Case Title: JOHN MICHAEL SIMMONS V. THE STATE OF WYOMING

Citation: 

Docket Number: S-08-0223

State: wyoming

Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

Date: 2009-05-28T00:00:00Z

Document:
JOHN MICHAEL SIMMONS V. THE STATE OF WYOMING2009 WY 68208 P.3d 1315Case Number: S-08-0223Decided: 05/28/2009
APRIL 
TERM, A.D. 2009

 
 

JOHN 
MICHAEL SIMMONS,Appellant(Defendant),v.THE STATE OF 
WYOMING,Appellee(Plaintiff).

 
 

Appeal 
from the District Court of Natrona County

The 
Honorable W. Thomas Sullins, Judge

 
 
Representing 
Appellant:

Pro 
se.

 
 
Representing 
Appellee:

Bruce 
A. Salzburg, Wyoming Attorney General; Terry L. Armitage, Deputy Attorney 
General; D. Michael Pauling, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Graham M. Smith, 
Assistant Attorney General.

 
 
Before 
VOIGT, C.J., and GOLDEN, HILL, KITE, and BURKE, JJ.

 
 
KITE, 
Justice.

            

[¶1]  John Michael Simmons entered guilty 
pleas on separate charges in Wyoming and Nevada.  The Wyoming court imposed a sentence 
which it suspended in favor of supervised probation.  The Nevada court imposed a prison 
sentence which Mr. Simmons served until the authorities released him on 
parole.  

 
 
[¶2]  After his release from prison in Nevada, 
Mr. Simmons returned to Wyoming where he was still on probation.  Two years later, the Wyoming court 
revoked his probation and reinstated the original sentence.  The district court awarded credit for 
time served related to the probation revocation proceedings, but did not award 
credit for the time Mr. Simmons spent in prison in Nevada.  Mr. Simmons filed a motion seeking 
credit for that time; the district court denied the motion; and Mr. Simmons 
filed a pro se appeal in this 
Court.  We affirm.   

 
 
ISSUES

 
 
[¶3]  Mr. Simmons states four issues for this 
Court's consideration all of which focus on the question of whether he was 
entitled to credit against his Wyoming sentence for time he served in 
Nevada.            
 

 
 
FACTS

 
 
[¶4]  In 2004, Mr. Simmons pled guilty in 
Wyoming to one count of indecent liberties with a minor in violation of Wyo. 
Stat. Ann. § 14-3-104 (LexisNexis 2003).  
The district court sentenced him to a term of 36 to 60 months in the 
state penitentiary with credit for the 120 days he had served while awaiting 
disposition of the charge.  The 
district court suspended the sentence and placed Mr. Simmons on probation for 
three years. 

 
 
[¶5]  A month later, Mr. Simmons pled guilty 
to a felony driving under the influence charge in Nevada and a Nevada court 
sentenced him to 38 months incarceration with eligibility for parole after 15 
months and credit for 142 days served.  
The Nevada court ordered the sentence to run concurrently with any 
sentence Mr. Simmons was currently serving.  Mr. Simmons served his sentence in 
Nevada while he was on probation in Wyoming.  

 
 
[¶6]  In 2005, the Nevada authorities released 
Mr. Simmons and placed him on parole.  
He returned to Wyoming where he continued to be on probation.  Over the next two years, the State filed 
five petitions to revoke his probation for allegedly violating the condition 
requiring him to abstain from alcohol use.  Of the first four petitions, the district 
court denied one on the grounds of insufficient evidence and granted three but 
continued Mr. Simmons' probation.  
In July of 2007, after the State filed its fifth revocation petition, the 
district court revoked Mr. Simmons' probation and reinstated the original 
sentence of 36 to 60 months with credit for 371 days served during the 
revocation proceedings.   

 
 
STANDARD 
OF REVIEW

 
 
[¶7]  A sentence that does not include proper 
credit for pre-sentence confinement is illegal.  Beyer v. State, 2008 WY 137, ¶ 7, 196 P.3d 777, 780 (Wyo. 2008).  Whether 
a sentence is illegal is a question of law, which we review de novo.  Id. 

 
 
DISCUSSION 

 
 
[¶8]  Mr. Simmons asserts that he was entitled 
to credit against his Wyoming sentence for the time he was incarcerated in 
Nevada.  He relies on language from 
the Nevada order stating that his sentence in that state was to be served 
concurrently to any other sentence he was then serving.  He argues that while he was in prison in 
Nevada, he was also on probation in Wyoming and so, upon revocation of his 
probation, the Wyoming court was required to count his time in the Nevada prison 
against his sentence in Wyoming.

 
 
[¶9] 
The State responds that Mr. Simmons was not entitled to credit in Wyoming for 
time he served for an unrelated offense in a different jurisdiction.  The State notes that when credit is 
awarded, it is awarded for time attributable to the underlying criminal offense, 
and not to some unrelated offense.  
The State contends the district court properly denied Mr. Simmons' motion 
for credit for time served in Nevada.    

 
 
[¶10]  A defendant is entitled to credit 
against both the minimum and maximum sentence for pre-sentence confinement if he 
was unable to post bond.  Barnes v. State, 2008 WY 6, ¶ 29, 174 P.3d 732, 740 (Wyo. 2008).  A 
defendant is not, however, entitled to such credit when his confinement would 
have continued despite his ability to post bond.  Id.  A sentence that does not include proper 
credit for pre-sentence incarceration is illegal.  Id.  An illegal sentence is one which exceeds 
statutory limits, imposes multiple terms of imprisonment for the same offense, 
or otherwise violates the constitution or the law.  Id. 

 
 
[¶11]  Punishment already exacted for an 
offense must be credited to the incarceration time occasioned by that 
offense.  Halbleib v. State, 7 P.3d 45, 48 (Wyo. 
2000).  In Kitzke v. State, 2004 WY 9, ¶ 11, 84 P.3d 950, 953 (Wyo. 2004), the defendant was incarcerated by the State of 
Washington on a Washington sentence both before and after he was sentenced in 
Wyoming on a different offense.  In 
determining that he was not entitled to credit against his Wyoming sentence for 
time he served in Washington, we said the Washington confinement was not in any 
way attributable to the Wyoming sentence.  
He would have continued to serve his Washington sentence regardless of 
the existence of his Wyoming sentence.  "That period of confinement has 
absolutely nothing to do with his imposed Wyoming sentence."  Id.

 
 
[¶12]  Similarly, in Jennings v. State, 4 P.3d 915, 923 (Wyo. 
2000), we stated that the defendant was entitled to credit for time served in 
Washington if he was being held solely because of his financial inability to 
post bond on the Wyoming charge; however, he was not entitled to credit for time 
served in Washington if he would have remained in custody regardless of his 
ability to post bond on the Wyoming charge.  Because the record established that a 
portion of his Washington confinement was due solely to an unrelated Washington 
offense, we held the defendant was not entitled to credit on the Wyoming 
sentence for the time served in Washington.  However, the record also established 
that the defendant was confined in Washington for a time due solely to the 
Wyoming charge.  We held that he was 
entitled to credit against his Wyoming sentence for that 
time.

 
 
[¶13]  Mr. Simmons was incarcerated in Nevada 
solely because of the offense he committed in Nevada.  He would have remained in prison in that 
state regardless of any offense committed in Wyoming.  The district court properly denied him 
credit against his Wyoming sentence for the time he served in 
Nevada.

 
 
[¶14]   Affirmed.