Court Opinion

ID: 9894239
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-31 23:06:15.283366+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:09:10.959237
License: Public Domain

U ORIGINAL                                          10/31/2023

             IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA
                                                                                           Case Number: OP 23-0614

                                       OP 23-0614

 WILLARD DEAN YOUPEE,

              Petitioner,

 v.                                                                ORDER
                                                                      r--7,        r---7
 PETE BLUDWORTH, WARDEN,                                                       '           1i

              Respondent.                                                  OCT 3 1 2023
                                                                         Bowen Greenwood
                                                                       Clerk of Supreme Court
                                                                          State of Montana

       Willard Dean Youpee has filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus. He indicates
that the Department of Corrections (DOC) incorrectly calculated his sentence; that he
should have been paroled; that he is due more jail time credit; that his sentence is longer
than the law allows; and that he is entitled to good time credit. Youpee explains his
procedural history and that he has both a state and a federal sentence. He requests
recalculation of his sentence or a remand of his sentence to the District Court for a
reduction.
       Available electronic records indicate that, on March 1, 2010, the Eighth Judicial
District Court, Cascade County, sentenced Youpee for felony robbery to the DOC for a
fifteen-year term with ten years suspended. The court awarded him 163 days of credit for
time served (hereinafter original sentence). Youpee did not appeal.
       On August 31, 2016, the Cascade County District Court held an evidentiary hearing
on a Report of Violation concerning two of Youpee's sentencing conditions. The District
Court found that Youpee had failed to comply with his probationary conditions. The court
revoked Youpee's previous sentence and imposed a ten-year DOC term and awarded 38
days of credit (hereinafter sentence upon revocation). The District Court asked the parties
if Youpee has had any period of compliance. Youpee's probation officer advised the court
that Youpee did cornply when he could. but there were huge gaps when he should have
reported rnonthl .
       This Court is familiar with the sentence upon revocation at issue.' Through counsel,
Youpee appealed his sentence upon revocation because it was silent as to whether it ran
concurrently or consecutively with his federal sentence.' State v. Youpee, 2018 MT 102,
¶ 3, 391 Mont. 246, 416 P.3d 1050. This Court concluded that Youpee had an illegal
sentence, in violation of § 46-18-203(7)(a)(iii), MCA, and that the court needed to specify
that the sentence upon revocation "ran concurrently with his preexisting federal sentence."
Youpee, ¶ 6. We also determined that, based upon the State's concession, "Youpee is
entitled to credit for time served in federal custody after he discharged onto probation on
his original state sentence." Youpee, ¶ 8. Lastly, we held that Youpee was not entitled to
street time credit or elapsed time because he failed to contemporaneously object to the
court's failure to state its reason for declining such an award. Youpee, ¶ 11. We remanded
the underlying criminal case to the District Court to amend. Youpee, ill 12, 13.
      .0n May 14, 2018, the District Court entered an' Amended Evidentiary and
Dispositional Order, thereby amending the 2016 judgment.               The court stated: "This
sentence shall run concurrent with any other sentence the Defendant is currently serving..
The Defendant is given credit for 883 days." (Emphasis in original).
       Now, Youpee petitions this Court for further relief. His claims the Parole Board
erred, violating his due process rights, when it gave insufficient credit for elapsed time and
good time. Youpee has nof provided any documents supporting his claim about a parole
denial. He raised the issue of elapsed time in his appeal, Youpee, ¶¶ 9-11, and he is
precluded from raising it here. Section 46-22-101(2),. MCA. He is not entitled to good
time credit because that credit applies to sentences imposed before 1995, and he committed
his offense in 2009. Section 53-30-105, MCA (1995) (1995 Mont. Laws, ch. 372, §§ 12(2),
13 (repeal eff. Oct. 1, 1997)).

  In November 2016, Youpee also received a three-year, concurrent sentence for felony failure to
register as a violent offender in the Cascade County District Court, which is not at issue here.

2 In 1978, Youpee was convicted of murder in federal court and sentenced to life in federal prison.
In 2009, while on federal parole, Youpee committed the felony robbery offense in Cascade County.
Youpee, ¶ 3.
                                               2
       Youpee, however, presents one potentially viable claim: that his sentence is longer
than the law allows and that he is entitled to additional jail time credit. Youpee received
883 days of jail time credit from both his sentence upon revocation and his time in federal
custody. The total of 883 days comes from adding 38 and 845 days. What Youpee alleges
is missing is the credit from the original sentence of 163 days. He alleges that amount of
time has not been credited in the Amended Evidentiary and Dispositional Order after our
remand. Youpee contends he is due 1,046 days of credit for time served: 163 days, 38
days, and 845 days.
       Youpee has demonstrated a potentially facially invalid sentence because he
contends he is due additional credit for tirne served in 2009-2010. We find it appropriate
to require a response Therefore,
       IT IS ORDERED that the Attorney General or counsel for the DOC may file a
Response thirty days from the date of this Order to prepare, file, and serve a written
response, either objecting to or conceding that Youpee is entitled to a total of 1,046 days
of credit for time served.
       The Clerk of the Supreme Court is directed to provide a copy of this Order to counsel
of record and to Willard Dean Youpee personally.
                          sepf
       DATED this ZA "day of October, 2023.

                                                               Chief Justice

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