Court Opinion

ID: 9363021
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-01-13 16:05:56.947349+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:15:27.865232
License: Public Domain

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

                                              No. 124,320

               IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF KANSAS

                                          STATE OF KANSAS,
                                              Appellee,

                                                    v.

                                    ROBERT DEWAYNE VEALES,
                                           Appellant.

                                    MEMORANDUM OPINION

        Appeal from Sedgwick District Court; KEVIN J. O'CONNER, judge. Opinion filed December 9,
2022. Reversed and remanded with directions.

        Jennifer C. Roth, of Kansas Appellate Defender Office, for appellant.

        Julie A. Koon, assistant district attorney, Marc Bennett, district attorney, and Derek Schmidt,
attorney general, for appellee.

Before ARNOLD-BURGER, C.J., BRUNS and HURST, JJ.

        PER CURIAM: Jail credit "shall be computed as an allowance for the time which
the defendant has spent incarcerated pending the disposition of the defendant's case."
K.S.A. 2021 Supp. 21-6615(a). Robert Dewayne Veales challenges the district court's
application of jail credit to his cases. Because under these facts he had a right to jail credit
for time served on several charges concurrently, we reverse the district court's award of
jail credit and remand the case to the district court to account for each day Veales was
incarcerated pending the disposition of his consolidated case.

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                             FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

          Because the sole issue here is the proper application of jail credit, we set out the
facts in terms of jail credit assigned to the best of our ability from the record—a record
that at times is not clear and at other times is devoid of any explanation about Veales'
status.

          On Sunday, March 19, 2017, police arrested Veales in Wichita and booked him
into the Sedgwick County Jail for aggravated robbery. He was released on March 20,
2017, apparently with no bond required, since charges had not yet been filed by the State.
He was given credit for two days served in jail. On March 29, 2017, the State filed
charges against him for aggravated robbery under Sedgwick County District Court case
number 17 CR 893 (Case 1). He returned to court on April 3, 2017, for his felony first
appearance and posted a $50,000 bond to remain free pending trial. When he failed to
appear at his preliminary hearing on May 31, 2017, the district court forfeited his bond
and issued a warrant. On June 3, 2017, the State arrested Veales and charged him with
two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of driving while suspended
in Sedgwick County District Court case number 17 CR 1606 (Case 2). The court did not
release Veales on the two charges until June 29, 2017, when he posted a $100,000 bond
on Case 1. He was given credit on Case 1 for another 27 days served, even though he was
also being held on Case 2.

          It is unclear why, but by August 4, 2017, Veales was back in custody where he
remained until November 15, 2017. He was given jail credit for 104 days on Case 1, even
though the judge noted he was really being held on Case 2 at that time. Records in the file
are inconsistent, with some listing a request for a bond reduction in Case 1 and others
listing a bond posted. But on appeal, no one disputes that the court properly gave Veales
jail credit of 104 days for Case 1.

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       Sedgwick County Police arrested Veales on January 4, 2018, after executing a
warrant for violating his bond conditions in Case 2. While waiting to be transported to the
jail, Veales tried to flee from the pretrial services officer. As a result, the State charged
Veales with one count of interference with law enforcement in Sedgwick County case
number 18 CR 45 (Case 3). Thereafter, Veales remained in custody at the Sedgwick
County Jail, during which the district court granted six continuances in all three cases. In
motions to reduce his bond filed by his attorney, Veales noted he had cumulative bond
amounts of $400,000 on all three cases.

       Over a year after Veales was arrested, the parties entered into a global plea
agreement to resolve all three of the cases pending against Veales. Under the plea
agreement, Cases 1 and 3 were consolidated and Veales agreed to plead guilty to all
counts in Case 1 and Case 3. In return, the State agreed to dismiss Case 2. The parties
also agreed that they would recommend to the district court the high number in the
appropriate grid box for all counts and that the cases would run concurrent with one
another. The district court accepted Veales' guilty pleas in Case 1 and Case 3, and it
dismissed Case 2.

       The district court ultimately imposed a 55-month prison sentence for the
aggravated robbery count in Case 1, a 9-month prison sentence for the criminal
possession count in Case 1, and a 13-month prison sentence for interference with law
enforcement in Case 3. The district court ordered that all counts in both cases run
concurrent with one another, for a controlling sentence of 55 months in prison. As to any
jail time credit, the district court stated: "Mr. Veales is entitled for credit spent
incarcerated on these cases. So I'll order that he receive appropriate credit for time
served." The sentencing journal entries in both cases list the cases as consolidated.

       The final sentencing journal entry, filed on December 23, 2019, recorded that
Veales received 196 days of jail time credit in Case 1. The parties do not challenge that

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jail credit. The journal entry in Case 3, also filed on December 23, 2019, gave Veales 581
days of jail time credit, which represented all of the time he spent in custody after he tried
to flee from custody in January 2018—even though his entire sentence in that case was
only 13 months or 390 days.

       Less than 30 days later, Veales moved to correct a clerical error or for an order
nunc pro tunc, arguing that the court should correct his journal entry in Case 1 to show
581 days of jail time credit because that was what he received in Case 3, and the cases
were consolidated. Veales argued that if the 581 days did not apply in both cases, he
effectively would not get credit for serving that time.

       At the hearing on the motion, Veales slightly changed his argument, stating that he
would have 191 days of "dead time" in Case 3—jail time credit that would not be applied
to either case—because the sentence the district court imposed in that case was shorter
than the 581 days of credit that he received on the sentencing journal entry. Veales urged
the court to exercise its equitable power and grant his motion to avoid losing over six
months of jail time credit. So at the hearing he confined his argument to a request for
credit on Case 1 for the 191 days of overage on Case 3 since the court consolidated the
cases. The State responded that Veales simply had no right to any of the 581 days in Case
1 because he was not held in custody on that case during those 581 days, despite what he
may have thought. The district court accepted the State's conclusory statement and
determined that it had no discretion to change which case the jail time credit applied to
since he was only held predisposition on one case, Case 3. The judge also noted that he
already granted some equity to Veales by applying 104 days of credit to Case 1 from time
spent in jail in Case 2, because "he should get credit for that case from somewhere." The
district court denied Veales' motion, holding that it had properly allocated Veales' jail
time credit in the two cases.

       Veales timely filed a notice of appeal.

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                                              ANALYSIS

       The right to jail time credit is statutory. State v. Hopkins, 295 Kan. 579, 581, 285
P.3d 1021 (2012). Statutory interpretation is a question of law subject to unlimited review
by an appellate court. State v. Hillard, 315 Kan. 732, 775, 511 P.3d 883 (2022).

       Moreover, the provisions governing jail time credit are mandatory. State v.
Harper, 275 Kan. 888, 890, 69 P.3d 1105 (2003). The district court is granted no
discretion in assessing jail time credit where it is due. State v. Babcock, 226 Kan. 356,
363, 597 P.2d 1117 (1979).

       On appeal, Veales argues that the court illegally denied him jail credit in Case 1
for the days he spent in jail while also in custody on Case 3 because the cases were
consolidated and the sentences concurrent, which required that they be treated globally.

We examine the law governing jail credit.

       The statute that discusses jail time credit, K.S.A. 2021 Supp. 21-6615(a), provides:

               "In any criminal action in which the defendant is convicted, the judge, if the
       judge sentences the defendant to confinement, shall direct that for the purpose of
       computing defendant's sentence and parole eligibility and conditional release dates
       thereunder, that such sentence is to be computed from a date, to be specifically
       designated by the court in the sentencing order of the journal entry of judgment. Such
       date shall be established to reflect and shall be computed as an allowance for the time
       which the defendant has spent incarcerated pending the disposition of the defendant's
       case. In recording the commencing date of such sentence the date as specifically set forth
       by the court shall be used as the date of sentence and all good time allowances as are
       authorized by the secretary of corrections are to be allowed on such sentence from such
       date as though the defendant were actually incarcerated in any of the institutions of the
       state correctional system." (Emphasis added.)
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       The Kansas Supreme Court has interpreted this statutory language to mean that "a
defendant is entitled only to credit for the time held in custody solely on account of, or as
a direct result of, those charges for which he is now being sentenced." State v. Calderon,
233 Kan. 87, 98, 661 P.2d 781 (1983) (citing Campbell v. State, 223 Kan. 528, 530-31,
575 P.2d 524 [1978]). A defendant is not entitled to credit on a sentence for time spent in
jail upon other, distinct, and wholly unrelated charges. State v. Smith, 309 Kan. 977, 981,
441 P.3d 1041 (2019). Thus, if a defendant is entitled to jail time credit in one case, he or
she is not entitled to credit for the same jail time in any other case. See State v. Prebble,
37 Kan. App. 2d 327, 332-33, 152 P.3d 1245 (2007). But the statute does not specifically
address what happens when a defendant is serving time on a consolidated case in which
the court orders the sentences to be served concurrently. The issue arises here.

A portion of Veales' predisposition incarceration was for three cases from the same
jurisdiction at the same time.

       When Veales was incarcerated on January 5, 2018, he had three cases pending
disposition. Although the sentencing journal entry from Case 3 reflects that from January
5, 2018, to August 9, 2019, Veales was held in custody solely because of the charge in
Case 3, the record seems to contradict that finding.

       The parties agree that Veales was in jail from January 5, 2018, to his sentencing in
August 2019. During his incarceration, his attorney filed several motions to reduce his
bond which he noted were in the cumulative amount of $400,000. The record reflects that
his bond for Case 3 was $200,000. And the last bond the record shows posted for Case 1
was $100,000 in September 2017, before his arrest on Case 3. Because Case 2 was
dismissed, we do not have the benefit of a copy of his bond amount on Case 2. But at one
of the hearings held to address his motion to reduce the bond, his attorney mentioned the
"bond amounts that are before the [c]ourt," suggesting more than one bond. And the
prosecutor outlined that Veales had a $100,000 bond on Case 1, a $100,000 bond on Case

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2, and a $200,000 bond on Case 3. This would align with Veales' claim that his total
bonds were $400,000 and he could not be released until he posted that amount.

        At least two motions to reduce Veales' bond were denied and listed all three cases.
And twice during the 581-day period the court denied bond modification on Case 1. So as
Veales notes, "the court (1) signed off on six continuances captioned as including [Case
1], all of which indicated that Mr. Veales was in custody and (2) denied Mr. Veales a
bond modification twice in [Case 1.] That makes at least eight times between January 5,
2018, and August 9, 2019, that the court treated Mr. Veales as in custody on [Case 1]."
At his July 2018 bond reduction hearing, the judge acknowledged there were three bonds
holding him. Continuances were granted many times noting all three case numbers and
that Veales was in custody. The cases shared the same continuance forms, bond motions,
plea agreement, plea hearing, and sentencing hearing.

        Veales served 777 days presentence. But, by applying the 581 days he served on
both cases solely to Case 3, which only had a 13-month sentence—390 days—he was
deprived, at a minimum, of 191 days of jail credit to which he argues he was entitled.
Given that the sentences were ordered to run concurrent with each other, it could be
argued he was in effect denied credit for the entire 581 days.

        Veales is not seeking duplicate jail credit.

        Veales is not really contending that he is entitled to the same jail time in two
cases. He is not claiming that any jail credit should be counted twice, which is clearly
prohibited by the statute. He is simply arguing that consistent with K.S.A. 2021 Supp. 21-
6615(a), he should get credit for all the jail time he served before he was sentenced in this
case.

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       In response, the State's sole contention here is that Veales is not entitled to
"duplicative credit." It relies on one case, State v. Devaney, No. 110,722, 2015 WL
2131509 (Kan. App. 2015) (unpublished opinion), to support its position. But Devaney is
distinguishable. While Devaney was in custody awaiting trial on Case 1, the State filed
four more cases against him, Cases 2, 3, 4, and 5. All occurred before his incarceration on
Case 1. He entered a global plea agreement. He pleaded to at least one count in each of
the 5 cases and all sentences were to run concurrently for a controlling sentence of 42
months. He had 198 days jail credit on Case 1, 190 while he was in custody awaiting trial
and 8 days before that. The district court then gave him credit (from that same 190 days)
for every day he was in custody after he was charged in each of the other 4 cases.
Because he was not charged in Case 5 until 91 days after he was placed in jail on Case 1,
he only got 91 days credit on the 42-month sentence in Case 5. He appealed arguing that
failing to give 190 days' credit on each case deprived him of 99 days credit on his overall
controlling sentence.

       The Devaney court affirmed the district court: "There is nothing inherent in
concurrent sentencing in different cases that requires that all time served before
sentencing must be applied to each case." 2015 WL 2131509, at *3. The opinion does not
say whether the cases were consolidated before the district court. But it found that
Devaney should "count his blessings" because the court should not have given him 91
days credit on Case 5, but since the State did not cross-appeal its decision to do so would
stand. 2015 WL 2131509, at *4.

       Again, Veales is not seeking "quintuple jail time credit for each day he had
served" as was Devaney. 2015 WL 2131509, at *2. He is asking that the credit be
apportioned between multiple cases for which he was being held simultaneously in a
manner that maximizes his credit, while not double counting it. His request adheres to the
overarching purpose of K.S.A. 2021 Supp. 21-6615(a) which is to afford a defendant
sentenced to a period of incarceration as punishment credit for the time the defendant has

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spent as a pretrial detainee on a day-for-day basis. A defendant cannot claim double
credit for pretrial detention against more than one sentence. Likewise, a defendant
already serving a sentence in one case does not get credit for that time against a
punishment of incarceration yet to be imposed in a case that remains unresolved even if
the new sentence is later ordered to run concurrently. State v. Stiner, No. 120,855, 2020
WL 5994149, at *2 (Kan. App. 2020) (unpublished opinion). But neither scenario reflects
Veales' plight here. To understand his plight, we must examine how jail credit is
calculated in a particular case.

       We examine jail credit as it relates to the "sentence begins date" and the effect of
the assignment of jail credit in cases involving concurrent sentences.

       Let's briefly review how sentences are calculated when jail credit must be
assessed. Under Kansas law, the sentencing court and the Department of Corrections are
guided by a "sentence begins date," which is the date the defendant is sentenced minus
the number of days of jail credit. K.A.R. 44-6-134(a). Each sentence begins date must
reflect all jail credit. K.A.R. 44-6-138(a). The amount of jail credit must not adjust the
sentence begins date so that it falls before the date of commission of the offense. K.A.R.
44-6-134(a).

       The way a court apportions jail credit in a case involving concurrent sentences
makes a difference. So let's look at the difference various computation methods make for
Veales.

       When sentences are ordered to run concurrent, the sentence with the term
requiring the longest time to be served in prison shall be the sentence controlling the
guidelines release date. K.A.R. 44-6-140(a). Because Case 1 carries a 55-month sentence,
it has the longest release date as between Case 1 and Case 3. Based solely on the
allocation of jail credit ordered by the district court—and barring any eligible good time

                                              9
credits which could be up to 15% of his sentence on Case 1—Veales' current release date
on Case 1 would be October 4, 2023 (55 months from his calculated sentence begins date
of October 11, 2019). But if all 777 days are applied to Case 1, it would put Veales'
sentence begins date on August 25, 2017, and a guidelines release date of March 2, 2022.
Even if the district court had simply added the 191-day overage to Case 1, total jail credit
would be 387 days, with a sentence begins date of September 19, 2018, and a release date
of March 27, 2023.

       Our caselaw regarding jail credit for concurrent sentences in consolidated cases
is sparse.

       We can find no Kansas cases that address the fact pattern we find here. There are
some restrictions to application of jail credit, which we will outline briefly.

       When a defendant is convicted of two crimes in a single case, and consecutive
sentences are ordered, the defendant is not entitled to have each sentence reduced by the
full amount of time spent in jail pending the charges. This would be double credit. State
v. Lofton, 272 Kan. 216, 217-18, 32 P.3d 711 (2001). And a defendant has no right to jail
credit on a Sedgwick County sentence for time served in Reno and Harvey Counties,
even though the Sedgwick County case was pending at the same time. A defendant
"should receive credit only against the sentence for charges filed in the county in which
he or she is held." State v. Taylor, 24 Kan. App. 2d 80, 83, 941 P.2d 954 (1997).
Additionally, "[a] defendant is not entitled to credit on a sentence for time which he has
spent in jail upon other, distinct, and wholly unrelated charges." Campbell v. State, 223
Kan. 528, Syl. ¶ 2, 575 P.2d 524 (1978). And a defendant is not entitled to jail credit for
time served predisposition when the charges for which they are being held are
dismissed—even though such a result is "sometimes troubling," because there is no case
remaining to which the court could assign that jail credit. State v. Wheeler, 24 Kan. App.
2d 616, 620, 949 P.2d 634 (1997). But a defendant has a right to credit for the time held

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in custody solely because of, or as a direct result of, those charges for which he is being
sentenced. Calderon, 233 Kan. at 98.

       Here, Veales was being held in the same jail on all three charges, which were all
out of the same jurisdiction. The State moved to consolidate Case 2 and Case 3 on the
basis they could have been joined in a single complaint. Nothing in the record reflects
that this motion was granted. But both sentencing journal entries confirm that the court
consolidated Case 1 and Case 3, although we see no similar motion on file. The plea
agreement notes both case numbers followed by a parenthetical "(consolidated)." No one
has challenged the fact that the cases were consolidated. Veales was sentenced on both
cases at the same time. The State does not argue that Case 1 and Case 3 are "distinct, and
wholly unrelated" under Campbell, 223 Kan. 528, Syl. ¶ 2.

       Instead, the State argues that Veales was not entitled to have the 581 days assigned
to Case 1 "because he was not being held on that case during that time period because he
had bonded out of jail." But as noted, the record does not appear to support that
statement. In fact, the record reflects that Veales was being held predisposition on Case 1.
Veales has a right to jail credit for every day he spends in jail predisposition, and there
were at least two cases to which the court could have justifiably assigned such credit
based on the unique facts of this case.

       Here, when the court consolidated the cases, ordered the sentences to be served
concurrently with each other, but then allocated only part of the time Veales spent in jail
to the case that had the shortest overall sentence, it created a situation in which the jail
credit was, in effect, no credit at all. It rendered the statute meaningless. Because the
statute mandates that credit be given for predisposition incarceration and that goal was
not met, the court seemingly failed to follow the mandates of the statute. It would be error
for the district court to fail to assign Veales credit in a meaningful manner for all of his
predisposition incarceration if the facts support such assignment.

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       Unfortunately, as we have noted, the cold record defies the State's assertion that
Veales was only being held on Case 3. But it is the district court who is the finder of fact
and without further fact-finding in the district court, regarding (1) what charges Veales
was in jail for during those 581 days, and (2) whether the cases were consolidated, we are
merely speculating. Accordingly, we reverse and remand to the district court to properly
assign jail credit consistent with this opinion.

       Reversed and remanded with directions.

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