Opinion ID: 2543837
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: split sentencing

Text: [¶ 16] The clear intent of Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 6-10-101 and 6-10-107, when read together, is that felons be imprisoned in state penal institutions, while misdemeanants be imprisoned in county jails. This intent is further reflected in Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-10-103 (Lexis 1999), which mentions imprisoning misdemeanants in county jails, and in Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-10-109 (LexisNexis 2001), which is captioned Sentences for felonies, and which defines state penal institution. Finally, Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 7-13-108 (Michie 1995) directs the sentencing court specifically how to sentence felons to incarceration: Unless otherwise specifically provided by statute, any person convicted of a felony and sentenced to a term of imprisonment shall be sentenced to the custody and control of the department of corrections to be incarcerated in a state penal institution designated by the department. [¶ 17] The mandate that felons be incarcerated in state penal institutions while misdemeanants be incarcerated in county jails has a concomitant fiscal impact on the state and the individual counties. The state, through the Department of Corrections, funds and maintains the state penal institutions. Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 25-1-104 (Michie 1997). The counties, through their sheriffs, fund and maintain the county jails. Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 18-2-103, 18-3-603, 18-6-302 (LexisNexis 2001). [¶ 18] In 1984, the Wyoming State Legislature created a method whereby certain felons could be housed in county jails, but at state expense. Wyo. Sess. Laws, ch. 57 (1984). The current incarnation of that law, Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 7-13-107 (LexisNexis 2001), generally referred to as the split sentencing statute, reads as follows: (a) Following a defendant's conviction of, or his plea of guilty to any felony, other than a felony punishable by death or life imprisonment, the court may impose any sentence of imprisonment authorized by law and except as provided in subsection (g) of this section, may in addition provide: (i) That the defendant be confined in the county jail for a period of not more than one (1) year; and (ii) That the execution of the remainder of the sentence be suspended and the defendant placed on probation. (b) In placing the defendant on probation under subsection (a) of this section, the court may also: (i) Impose any fine provided by the statute violated; (ii) Apply the provisions of W.S. 7-13-501 through 7-13-503. (c) Except as provided in subsection (a) of this section, the court may impose a split sentence of incarceration followed by probation in any felony case including those in which the statute violated specifically provides for a sentence of imprisonment in the state penitentiary. (d) The court may impose a split sentence as provided by this section at the time a defendant is originally sentenced or at any hearing at which the court modifies or revokes a defendant's probation and at which the defendant is personally present. (e) The cost of housing convicted felons in the county jail shall be paid by the department of corrections by contract arrangement with the county sheriff.       (h) A defendant sentenced under this section is not eligible for parole and is not subject to good time allowances authorized under W.S. 7-13-420. The sentencing court shall continue to have jurisdiction over the defendant during the entire time he is confined in county jail and thereafter while the defendant is serving his term of probation. (j) If consecutive terms of confinement in the county jail are ordered pursuant to this section they shall not exceed a period of one (1) year. [¶ 19] Proper application of the split sentencing statute is the first issue before this Court. The district court applied the statute as it believed it had been interpreted by this Court. In that regard, there are two particular cases of interest. In 1992, we decided Wlodarczyk v. State, 836 P.2d 279 (Wyo. 1992). Raymond Wlodarczyk had been convicted of aggravated assault. The district court imposed a split sentence of nine months in the county jail, to be followed by three years of supervised probation. After he had served the jail term and most of the probationary period, Wlodarczyk's probation was revoked. The district court then sentenced him to prison for a period of five to six years. Id. at 284. [¶ 20] In reversing Wlodarczyk's sentence, this Court identified two types of split sentences that could be imposed under Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 7-13-107: (1) split sentencing involving incarceration in the county jail for a period not to exceed one year with a probationary sentence to follow county jail confinement involving probation granted for the balance of the established sentence (classical split sentence); and (2) split sentencing involving incarceration in the county jail for a period not to exceed one year with a probationary sentence to follow county jail confinement with probation granted for a stated period following jail confinement with sentencing postponed subject to entry if probation is revoked (probationary split sentence). Wlodarczyk, 836 P.2d at 287-88. We then applied the rule of lenity, concluding that Wlodarcyzk's sentence was a classical split sentence because it did not reflect an intent to allow complete re-sentencing in the event of probation revocation. Id. at 288. We held that, when probation is revoked in a classical split sentence situation, only the period remaining upon revocation can be enforced by confinement. Id. [¶ 21] The second case in which this Court interpreted the split sentencing statute was Kidd v. State, 937 P.2d 1334 (Wyo.1997). Kidd's original sentence for aggravated assault was four years of supervised probation, one condition thereof being that he serve ninety days in the county jail. When Kidd's probation was later revoked, the district court sentenced him to serve thirty to eighty-four months in prison. Id. at 1335. Kidd's appeal was resolved just as Wlodarczyk's had been. We concluded that, since the original sentence had not indicated an intent to reserve full sentencing in the event of probation revocation, the rule of lenity required that we find the sentence to be a classical split sentence. The most that Kidd could be sentenced to was the balance of time remaining on his four-year probationary term. Id. at 1336. [5] [¶ 22] Unlike the trial judges in Wlodarczyk and Kidd, the district judge in the instant case specifically mentioned his intention that the sentence be a probationary split sentence, as has been recognized by the Wyoming Supreme Court in recent case law. The written Sentence & Probation Order was even more precise: IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that [for the first burglary] the Defendant shall be incarcerated in the Park County Detention Center for a period of one (1) year, pursuant to the probationary split sentence statute under Wyoming Statute § 7-13-107(c), with credit for 218 days served. The Defendant shall be granted a furlough to Youth Services International, Inc. at the Defendant's expense upon the following conditions:    IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that upon the Defendant's successful completion of the one year program at the Youth Services International, Inc. treatment program, [for the first burglary] the Defendant shall, at that time be placed on five (5) years supervised probation ... [.] [¶ 23] The appellant's sentence for the first burglary clearly and unambiguously was intended to be a probationary split sentence under this Court's then-existing interpretation of the split sentencing statute. Therefore, we have no occasion to interpret the district court's intent and the rule of lenity has no application here. The district court having retained its sentencing authority as to the first burglary, we will affirm the sentence of incarceration for not less than four years and not more than five years imposed upon revocation of the appellant's probation. [¶ 24] The district court correctly applied Wlodarczyk and Kidd. The sentence imposed for the first burglary fell within the statutory limits and there is no indication that the length of the sentence was determined by anything that occurred after the original sentencing date. For these reasons, we have affirmed the sentence. Nevertheless, this case has once again brought to our attention several problems that continue to arise out of the Wlodarczyk and Kidd holdings. We said the following in Wlodarczyk: The differences in character between the two types of split sentences define the residual sentencing discretion retained by the district court upon revocation. In the case of the classical split sentence, only the period remaining upon revocation can be enforced by confinement. The probationary split sentence permits the sentencing judge to resentence to any sentence which might have originally been imposed. Wlodarczyk, 836 P.2d at 288 (emphasis added). We reiterated this proposition in Kidd, 937 P.2d at 1336. Wlodarczyk's original sentence was nine months in jail and three years of probation. No prison sentence initially was imposed. Kidd's original sentence was four years of probation, with ninety days in jail. No prison sentence initially was imposed. We interpreted both sentences, under the statutory language emphasized above, as limiting incarceration upon probation revocation to the probationary period, less time served. Kidd, 937 P.2d at 1336; Wlodarczyk, 836 P.2d at 292. The effect of such an interpretation was to declare that the district court intended the period of probation to equal the period of incarceration. [6] [¶ 25] While the clear imposition of a probationary split sentence for the first burglary has obviated the need for similar interpretation in the instant case, we are still left with the fact that the split sentence was imposed without the district court first imposing a lawful minimum and maximum sentence. Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 7-13-201 requires minimum and maximum terms: Except where a term of life is required by law, or as otherwise provided by W.S. 7-13-101, when a person is sentenced for the commission of a felony, the court imposing the sentence shall not fix a definite term of imprisonment, but shall establish a maximum and minimum term within the limits authorized for the statute violated. The maximum term shall not be greater than the maximum provided by law for the statute violated, and the minimum term shall not be less than the minimum provided by law for the statute violated, nor greater than ninety percent (90%) of the maximum term imposed. W.R.Cr.P. 32(c)(2)(B) contains a similar requirement. In the same vein, the split sentencing statute, itself, provides that the district court may impose a split sentence after imposing any sentence authorized by law. Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 7-13-107(a). [¶ 26] Several split sentencing cases with underlying minimum and maximum term sentences have come before this Court. [7] In none of those cases were we called upon to re-assess the Wlodarczyk and Kidd holdings that, where no underlying sentence is imposed and there is no clear intent to defer sentencing entirely, we will interpret the probationary period of a split sentence to be the maximum allowable term of confinement. We speak to that point now because the instant case brings the matter once again directly before this Court, and because we are now convinced that Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 7-13-107 and 7-13-201 and W.R.Cr.P. 32(c)(2)(B) require the imposition of a minimum and maximum term sentence before split sentencing may be utilized. The holdings of Wlodarczyk and Kidd to the contrary are prospectively overruled, and the distinction between a classical split sentence and a probationary split sentence is hereby abrogated. [¶ 27] When imposing a split sentence after the date this opinion is published in the advance sheets of West's Pacific Reporter, the sentencing court must first impose a lawful sentence with a minimum and maximum term. Sentencing courts may not simply impose a jail sentence followed by probation. Neither may they postpone sentencing altogether when imposing a split sentence. [8] We now conclude that, rather than authorizing the latter practice, the intent of Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 7-13-107(c) is simply to clarify that split sentencing is available for all felonies except those punishable by death or life imprisonment, even if the statute violated specifically provides for imprisonment in the penitentiary. [9] [¶ 28] While these conclusions are based primarily on this Court's view of legislative intent, they will also help solve several difficulties left extant by the holdings of Wlodarczyk and Kidd. This Court will no longer have to interpret the wording of split sentences in an attempt to determine the sentencing court's intent. Further, if the imposition of an underlying sentence cannot be postponed indefinitely, issues of speedy sentencing and vindictive sentencing will be less likely to arise.