Court Opinion

ID: 9403676
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-06-21 15:11:16.084989+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:20:08.573752
License: Public Domain

ORIGINAL                                        06/20/2023

            IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA                                    Case Number: OP 23-0301

                                           OP 23-0301

 DOUGLAS JOE POOL,                                                     JUN 2 0 2023
                                                                     BOvven Greenwood
              Petitioner,                                          Clerk of Supreme Court
                                                                      State ot Montana

       v.
                                                                           ORDER
 BOB OLSON, FACILITY ADMINISTRATOR
 S.T.A.R.T.,

              Respondent.

      Douglas Joe Pool petitions this Court for habeas corpus relief, arguing that he is
entitled to more credit for jail time served. Pool explains that, in March 2014, the Flathead
County District Court convicted him of felony forgery and sent him to Butte Pre-Release.
He states that he absconded from supervision in August 2018, and his Probation and Parole
Officer issued an arrest warrant. On November 8, 2018, he was arrested on that warrant as
well as a new warrant for a felony theft charge.' Pool provides that he was held in the
Butte-Silver Bow jail (BSB jail) until August 7, 2019, "the day after [his] parole had
expired . . . ." He contends that he is not getting the 246 days in BSB jail on his sentence
for forgery from Flathead County. Pool includes copies of his Flathead County sentencing
judgments. Pool requests that the Department of Corrections (DOC) recalculate his
sentence.
      Pool's sentencing history is somewhat complex. From Pool's attached copies, the
Flathead County District Court accepted Pool's guilty plea to forgery on March 6, 2014.
The District Court sentenced him to a ten-year, suspended term to the Montana State Prison
(MSP) on April 24, 2014, and the court awarded 35 days of jail tirne served from
January 31, 2014 to March 6.

 In his Petition, Pool states that the felony theft offense was later dismissed.
       Several months later, the State filed a petition to revoke. On November 6, 2014, the
District Court held a hearing and revoked Pool's suspended sentence. The court sentenced
Pool to MSP for ten years with five years suspended. The court awarded Pool 57 days of
credit for time served and noted the 35 prior days.
       On May 20, 2020, the State filed another petition to revoke, based on the report of
violation from Pool's Probation and Parole Officer.2 The District Court held a dispositional
hearing on January 7, 2021, and the court revoked his prior sentence, imposing a
suspended, five-year term to MSP. The court listed the awards for the credit for time
served: 70 days served in custody; two months' time for elapsed time; 35 days (1/31/14 to
3/6/14); and 57 days (9/10/14 to 11/6/14).
       On October 26, 2021, the Flathead County District Court revoked Pool's sentence
for forgery and imposed a three-year suspended term to the DOC. The court awarded an
additional 24 days served in custody along with the time mentioned above.
       Pool's request for additional credit is for the time frame of November 8, 2018 to
August 7, 2019, which is not found in the aforementioned judgments. We secured copies
of Pool's other sentencing judgments. On February 23, 2017, the Butte-Silver Bow County
District Court sentenced Pool for felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs to a
concurrent, two-year term to the DOC. The District Court awarded 84 days (12/2/2016 to
2/23/2017) of jail time served. On August 7, 2019, the Butte-Silver Bow County District
Court accepted Pool's guilty plea to misderneanor theft and sentenced Pool to the BSB jail
for 180 days. The court stated: "The Defendant shall receive credit for time served in the
amount of the full 180 days."
       Pool states that he is entitled to 246 days while he was in the BSB jail and that the
credit should apply to his sentence for forgery from Flathead County. Pool is mistaken in
his arguments. He is not entitled to the entire time on the sentence for forgery.

2  This Court secured a copy of Pool's Report of Violation, dated May 22, 2020, for his sentence
for forgery to obtain the dates of parole and expiration of his prison sentence.

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       When he was arrested on November 8, 2018, he was serving his suspended sentence
for forgery after being granted parole from MSP on January 24, 2018. Pool was detained
in BSB jail on the arrest warrant issued by his Probation and Parole Officer in August 2018,
after he absconded from supervision. Section 46-23-1023(2), MCA. "After the arrest of
the parolee, an initial hearing must be held unless[] . . . [] the parolee has been charged in
any court with a violation of the law[.]" Section 46-23-1024(1)(b), MCA (2017). Pool,
thus, could be detained in the BSB jail because he committed a new offense as evidenced
by the second warrant he mentions. Section 46-23-1024(1)(b), MCA. As a parolee, Pool
committed non-compliance offenses—a new charge and absconding.                Section 46-23-
1001(3)(a), and (d), MCA (2017).
       Pool requests 246 days while he was in BSB jail. According to our calculation,
there are 272 days from November 8, 2018, the date of his arrest on two warrants, to the
date of sentencing, August 7, 2019, in Butte-Silver Bow County District Court. The Butte-
Silver Bow County District Court awarded him credit of 180 days or six months, which
was also Pool's sentence for the misdemeanor theft conviction. Section 45-6-301(7)(a),
MCA. The remaining 92 days (272 minus 180) in the BSB jail went to Pool's sentence for
forgery from Flathead County because the arrest warrant as a parole violator held him in
jail. Section 46-23-1024(1)(b), MCA. Pool's prison term expired on August 4, 2019, not
August 6, 2019, as he suggests in his Petition. Pool was in custody when his prison time
expired. His time in jail was applied to his sentence for forgery, causing the expiration of
the prison term.
       We conclude, that upon review, he has not shown that he is entitled to additional
jail time credit on his sentence for forgery. His time in the BSB jail was credited toward
his custodial sentence for forgery. Pool has not demonstrated illegal incarceration. Section
46-22-101(1), MCA. Accordingly,
       IT IS ORDERED that Pool's Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus is DENIED and
DISMISSED.
       The Clerk is directed to provide a copy of this Order to: Administrator Bob Olson,
S.T.A.R.T.; counsel of record, and Douglas Joe Pool personally.

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DATED this .Z-0 day of June, 2023.

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