Opinion ID: 2281794
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Judicial Error v. Clerical Error.

Text: Generally speaking, a trial court lacks power to amend a judgment ten days after the entry of that judgment. [15] An exception to that ten-day rule exists for clerical errors. RCr 10.10 expressly permits a trial court to correct a clerical error at any time on its own initiative or on the motion of any party. ... Viers provides clear guidance about how to determine if an error is clerical or judicial in nature: the question of whether an error is judicial or clerical turns on whether the amended judgment embodies the trial court's oral judgment as expressed in the record. If it does, then the error is clerical in that the amended judgment either corrects language that is inconsistent with the oral judgment, or supplies language that was inadvertently omitted from the oral judgment. But if it does not, then the error must be judicial. [16] In the case at hand, the parties agree that the original written final judgment accurately reflected the trial court's oral pronouncement at sentencing that Winstead would be given 234 days of jail-time credit. So under the clear and unambiguous holding in Viers, any error in giving Winstead jail-time credit was a judicial error.