Summary
The Supreme Court of Wyoming reversed in part an order denying Christopher Charles Freeman credit for time served in a community corrections facility. The court remanded with instructions to award Freeman 158 days of credit against his sentence following probation revocation.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether time spent in a community corrections facility as a condition of probation must be credited against the sentence imposed after probation is revoked.
- Whether Freeman was entitled to 158 days, rather than 157 days, of credit for time served.
Holdings
- A person residing in a community corrections program is in official detention, and time spent in a community corrections facility must be credited against a sentence imposed after violation of probation terms.
- Freeman was entitled to 158 days of credit for time served in the community corrections facility.
Key quotations
“There, this Court wrote that it is "well-established that a person residing in a community correctional program is in official detention, and that time spent in a community corrections facility must be counted against a sentence that is imposed upon violation of the terms of probation."” (¶ 5)
Factual background
Freeman pleaded guilty in 2008 to one count of felony domestic battery and received a two-to-four-year sentence suspended in favor of three years of supervised probation. He reported to a community corrections facility on September 2, 2008, and was discharged on February 6, 2009, after spending 158 days there. When his probation was revoked in May 2010 and the underlying sentence was imposed, he was not credited for those 158 days.
Procedural history
Freeman pleaded guilty to felony domestic battery and received a suspended two-to-four-year sentence with supervised probation, including completion of a residential treatment program at a community corrections facility. After his probation was revoked, the district court imposed the underlying sentence without crediting him for 158 days spent at the facility. The district court denied that portion of Freeman's motion to correct an illegal sentence, and the State subsequently filed a brief recognizing the error. The Supreme Court reversed in part and remanded with instructions to award the credit.
Remand instructions
The district court must award Freeman 158 days of credit for time served in the community corrections facility.