Harrison v. Harrod

Full title: JAMES HARRISON APPELLANT v. MELISSA HARROD, ADMINISTRATOR, OFFENDER…

Court: Commonwealth of Kentucky Court of Appeals

Date published: Feb 14, 2014

NO. 2013-CA-000207-MR (Ky. Ct. App. Feb. 14, 2014)

Opinion

NO. 2013-CA-000207-MR

02-14-2014

JAMES HARRISON APPELLANT v. MELISSA HARROD, ADMINISTRATOR, OFFENDER INFORMATION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS; KENTUCKY PAROLE BOARD; AND MADISON CIRCUIT COURT APPELLEES

BRIEFS FOR APPELLANT: James Harrison, pro se LaGrange, Kentucky BRIEF FOR APPELLEE: John C. Cummings Frankfort, Kentucky

STUMBO

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

APPEAL FROM FRANKLIN CIRCUIT COURT

HONORABLE PHILLIP J. SHEPHERD, JUDGE

ACTION NO. 11-CI-00422

OPINION

AFFIRMING

BEFORE: ACREE, CHIEF JUDGE; MAZE AND STUMBO, JUDGES. STUMBO, JUDGE: James Harrison appeals from an order of the Franklin Circuit Court which dismissed his petition for declaratory, injunctive, and mandamus relief. We find no error and affirm.

On November 5, 1986, Appellant was sentenced to life imprisonment without the benefit of probation or parole for a minimum of 25 years pursuant to Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS) 532.030(1). In March of 2011, Appellant appeared before the Parole Board, which denied parole and ordered a 60-month deferment on further parole consideration. Appellant appealed this decision to the Franklin Circuit Court. He argued that KRS 532.030 guarantees him parole after serving 25 years of his sentence. The trial court dismissed the petition for relief finding that the Parole Board acted within its discretion and finding that Appellant had not alleged any misconduct on the part of the Parole Board. This appeal followed.

Appellant argues on appeal that KRS 532.030(1) grants him the right to be released on parole after serving 25 years in prison. KRS 532.030(1) states:

When a person is convicted of a capital offense, he shall have his punishment fixed at death, or at a term of imprisonment for life without benefit of probation or parole, or at a term of imprisonment for life without benefit of probation or parole until he has served a minimum of twenty-five (25) years of his sentence, or to a sentence of life, or to a term of not less than twenty (20) years nor more than fifty (50) years.

Appellant is incorrect.

[O]ur courts have long held that parole is not a right, but is instead a privilege that is a matter of grace or gift to persons deemed eligible. . . . Consequently, [t]here is no constitutional or inherent right of a convicted person to be conditionally released before the expiration of a valid sentence. . . . [T]he conviction, with all its procedural safeguards, has extinguished that liberty right. [Internal citations and quotation marks omitted].

Seymour v. Colebank, 179 S.W.3d 886, 890 (Ky. App. 2005). After serving 25 years of his sentence, Appellant becomes eligible for parole, he is not guaranteed parole.

The judgment of the Franklin Circuit Court is affirmed.

ALL CONCUR. BRIEFS FOR APPELLANT: James Harrison, pro se
LaGrange, Kentucky
BRIEF FOR APPELLEE: John C. Cummings
Frankfort, Kentucky