Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 45A03-1710-CR-2497 | June 14, 2018 Page 1 of 6

MEMORANDUM DECISION

Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), this 

Memorandum Decision shall not be regarded as 

precedent or cited before any court except for the 

purpose of establishing the defense of res judicata, 

collateral estoppel, or the law of the case.

APPELLANT PRO SE

Archie L. Brown

Hammond, Indiana

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE

Curtis T. Hill, Jr.

Attorney General of Indiana

Michael Gene Worden

Deputy Attorney General

Indianapolis, Indiana

I N T H E

COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

Archie L. Brown,

Appellant-Petitioner,

v.

State of Indiana,

Appellee-Respondent.

June 14, 2018

Court of Appeals Case No.

45A03-1710-CR-2497

Appeal from the Lake Superior 

Court.

The Honorable Samuel L. Cappas, 

Judge.

The Honorable Natalie Bokota, 

Magistrate.

Trial Court Cause No.

45G04-1101-FB-10

Rucker, Senior Judge

[1] Archie L. Brown appeals the trial court’s denial of his petition seeking credit for 

days spent in pre-trial confinement. Concluding the trial court correctly denied 

Brown’s petition, we affirm.
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Facts and Procedural History

[2] On October 23, 2012 under terms of an agreement Brown pleaded guilty to 

robbery as a class C felony. The trial court sentenced Brown to eight years in 

the Indiana Department of Correction to be served consecutive to a sentence 

Brown was serving in Illinois. In its order of judgment the trial court specified 

that Brown “is to receive zero (0) days credit time spent in confinement as a 

result of this charge, because he is receiving credit under his Illinois sentences.”

Appellant’s App. Vol. 2, p. 2.

[3] Thereafter on October 6, 2017 Brown pro se filed a “Petition for Jail Time and 

Additional Good Time Jail credit.” Id. p. 6. According to Brown, he is entitled 

to credit for a period of 95 days from July 20, 2012 – “the date Brown was 

arrested under warrant in Illinois and transferred to the Lake County jail,” (id. 

pp. 7-8), to October 23, 2012 – “the date Brown was sentenced by the Lake 

County court on his Indiana Robbery.” Id. at 8. In addition, Brown contended 

that he is not a credit restricted felon and is entitled to an additional 95 days of 

Class I “good time” credit for a total of 190 days.

[4] The trial court denied Brown’s petition declaring in relevant part:

A petition for jail time credit may only be used to attack a 

sentence that is invalid on its face. The sentence in this case is 

not erroneous on its face. As the sentencing order of October 23, 

2012 stated, the defendant was not granted credit for time spent 

incarcerated in the Lake County Jail because he was serving 

Illinois sentences. If the defendant wishes to further challenge 

his sentence, the issue must be addressed in a petition for postconviction relief.
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Order of 10-11-17 (attached to Appellant’s Br. p. 10).

Discussion and Decision

[5] Brown now appeals the trial court’s denial. However, he does not address the 

trial court’s underlying rationale, namely: a petition for jail time credit may 

only be used to attack a sentence that is invalid on its face. Instead, Brown 

proceeds to the merits of his claim. The State does likewise not responding at 

all to the trial court’s rationale. We do so here and conclude the trial court got 

it right.

[6] The facts of this case are controlled by Robinson v. State, 805 N.E.2d 783 (Ind. 

2004). In Robinson, after a jury trial the defendant was convicted of attempted 

murder and sentenced to a term of thirty years. Thereafter he filed a pro se 

motion to correct erroneous sentence alleging the trial court improperly failed 

to award both credit for time served and good-time credit. Addressing 

defendant’s allegation our Supreme Court declared, “We . . . hold that a motion 

to correct sentence may only be used to correct sentencing errors that are clear 

from the face of the judgment imposing the sentence in light of the statutory 

authority. Claims that require consideration of the proceedings before, during, 

or after trial may not be presented by way of a motion to correct sentence.” Id.

at 787. “As to sentencing claims not facially apparent, the motion to correct 

sentence is an improper remedy. Such claims may be raised only on direct 

appeal and, where appropriate, by post-conviction proceedings.” Id.
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[7] It is true that “[a]n allegation by an inmate that the trial court has not included 

credit time earned in its sentencing is the type of claim appropriately advanced 

by a motion to correct sentence.” Neff v. State, 888 N.E.2d 1249, 1251 (Ind. 

2008). However, in the case before us Brown does not allege the trial court 

merely omitted statutorily required information from the sentencing judgment.

Instead, Brown contends that he is entitled to an additional ninety-five days of 

credit time, which represents the number of days he spent in pre-trial 

confinement prior to sentencing. But resolving this claim would require 

consideration of matters not clear from the face of the judgment, for example 

whether Brown is a credit restricted felon.1

[8] Further, Brown’s claim of sentencing error is not facially apparent. The order 

lists the conviction for robbery as a class C felony; imposes a sentence of eight 

years in the DOC; dictates the sentence is to be served “consecutively” with the 

sentence Brown was serving in a foreign jurisdiction; and awards “zero (0) days 

credit time spent in confinement as a result of this charge, because he is 

receiving credit under his Illinois sentences.” Appellant’s App. Vol. 2, p. 2.

 

1 A defendant’s status as a credit-restricted felon is relevant to the defendant’s initial assignment 

to a credit-time class, which, in turn, affects the defendant’s accrual of credit time toward her 

sentence. See Ind. Code § 35-50-6-4. The statute provides in pertinent part: “(b) A person who 

is a credit restricted felon and who is imprisoned for a crime or imprisoned awaiting trial or 

sentencing is initially assigned to Class IV. A credit restricted felon may not be assigned to Class 

I or Class II.” Id. Here, seeking day for day good-time credit Brown asserts that he is not a 

credit restricted felon.
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[9] When a defendant is being held on two different cases, and the sentence in one 

case is ordered to run consecutively to the sentence imposed in the other, to 

award credit time on both cases would result in more credit time than that to 

which the defendant is entitled and would effectively enable him to serve part of 

the consecutive sentences concurrently. See State v. Lotaki, 4 N.E.3d 656, 657 

(Ind. 2014). “When consecutive sentences are involved, credit time is deducted 

from the aggregate total of the consecutive sentences, not from an individual 

sentence.” Id. at 657 (Finding error in the trial court’s award of credit time 

where defendant was serving consecutive sentences); cf. Maciaszek v. State, 75 

N.E.3d 1089, 1094 (Ind. Ct. App. 2017) (Defendant entitled to credit for actual 

time served in county jail after he was extradited from foreign state to await 

trial on an Indiana charge of felony burglary. And this was because the 

conviction in the burglary case did not indicate that defendant’s Indiana 

sentence was to be served consecutively to his sentence in the foreign 

jurisdiction.), trans. denied.

[10] In this case resolving whether and to what extent Brown received credit on his 

Illinois sentence – thus impacting the “zero” credit received on his Indiana 

sentence – are matters that are not obvious from the face of the trial court’s 

order of judgment. Therefore, Brown’s claim of sentencing error cannot be 

pursued through his Petition for Jail Time and Additional Good Time Jail 

Credit. Accordingly, the trial court properly denied the petition.
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Conclusion

[11] We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

[12] Affirmed.

Vaidik, C.J., and Altice, J., concur.