Title: EDWARD C. MANES V. THE STATE OF WYOMING

State: wyoming

Issuer: Wyoming Supreme Court

Document:

EDWARD C. MANES V. THE STATE OF WYOMING2007 WY 6150 P.3d 179Case Number: 05-301Decided: 01/17/2007
OCTOBER 
TERM, A.D. 2006

 
 
EDWARD C. 
MANES,

 
 
Appellant

(Defendant),

 
 
v.

 
 
THE STATE OF WYOMING,

 
 
Appellee

(Plaintiff).

 
 
Appeal from the 
DistrictCourtofPlatteCounty

The Honorable John C. 
Brooks, Judge

 
 
Representing Appellant:

 
 
Edward C. 
Manes, pro se.

 
 
Representing Appellee:

 
 
Patrick J. 
Crank, Attorney General; Paul Rehurek, Deputy Attorney General; D. Michael 
Pauling, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Mackenzie Williams, Student 
Intern.

                                                            

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

 
 
BURKE, 
Justice.

 
 
[¶1]      Edward Manes 
appeals an order denying correction of his criminal sentence.  He contends the district court did not 
correctly apply his presentence incarceration credit to concurrently running 
sentences imposed in two separate cases.  
We affirm.

 
 
ISSUE

 
 
[¶2]      Did the district 
court err in refusing to correct Mr. Manes' sentence?

 
 
FACTS

 
 
[¶3]      On September 6, 
2001, Mr. Manes was arrested for delivery of marijuana and methamphetamine 
("drug case").  Five days later, Mr. 
Manes was released on bond.  On 
October 23, 2001, the Division of Criminal Investigation ("DCI") executed a 
search warrant on Mr. Manes' residence and found two explosive blasting caps.1  Mr. Manes was charged with solicitation 
of first-degree murder, a felony in violation of Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-1-302 and Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-2-101, and possession, 
manufacture, transportation and sale of explosives, a felony in violation of 
Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-3-111(b), 
("explosives case").

 
 
[¶4]      On January 15, 
2002, Mr. Manes pled guilty to two counts in the drug case.  He was confined, pending sentencing, 
until March 19, 2002.  He received 
prison terms of six to ten years for the marijuana conviction and three to ten 
years for the methamphetamine conviction.  
The district court granted sixty-nine days of presentence incarceration 
credit.  The credit included five 
days for the initial period of incarceration between September 6, 2001 and 
September 11, 2001, and sixty-four days for the period between his guilty plea, 
January 15, 2002, and his sentencing hearing, March 19, 2002.  On appeal, we affirmed those sentences. 
 See Manes v. State, 2004 WY 70, 92 P.3d 289 
(Wyo. 2004).  Subsequently, the 
district court reduced the sentence for the methamphetamine conviction to a ten 
year term of probation to run consecutive with the six to ten year sentence for 
the marijuana conviction.  

 
 
[¶5]      A jury trial was 
held in July 2002, in the explosives case.  
The jury found Mr. Manes guilty of the explosives charge.2  He was sentenced to two to four 
years.  The sentence was ordered to 
be served consecutive to the sentences imposed in the drug case.  Mr. Manes received presentence 
incarceration credit for 147 days for the period beginning with his arrest on 
October 24, 2001, and ending March 19, 2002, when he began serving his drug 
sentences.

 
 
[¶6]      In March 2005, 
the district court granted Mr. Manes' request for a sentence reduction, and 
modified the judgment and sentence in the explosives case to make it concurrent, 
rather than consecutive, to the sentences being served in the drug case.  Subsequently, Mr. Manes filed a motion 
in the explosives case, asserting that the concurrent status of his sentences 
entitles him to 216 days of presentence incarceration credit against both of the 
sentences.  On September 19, 2005, 
the district court denied Mr. Manes' motion.   This appeal followed.3

 
 
Discussion

 
 
[¶7]      Mr. Manes claims 
that his sentence is illegal because, now that his sentences are concurrent, he 
has not received proper credit for presentence incarceration.  Although Mr. Manes requests credit 
against both of his sentences, he has only appealed in the explosives case, 
limiting our review to the legality of that sentence.  "An illegal sentence is one which 
exceeds statutory limits, imposes multiple terms of imprisonment for the same 
offense, or otherwise violates constitutions or the law."  Martinez v. State, 2002 WY 10, ¶ 9, 39 P.3d 394, 396 (Wyo. 2002) (quoting Duran 
v. State, 949 P.2d 885, 887 (Wyo. 1997)).  Pursuant to W.R.Cr.P. 35(a), "[t]he 
court may correct an illegal sentence at any time."  The determination of whether a sentence 
is illegal is a question of law, which we review de novo.  Spencer v. State, 2005 WY 105, ¶ 11, 118 P.3d 978, 982 (Wyo. 2005); Brown v. 
State, 2004 WY 119, ¶ 7, 99 P.3d 489, 491 (Wyo. 2004). 

 
 
[¶8]      A defendant is 
entitled to credit for time spent in presentence confinement, against both the 
minimum and maximum sentence, if the defendant was unable to post bond for the 
offense of which he was convicted.  Young v. State, 2002 WY 68, ¶ 7, 46 P.3d 295, 297 (Wyo. 2002); Segnitz v. 
State, 7 P.3d 49, 52 (Wyo. 2000); Smith v. State, 988 P.2d 39, 40 
(Wyo. 1999); Milladge v. State, 900 P.2d 1156, 1160 
(Wyo. 1995); Renfro v. State, 785 P.2d 491, 498 
(Wyo. 1990). 
 A sentence that does not include 
proper credit for presentence incarceration is illegal. Gomez v. State, 2004 WY 15, ¶ 18, 85 P.3d 417, 421 (Wyo. 2004); Smith, 988 P.2d  at 40.  

 
 
[¶9]      We find no error 
in the district court's denial of Mr. Manes' motion.  Mr. Manes was awarded 147 days of credit 
against his sentence in the explosives case.  He seeks credit for 216 days.  The record reflects that Mr. Manes was 
only confined for a total of 152 days before he began serving his prison 
sentence in the drug case.  With the 
exception of five days, from September 6 through September 11, 2001, Mr. Manes 
has been credited with his entire presentence confinement.4   He is not due the additional five 
days because they are solely attributable to the drug case and occurred prior to 
his arrest on the explosives charge.  
As noted by the State, the 147 days of credit in the explosives case 
includes the 64 days between the time of the guilty plea and the imposition of 
sentence in the drug case.  Those 64 
days were also credited against the sentence in the drug case.  Mr. Manes is simply not entitled to any 
additional credit for presentence incarceration.    

 
 
[¶10]   Affirmed.

 
 
FOOTNOTES

 
 

1The issuance 
of the search warrant stemmed from a DCI investigation into Mr. Manes' alleged 
effort to arrange the assassination of a third party witness and informant 
against Mr. Manes in the drug case.  
Mr. Manes expressed such intentions to his cellmate after he was arrested 
in the drug case.  Subsequently, the 
cellmate became a confidential informant for DCI.  DCI monitored additional conversations 
between the informant and Mr. Manes.  
Based on these conversations, DCI sought and received a search warrant 
for Mr. Manes' residence.

  

2The jury 
returned a not guilty verdict on the solicitation of murder charge.  An order of acquittal was entered on 
August 8, 2002.  In Manes v. State, 2004 WY 33, 86 P.3d 1274 
(Wyo. 2004), we affirmed the conviction on the explosives 
charge.

 
 

3Mr. Manes 
did not perfect a similar appeal in the drug case.

 

4The 83 days of 
confinement from the arrest on October 24, 2001, until the entry of the guilty 
plea in the drug case on January 15, 2002, are attributable solely to the 
explosives case. During the remaining 64 days, from January 15, 2002 to March 
19, 2002, Mr. Manes was in custody pending sentencing in the drug case and trial 
in the explosives case.