Opinion ID: 2062104
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Credit in Sentencing for Time Served

Text: Defendant was given four consecutive sentences: 18-25 years for kidnapping, 15-20 for sexual assault, 5-10 for assault and robbery, and 4-5 for possessing a weapon during the commission of a felony. These were to be served consecutively to the 18-20 year sentence imposed after his first conviction. The trial court gave defendant credit for ten years spent in custody toward service of the sentences imposed. Defendant maintains that the court should have given him forty years' credit pursuant to 13 V.S.A. § 7031(b). That statute states: The court shall give the person credit towards service of his sentence for any days spent in custody in connection with the offense for which sentence was imposed. In other words, defendant reads § 7031(b) as compelling the application of credit for time served as if the multiple sentences were concurrent. The amount of pretrial credit toward a particular sentence depends upon whether the sentence is consecutive or concurrent. If the sentences are concurrent, the prisoner must be given credit for pretrial detention towards all the sentences. In re Lampman, 135 Vt. 226, 227-28, 373 A.2d 547, 547-48 (1977). But if the sentences are consecutive, a single credit is given. In re Perry, 137 Vt. 168, 170-71, 400 A.2d 1013, 1015 (1979) (purpose of the statute is to provide equal sentencing treatment for persons who raise bail and those who cannot). We see no reason to overrule this interpretation of § 7031(b). When all is said and done, a number of consecutive sentences becomes one sentence, and it is against this sentence, as imposed, that pretrial detention is credited.