Opinion
NO. 2014-CA-000800-MR
05-08-2015
AMY DANIELLE MEREDITH APPELLANT v. COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY APPELLEE
BRIEF FOR APPELLANT: Amy Meredith, Pro Se Fredonia, Kentucky BRIEF FOR APPELLEE: Jack Conway Attorney General of Kentucky Taylor Payne Frankfort, Kentucky
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED APPEAL FROM WARREN CIRCUIT COURT
HONORABLE STEVE ALAN WILSON, JUDGE
ACTION NO. 10-CR-00232
OPINION
AFFIRMING
BEFORE: CLAYTON, LAMBERT, J., THOMPSON, JUDGES. CLAYTON, JUDGE: This is an appeal from the Warren Circuit Court's denial of the Appellant, Amy Meredith's, motion for jail credit for time she spent in two rehabilitation programs. Based upon the following, we affirm the decision of the trial court.
OPINION
Meredith originally pled guilty to several criminal charges in Warren Circuit Court on June 16, 2010. On July 15, 2010, the trial court granted a motion releasing Meredith from custody while she awaited final sentencing. This release was to Park Place Recovery Center where she was to complete a twenty-eight-day inpatient treatment program for substance abuse. Meredith did not complete this program.
On August 12, 2010, Meredith entered a second program at Haven4Change. This was a six- to nine-month program for substance abuse. Meredith failed to complete this program as well. On October 11, 2010, the trial court sentenced Meredith to twelve years for her crimes. At that time, Meredith was credited for eighty-six days of jail time for the period she had spent in custody. Meredith's sentence was probated for five years.
On May 14, 2012, Meredith's probation was revoked and she was sentenced to serve her original twelve-year sentence. On February 26, 2014, Meredith filed the motion from which this appeal was taken. In the motion, she asked the trial court for jail time credit pursuant to Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS) 532.120(6). The trial court denied her motion.
Meredith contends that she should have been given time credit towards her sentence for the time she spent at Park Place and Haven4Change. The Commonwealth asserts, however, that Meredith's motion was untimely. It contends that since jail time credit is awarded at the final judgment of sentencing, the proper attack is through a direct appeal. We agree.
Meredith pled guilty to her charges and was given eighty-six days of jail time credit at that time. Had Meredith taken issue with this judgment, she should have filed a direct appeal after her sentencing. While Meredith now asserts that her attorney told her she could not appeal her guilty plea, she could have filed a collateral attack under Kentucky Rules of Civil Procedure 60.02. Such a motion should have been made within a year of the final judgment. Regardless, however, KRS 532.120 (6) provides that:
[T]ime spent in custody shall include time spent in the intensive secured substance abuse recovery program developed under KRS 196.285 and may include, at the discretion of the sentencing court, time spent in a different residential substance abuse treatment or recovery facility pursuant to KRS 431.518 or 533.251, if...the person has successfully completed the program.... If the defendant fails to complete a program, the court may still award full or partial sentence credit if the defendant demonstrates that good cause existed for the failure to complete the program.
KRS 196.285(4) requires that the facility have the same security standards as those in a minimum security correctional facility. There is no indication that Meredith spent time in facilities that qualified as secure correctional facilities and she did not complete either program. The award of any time would not have been mandatory, but would have been within the discretion of the trial court. Thus, we affirm the decision of the trial court.
ALL CONCUR. BRIEF FOR APPELLANT: Amy Meredith, Pro Se
Fredonia, Kentucky
BRIEF FOR APPELLEE: Jack Conway
Attorney General of Kentucky
Taylor Payne
Frankfort, Kentucky