Court Opinion

ID: 9401775
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-06-13 22:07:22.832232+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:19:55.220536
License: Public Domain

ORIGINAL                                      06/13/2023

            IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA                               Case Number: OP 23-0286

                                        OP 23-0286

 RUSTY L. LIMBERHAND,
                                                                      FILED
                                                                       JUN 1 3 2023
              Petitioner,                                            Bowen Greerwvoo0
                                                                   Clerk of Supreme Court
                                                                      State of Montana

       v.
                                                                     ORDER
 JENI NICHOLS, LISA MILLER,
 and JIM SALMONSEN, Warden;
 Montana State Prison

              Respondents.

       Rusty L. Limberhand petitions this Court for habeas corpus relief, dually indicating
that he is entitled to more jail time credit than he received and that he is entitled to good
time against his sentence. Limberhand does not provide any supporting documentation.
       Available electronic records indicate that the Yellowstone County District Court
sentenced Limberhand on his guilty plea to felony theft for a three-year suspended term to
the Department of Corrections (DOC) on November 23, 2021. At that time, the court
awarded credit for time served for various dates in 2021, and the court stated that if
Limberhand's sentence were to be revoked, he would receive a sentence of two years and
289 days. The District Court held a revocation hearing on December 20, 2022, whereby it
revoked his sentence based on his admissions to probationary violations. The court
imposed the DOC sentence of two years and 289 days upon revocation.
       Limberhand argues that he is due more jail time credit because he was in and out of
the Yellowstone County Detention Center during 2022. He provides the dates of his other
arrests and states that he "feel[s] [those] days were lost due to in and out of jail while on
probation for [his criminal case]." He points out that he did receive credit for street time
from December 9 to December 29, 2021, or twenty days.
       Upon review of the written Order of Revocation and Imposition of Sentence,
Limberhand received credit for time served from June 1, 2022 through July 19, 2022. He
also received credit for October 1, 2022, and November 28 to December 20, 2022. The
court awarded him credit appropriately. Section 46-18-203(7)(b), MCA (2019).
       With Limberhand's arrest on December 29, 2021, for criminal trespass to property,
any credit in jail would be applied to that sentence if he received a conviction. For his
January 9, 2022 arrest for stalking, the credit from his arrest to April 19, 2022, would be
applied to his sentence for stalking not his sentence for felony theft. Furthermore, for those
other time periods in 2022, Limberhand incurred non-compliance violations, such as new
offenses, and thus, he is not due street time, or elapsed time, credit. Section 46-18-
203(7)(b), and 46-18-203(11)(b)(i), MCA (2019). Lastly, we point out that Limberhand is
not due good time credit. Good time credit applies to sentences imposed before 1995
because the Montana Legislature repealed the statute. Section 53-30-105, MCA (1995)
(1995 Mont. Laws, ch. 372, §§ 12(2), 13, repeal eff. Oct. 1, 1997). Limberhand committed
his offenses well after 1995.
       Limberhand is not entitled to habeas corpus relief. Section 46-22-101(1), MCA.
He has not demonstrated that he is due additional credit for time served on his sentence
upon revocation. Section 46-22-101(2), MCA. Limberhand has received the credit he was
due. Therefore,
       IT IS ORDERED that Limberhand's Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus is DENIED
and DISMISSED.
       The Clerk is directed to provide a copy of this Order to counsel of record; to Jeni
Nichols and Lisa Miller, CCP-East; and to Rusty L. Limberhand personally.
       DATED this      --ad     day of June, 2023.

                                                                 Chief Justice

                                               2
    Justices

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