Centrell Lanier v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.) ( 2018 )

MEMORANDUM DECISION
Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D),
this Memorandum Decision shall not be FILED
regarded as precedent or cited before any Mar 02 2018, 9:34 am
court except for the purpose of establishing CLERK
Indiana Supreme Court
the defense of res judicata, collateral Court of Appeals
and Tax Court
estoppel, or the law of the case.
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE
Kimberly A. Jackson Curtis T. Hill, Jr.
Indianapolis, Indiana Attorney General of Indiana
Henry A. Flores, Jr.
Deputy Attorney General
Indianapolis, Indiana
IN THE
COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
Centrell Lanier, March 2, 2018
Appellant-Defendant, Court of Appeals Case No.
49A02-1708-CR-1794
v. Appeal from the Marion Superior
Court
State of Indiana, The Honorable Lisa F. Borges,
Appellee-Plaintiff Judge
Trial Court Cause No.
49G04-0907-FB-65821
Baker, Judge.
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[1] Centrell Lanier appeals the sentencing order entered upon his plea of guilty to
Conspiracy to Commit Robbery Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury, a Class B
felony.1 Lanier argues that the trial court erroneously denied him credit time
for his pretrial confinement. Finding no error, we affirm.
Facts
[2] On July 20, 2009, the State charged Lanier with conspiracy to commit robbery,
a Class B felony. At the time, Lanier was incarcerated in Illinois serving an
executed sentence on an unrelated weapons charge.2 At some point on or after
July 20, 2009, Lanier was served with a warrant for the Indiana charge. On
July 23, 2009, Lanier signed a waiver of extradition.
[3] In January 2010, while still incarcerated in Illinois, Lanier was charged with
murder in Illinois. In December 2010, he was discharged from the Illinois
sentence on his weapons conviction, but he remained in Illinois custody
pending the trial on the murder charge.
[4] On September 13, 2011, the State filed an amended information, charging
Lanier with three counts of felony murder, one count of Class A felony robbery,
three counts of Class B felony criminal confinement, and one count of Class B
felony conspiracy to commit robbery.
1
Ind. Code § 35-42-5-1; Ind. Code § 35-41-5-22
On November 9, 2009, Lanier was convicted on the Illinois weapons charge.
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[5] On April 21, 2016, Lanier was acquitted of murder in Illinois. He was turned
over to Indiana on May 16, 2016, on the pending charges. On February 1,
2017, the State filed an additional count of Class B felony conspiracy to commit
robbery resulting in serious bodily injury. The following day, Lanier pleaded
guilty to one count of Class B felony conspiracy to commit robbery resulting in
serious bodily injury in exchange for the dismissal of the other charges. The
trial court sentenced Lanier to twenty-five years incarceration pursuant to the
plea agreement.
[6] On July 21, 2017, after a sentencing hearing, the trial court credited Lanier with
287 days for time served, beginning on the date of his acquittal of the Illinois
murder charge, April 21, 2016, and ending on the date he pleaded guilty in
Indiana, February 2, 2017. Lanier now appeals.
Discussion and Decision
[7] Lanier’s sole contention on appeal is that the trial court erroneously calculated
his pre-sentence credit time. He argues that the trial court erred by awarding
him credit time dating back only to April 21, 2016, totaling 287 days.
According to Lanier, he is entitled to credit time beginning on July 23, 2009,
the date on which he waived extradition to Indiana, totaling 2,757 days. We
disagree.
[8] Presentence jail time is a matter of statutory right rather than a matter of
judicial discretion. Weaver v. State, 725 N.E.2d 945, 948 (Ind. Ct. App. 2000).
Indiana Code section 35-50-6-3 provides that a person earns one day of good
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time credit for each day the person is imprisoned for a crime or confined
awaiting trial or sentencing. “Confined awaiting trial or sentencing” has been
construed to mean confined as a result of the charge for which the defendant is
being sentenced. Diedrich v. State, 744 N.E.2d 104, 105 (Ind. Ct. Ap. 2001).
This Court interpreted Indiana Code section 35-50-6-3 as follows:
“Although IC 35-50-6-3 states that a defendant is allowed credit
for time ‘confined awaiting trial or sentencing,’ we conclude the
Legislature clearly intended the credit to apply only to the
sentence for the offense for which the presentence time was
served. Any other result would allow credit time for time served
on wholly unrelated offenses.”
Maciaszek v. State, 75 N.E.3d 1089, 1093 (Ind. Ct. App. 2017) (quoting Dolan v.
State, 420 N.E.2d 1364, 1373 (Ind. Ct. App. 1981)), trans. denied.
[9] While Lanier was subject to pretrial confinement in Illinois, that confinement
was not a result of the criminal charges he faced in Indiana. Lanier claims he
was incarcerated in Illinois because of the Indiana arrest warrant, but in fact, at
the time he waived extradition to Indiana, he was serving a sentence on an
unrelated charge. Then, before that sentence was fully served, Lanier was
charged with murder. Despite eventually being discharged from the Illinois
weapons sentence, he remained in Illinois custody pending trial on the new
murder charge. Not until he was acquitted for murder on April 21, 2016, was
Lanier being held on the Indiana charges.
[10] As a result, Lanier is entitled to credit time from the date of that acquittal, April
21, 2016, to the date of his guilty plea, February 2, 2017, which totals 287 days.
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Under these circumstances, we find that the trial court did not err in calculating
Lanier’s credit time.
[11] The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Riley, J., and Brown, J., concur.
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