Opinion
OP 23-0301
06-20-2023
DOUGLAS JOE POOL, Petitioner, v. BOB OLSON, FACILITY ADMINISTRATOR S.T.A.R.T., Respondent.
ORDER
Douglas Joe Pool petitions this Court for habeas corpus relief, arguing that he is entitled to more credit for jail time served. Pool explains that, in March 2014, the Flathead County District Court convicted him of felony forgery and sent him to Butte Pre-Release. He states that he absconded from supervision in August 2018, and his Probation and Parole Officer issued an arrest warrant. On November 8, 2018, he was arrested on that warrant as well as a new warrant for a felony theft charge. Pool provides that he was held in the Butte-Silver Bow jail (BSB jail) until August 7, 2019, "the day after [his] parole had expired ...." He contends that he is not getting the 246 days in BSB jail on his sentence for forgery from Flathead County. Pool includes copies of his Flathead County sentencing judgments. Pool requests that the Department of Corrections (DOC) recalculate his sentence.
In his Petition, Pool states that the felony theft offense was later dismissed.
Pool's sentencing history is somewhat complex. From Pool's attached copies, the Flathead County District Court accepted Pool's guilty plea to forgery on March 6, 2014. The District Court sentenced him to a ten-year, suspended term to the Montana State Prison (MSP) on April 24, 2014, and the court awarded 35 days of jail time served from January 31, 2014 to March 6.
Several months later, the State filed a petition to revoke. On November 6,2014, the District Court held a hearing and revoked Pool's suspended sentence. The court sentenced Pool to MSP for ten years with five years suspended. The court awarded Pool 57 days of credit for time served and noted the 35 prior days.
On May 20, 2020, the State filed another petition to revoke, based on the report of violation from Pool's Probation and Parole Officer. The District Court held a dispositional hearing on January 7, 2021, and the court revoked his prior sentence, imposing a suspended, five-year term to MSP. The court listed the awards for the credit for time served: 70 days served in custody; two months' time for elapsed time; 35 days (1/31/14 to 3/6/14); and 57 days (9/10/14 to 11/6/14).
This Court secured a copy of Pool's Report of Violation, dated May 22, 2020, for his sentence for forgery to obtain the dates of parole and expiration of his prison sentence.
On October 26, 2021, the Flathead County District Court revoked Pool's sentence for forgery and imposed a three-year suspended term to the DOC. The court awarded an additional 24 days served in custody along with the time mentioned above.
Pool's request for additional credit is for the time frame of November 8, 2018 to August 7, 2019, which is not found in the aforementioned judgments. We secured copies of Pool's other sentencingjudgments. OnFebruary 23,2017, the Butte-Silver Bow County District Court sentenced Pool for felony - criminal possession of dangerous drugs to a concurrent, two-year term to the DOC. The District Court awarded 84 days (12/2/2016 to 2/23/2017) of jail time served. On August 7, 2019, the Butte-Silver Bow County District Court accepted Pool's guilty plea to misdemeanor theft and sentenced Pool to the BSB jail for 180 days. The court stated: "The Defendant shall receive credit for time served in the amount of the full 180 days."
Pool states that he is entitled to 246 days while he was in the BSB jail and that the credit should apply to his sentence for forgery from Flathead County. Pool is mistaken in his arguments. He is not entitled to the entire time on the sentence for forgery.
When he was arrested on November 8,2018, he was serving his suspended sentence for forgery after being granted parole from MSP on January 24, 2018. Pool was detained in BSB jail on the arrest warrant issued by his Probation and Parole Officer in August 2018, after he absconded from supervision. Section 46-23-1023(2), MCA. "After the arrest of the parolee, an initial hearing must be held unlessf] . . . [] the parolee has been charged in any court with a violation of the law[.]" Section 46-23-1024(1)(b), MCA (2017). Pool, thus, could be detained in the BSB jail because he committed a new offense as evidenced by the second warrant he mentions. Section 46-23-1024(1)(b), MCA. As a parolee, Pool committed non-compliance offenses-a new charge and absconding. Section 46-231001 (3)(a), and (d), MCA (2017).
Pool requests 246 days while he was in BSB jail. According to our calculation, there are 272 days from November 8, 2018, the date of his arrest on two warrants, to the date of sentencing, August 7,2019, in Butte-Silver Bow County District Court. The Butte-Silver Bow County District Court awarded him credit of 180 days or six months, which was also Pool's sentence for the misdemeanor theft conviction. Section 45-6-301(7)(a), MCA, The remaining 92 days (272 minus 180) in the BSB jail went to Pool's sentence for forgeiy from Flathead County because the arrest warrant as a parole violator held him in jail. Section 46-23-1024(1)(b), MCA. Pool's prison term expired on August 4, 2019, not August 6, 2019, as he suggests in his Petition. Pool was in custody when his prison time expired. His time in jail was applied to his sentence for forgery, causing the expiration of the prison term.
We conclude, that upon review, he has not shown that he is entitled to additional jail time credit on his sentence for forgery. His time in the BSB jail was credited toward his custodial sentence for forgery. Pool has not demonstrated illegal incarceration. Section 46-22-101(1), MCA. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that Pool's Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus is DENIED and DISMISSED.
The Clerk is directed to provide a copy of this Order to: Administrator Bob Olson, S.T.A.R.T.; counsel of record, and Douglas Joe Pool personally.