Opinion ID: 1911444
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Whether Orte Was Entitled to Credit for Time Served in the County Jail.

Text: if an inmate [is] confined to a county jail or other correctional or mental facility at any time prior to sentencing, or after sentencing but prior to the case having been decided on appeal, because of failure to furnish bail or because of being charged with a nonbailable offense, the inmate shall be given credit for the days already served upon the term of the sentence. B. The merits. Orte contends that section 903A.5 entitles him to a credit on his current sentence for any time he spent in the county jail relating to the homicide by vehicle convictions. He concedes he is not entitled to credit for any time spent in the county jail (1) while he was out on bond, or (2) for a separate offense. The State responds that, for two reasons, the court properly refused to give Orte credit for time he spent in the county jail before sentencing on the homicide by vehicle convictions. First, Orte had bonded himself out on the homicide by vehicle charges. Second, any time Orte spent in the county jail after he bonded himself out was for the unrelated drug possession conviction. We agree. We have repeatedly said a defendant is entitled to credit for time served only when the time served is related to the crime for which the defendant is convicted. State v. Harrison, 468 N.W.2d 215, 217 (Iowa 1991) ([Iowa Code section 903A.5] expressly allows the defendant to receive credit for any presentence confinement relating to the ... conviction.). Orte posted a bail bond on December 30, 1993, on the homicide by vehicle convictions. On April 23, 1994, Orte was incarcerated in the Clinton County jail on the unrelated drug conviction because of a probation violation. The record does not show that the bail bond on the homicide by vehicle convictions was ever released while the present case was pending. In these circumstances, Orte was serving time in the Clinton County jail only on the unrelated drug possession conviction. So the district court correctly concluded Orte was not entitled to credit for time served in the Clinton County jail before sentencing in the present case.