Court Opinion

ID: 9580321
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:04:02.231682+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:36:12.437470
License: Public Domain

Durham, J.
(concurring) — The majority has done a thorough and admirable job in explaining the function and use of "earned early release time", commonly referred to as "good time". See RCW 9.94A.150(1). Its explanation of the proper method of calculating good time should alleviate any misconceptions which might exist in the various penal facilities of this state. However, I write separately in order to emphasize the limited function of the majority's "apparent or manifest errors of law" standard.
Under the majority's standard, the Department of Corrections (Department) is entitled to give presumptive legal effect to a county jail's good-time certification so long as it is not based upon an apparent or manifest error of law. Majority, at 664. Good-time certifications from the county jails consist only of "the amount of time spent in custody at the [county jail] and the amount of earned early release time." (Italics mine.) RCW 9.94A.150(1). See also majority, at 659. *668The Department only receives raw numbers, without any explanation of how that number is calculated or why a prisoner did not receive the maximum allowable good time.
With the. exception of prisoners incarcerated for certain types of crimes not relevant here, a prisoner's good time cannot exceed one-third of his total sentence. RCW 9.94A-.150(1). While the statute sets out a maximum amount that can be awarded, there is no requirement that this maximum amount actually be awarded. See majority, at 661-62. There is also no statutory requirement that the county jails include an explanation of their method of apportioning good time with this certification. In order for the Department to reject a certification, the error of law committed by the county jail must be apparent or manifest upon the face of the certification. Since all the Department receives is a number, this means that it must be apparent or manifest that the number was miscalculated. Therefore, the only conceivable "apparent or manifest error of law" which can be gleaned from the face of the certification is that the county jail exceeded the statutory maximum. It should go without saying that if this were to occur, it is incumbent upon the Department to return the certification for recalculation.
In a personal restraint petition, unlike a trial, the burden of proof is on the petitioner to demonstrate that an error has been made. State v. Kitchen, 110 Wn.2d 403, 413, 756 P.2d 105 (1988). In the case at hand, there does not appear to have been any showing of an apparent or manifest error. Rather, it is most likely an adventitious accident that Williams' good-time credit equaled exactly one-third of his time spent in the Ring County Jail.8 Nonetheless, because we are faced with the unusual situation of both the Department and the petitioner requesting a remand, I concur with the majority's disposition of this case. I would point out, however, that there is no need for a "clarification" of the county jail's understand*669ing of the statute so long as there is no apparent or manifest error of law contained in the certification. See majority, at 665-66. Upon remand, dismissal is appropriate so long as Williams does not meet his burden of proving that there was such an error evident on the face of the certification provided to the Department by King County.
Brachtenbach and Guy, JJ., concur with Durham, J.
Reconsideration denied August 11, 1993.

As the petitioner's brief itself admits, Williams has consistently lost good-time credit while in the state prison system because of Department of Corrections disciplinary actions due to assault, possession of a dangerous weapon, and other dangerous infractions. Brief of Petitioner, at 3; Brief of Respondent, exhibit 2.