uhIGINAI, 

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA 

OP 24-0491 

HARLAN GERALD VASKA, 

Petitioner, 

v. 

D.J. GODFREY, WARDEN, 

CROSSROADS CORRECTIONAL CENTER, 

Respondent. 

ORDER 

Harlan Gerald Vaska petitions this Court for habeas corpus relief, requesting his 

immediate release from prison. Vaska is being held in the Crossroads Correctional Center 

in Shelby, Montana, and we amend the caption to include the current Warden's name. 

Section 46-22-201(1)(c), MCA. 

This Court is familiar with some of Vaska's sentencing history. In 2018, he 

challenged a December 2011 hearing in the Twentieth Judicial District Court, Lake 

County, in a petition for habeas corpus relief. Vaska v. McTighe, No. OP 18-0675, Order 

(Mont. Dec. 11, 2018) (Vaska II).1 We stated then: 

On September 23, 2010, in open court, the Twentieth Judicial District 

Court, Lake County, accepted Vaska's guilty plea to felony driving under the 

influence of alcohol or drugs (DUI). The District Court sentenced him to the 

Montana State Prison (MSP) for fifteen years with ten years suspended. The 

minute entry reflects that corrections were made to the presentence 

investigation report concerning the number of DUIs. This entry noted that 

this DUI was Vaska's ninth one. The written Judgment was signed and filed 

In July 2018, Vaska sought a writ of supervisory control in the same underlying criminal case 

(Lake County Cause No. DC-09-136), and this Court denied his petition. Vaska v. Twentieth 

Judicial Dist. Ct., No. OP 18-0376, Order (Mont. Jul. 17, 2018) (Vaska 1). 

09/10/2024

Case Number: OP 24-0491
in December 2010. About a year later, the District Court issued an Amended 

Judgment to clarify that the court designated Vaska as a persistent felony 

offender and sentenced him as such. The court also held a hearing on 

December 8, 2011, to address Vaska's concerns about not seeing all of the 

evidence prior to conviction. 

Vaska II, at 1. 

Vaska puts forth that his sentence and incarceration are illegal. Vaska refers to three 

sentences in his Petition and that he has discharged two of thern, according to an 

attachment. He states that "[t]here are 11 years between the discharge of DC-87-66 on 

June 21, 1991 and the felony DUI in DC-02-112 on August 8, 2002." He further states that 

because his sentence in "DC-09-136 is an active sentence[,] [t]his makes DC-02-112 and 

DC-87-66 still active." Vaska raises clairns about "discrepancies" in his criminal record, 

dating back to 2003. Vaska requests not to be charged "with any more tirne." 

Vaska is correct that his Lake County sentence for his 2010 DUI is still active. 

However, that active sentence does not re-activate older sentences. He is mistaken that he 

is serving his older sentences. As reflected in his attached June 2, 2021 Report of Violation 

to the Board of Pardons and Parole, Vaska discharged his sentence for the 1987 case on 

June 21, 1991 (Cause No. DC-87-66), and he discharged his 2002 case on August 26, 2009 

(Cause No. DC-02-112). We point out that in January 2023, Vaska received another 

sentence for DUI in the Lake County District Court. Through counsel, he has an appeal 

pending with this Court. State v. Vaska, No. DA 23-0096. 

Vaska brings his other claims concerning discrepancies too late to this Court and 

through the wrong remedy. Vaska has not shown illegal incarceration or that he is serving 

an illegal sentence. Section 46-22-101(1), MCA. He is not entitled to the,relief requested. 

Vaska is not entitled to his immediate release. Accordingly, 

IT IS ORDERED that Vaska's Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus is DENIED and 

DISMISSED. 

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that this matter is CLOSED as of this Order's date. 

2 
The Clerk is directed to provide a copy of this Order to: counsel of record; James 

Allen Lapotka; Cori Danielle Losing; Joshua James Thornton; Chad M. Wright; and Harlan 

Gerald Vaska personallye0, .

DATED this it clay of September, 2024. 

FILED 

SEP 1 0 2024 

Bowen Greenwood 

Clerk of Supreme Court 

State of Montana 

3 

Chief Justice