Opinion ID: 1161889
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Authority of Judge to Credit Presentence Time Served

Text: ORS 137.320 provides in relevant part: (1) When a judgment includes commitment to the legal and physical custody of the Department of Corrections, the sheriff shall deliver the defendant, together with a copy of the entry of judgment and a statement signed by the sheriff of the number of days the defendant was imprisoned prior to delivery, to the superintendent of the Department of Corrections institution to which defendant is initially assigned pursuant to ORS 137.124.    (3) Upon receipt of the information described in subsection (1)    the Department of Corrections shall establish a case file and compute the defendant's sentence in accordance with the provisions of ORS 137.320. (4) When the judgment is imprisonment in the county jail or a fine and that the defendant be imprisoned until it is paid, the judgment shall be executed by the sheriff of the county. The sheriff shall compute the time the defendant was imprisoned after arrest and prior to the commencement of the term specified in the judgment. Such time shall be credited towards the term of the sentence. ORS 137.320 does not authorize the sentencing judge to order credit for time served. ORS 137.320(1) requires that the sheriff deliver a signed statement of the number of days the defendant was in custody before he or she was delivered to the Corrections Division. ORS 137.320(3) and (4) provide that either the Department of Corrections (in the case of incarceration in a state prison) or the sheriff (in the case of incarceration in a county jail) shall compute the defendant's sentence and give credit for presentence time served. The sentencing judge simply has no authority to order or compute credit for presentence time served. State v. McClure, 295 Or. 732, 735 n. 1, 670 P.2d 1009 (1983) (remedy for failure to receive credit for presentence time is action against the sheriff); State v. Rudy, 43 Or. App. 635, 603 P.2d 1230 (1979) (sheriff has responsibility to credit presentence time served).