994 sentence. The court held that failure to award credit rendered the sentence erroneous but not void, and that Nebraska law did not authorize a collateral attack on the final criminal judgment through a motion for jail credit.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether Barnes could collaterally attack his 1994 criminal judgment through a motion for jail credit based on the sentencing court's failure to award credit for time served.
- Whether Neb. Rev. Stat. § 83-1,106(1) provides authority to modify a final criminal judgment in a collateral proceeding to award omitted credit for time served.
Holdings
- A failure to award credit for time served makes a sentence erroneous, but does not render the sentence void; therefore, the sentence cannot be collaterally attacked absent specific statutory or common-law authority permitting the attack.
- Neb. Rev. Stat. § 83-1,106(1) does not create a right to collaterally attack a final criminal judgment on the ground that credit for time served was not awarded.
Key quotations
“Absent an explicit statutory or common-law procedure permitting otherwise, only a void judgment may be collaterally attacked.” (303 Neb. at 170)
“Thus, failing to give credit for time served, while erroneous, does not render the sentence void.” (303 Neb. at 170)
“Section 83-1,106(1) does not set forth a right to collaterally attack the final judgment in a criminal case on the ground that credit for time served was not given as mandated by the statute.” (303 Neb. at 170-71)
Factual background
Barnes was convicted pursuant to a voluntary guilty plea in 1994 of first degree murder and use of a weapon to commit a felony. The sentencing court imposed life imprisonment for murder and 6 2/3 to 20 years for the weapon conviction but did not award credit for time served. In 2018, Barnes sought to amend the judgment through a motion for jail credit, asserting that Nebraska law required the credit.
Procedural history
In 1994, Barnes pleaded guilty to first degree murder and use of a weapon to commit a felony and received life imprisonment and a 6 2/3-to-20-year sentence, respectively, without credit for time served. He did not file a direct appeal. His later postconviction motion was denied, and the Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed, holding that his sentencing challenges were procedurally barred because they could have been raised on direct appeal. In 2018, Barnes filed a motion for jail credit under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 83-1,106(1); the district court denied it, and the Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed.