Case Name: STATE of Louisiana ex rel. Horace JOHNSON v. C. Murray HENDERSON, Warden, Louisiana State Penitentiary
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1974-10-11
Citations: 303 So. 2d 741
Docket Number: No. 54577
Parties: STATE of Louisiana ex rel. Horace JOHNSON v. C. Murray HENDERSON, Warden, Louisiana State Penitentiary.
Judges: SANDERS, C. J, and SUMMERS and MARCUS, JTJT., dissent and assign written reasons.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 303
Pages: 741–742

Head Matter:
STATE of Louisiana ex rel. Horace JOHNSON v. C. Murray HENDERSON, Warden, Louisiana State Penitentiary.
No. 54577.
Supreme Court of Louisiana.
Oct. 11, 1974.
See also La., 293 So.2d 185.
Murphy W. Bell, Director, Baton Rouge, for plaintiff-relator.
William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Ossie Brown, Dist. Atty., Ralph L. Roy, Asst. Dist. Atty., for defendant-respondent.

Opinion:
DIXON, Justice.
Petitioner committed two armed robberies before he was arrested in East Baton Rouge Parish on March 11, 1970. One of the robberies had been committed in East Baton Rouge Parish on March 10, 1970, and the other was committed in Pointe Coupee Parish on February 23, 1970. Petitioner pleaded guilty to the East Baton Rouge Parish offense on October 19, 1970 and was sentenced to fifteen years. On May 19, 1971 petitioner withdrew his plea of not guilty and entered a plea of guilty to the Pointe Coupee robbery. He was sentenced to fifteen years for this offense, the sentence to run concurrently with any then being served.
The Department of Corrections determined that he began serving the second sentence on May 19, 1971, the day he was sentenced. The department set his release date accordingly. The district court denied mandamus, and we granted writs of certio-rari. Petitioner contends that Article 880 of the Code of Criminal Procedure requires that he be given credit for time served from March 11, 1970, the day of his original arrest. Article 880 does require the State to give credit for time served while the case is pending. State v. Stewart, La., 286 So.2d 95 (1973); State v. Hall, La., 287 So.2d 798 (1973). See also Jennings v. Hunt, La., 272 So.2d 333 (1973).
The record before us shows that the petitioner was taken in custody almost immediately after the second robbery — the Baton Rouge robbery. It does not show whether his initial custody was caused in part by the Pointe Coupee robbery, nor when law enforcement officials took the first action which, independent of the Baton Rouge robbery, might have resulted in his custody.
This information is essential. If petitioner were apprehended because of both offenses, he is entitled, under C.Cr.P. 880, to credit on the Pointe Coupee sentence from the time of apprehension. From whatever date officials charged petitioner with the Pointe Coupee robbery (since he was already in custody) he is due credit for time served.
To obtain this information there must be an evidentiary hearing on petitioner's mandamus proceeding in the district court. Therefore, the case is remanded to the district court with instructions to conduct an evidentiary hearing.
SANDERS, C. J, and SUMMERS and MARCUS, JTJT., dissent and assign written reasons.