Craig Parent v. Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections ( 2022 )

STATE OF LOUISIANA
COURT OF APPEAL
FIRST CIRCUIT
NUMBER 2021 CA 0897
CRAIG PARENT
VERSUS
LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND CORRECTIONS
Judgment Rendered:
MAR 0 3 2022
On appeal from the
Nineteenth Judicial District Court
In and for the Parish of East Baton Rouge
State of Louisiana
Docket Number C702162
Honorable William Morvant, Judge Presiding
Elizabeth B. Desselle Counsel for Defendant/Appellant
Baton Rouge, LA Louisiana Department of Public
Safety and Corrections
Philip C. Ciaccio, Jr. Counsel for Plaintiff/Appellee
New Orleans, LA Craig Parent
BEFORE: GUIDRY, HOLDRIDGE, AND CHUTZ, JJ.
GUIDRY, J.
This is an appeal by the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and
Corrections (" the Department") from a judgment reversing a decision of the
Department. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
This case arises from a petition for judicial review. The petitioner in this
matter, Craig Parent, was an offender in the custody of the Department. In 2020,
Mr. Parent filed a grievance, Administrative Remedy Procedure No. HDQ-2020-
1875, seeking to correct the calculation of credit for time served. After being
denied relief by the Department and exhausting his administrative remedies, Mr.
Parent sought judicial review of the Department' s decision in the Nineteenth
Judicial District Court.
The Commissioner issued a recommendation that the Department' s decision
be reversed, thereby granting Mr. Parent' s request for relief. Thereafter, on June
15, 2021, the district court signed and rendered a judgment in favor of Mr. Parent
and against the Department, ordering the Department to recalculate Mr. Parent' s
time " to reflect credit for time served on all of his consecutive sentences pursuant
to the trial transcript" and " return the 768 days of credit that was arbitrarily
revoked from Petitioner' s sentence and that a total of 6, 433 days of jail credits be
added to [ Mr. Parent' s] time served." This appeal by the Department followed.
MOTION TO SUPPLEMENT THE RECORD
On or about January 10, 2022, the Department filed a " motion to supplement
the record and take judicial notice" of a September 29, 2021 order of the Twenty -
Fourth Judicial District Court, which is denied. An appellate court must render any
judgment which is just, legal, and proper upon the record on appeal. La. C. C. P.
art. 2164. The record on appeal is that which is sent by the trial court to the
appellate court and includes the pleadings, court minutes, transcript, jury
2
instructions, judgments, and other rulings, unless otherwise designated. City of
Hammond v. Parish of Tang_ipahoa, 07- 0574, pp. 4- 5 ( La. App. 1st Cir. 3/ 26/ 08),
985 So. 2d 171, 176. An appellate court cannot review evidence that is not in the
record on appeal and cannot receive new evidence. As an appellate court, we have
no jurisdiction to receive new evidence. Rathe v. Rathe, 17- 1326, p. 10 ( La. App.
1st Cir. 8/ 21/ 18), 256 So. 3d 1001, 1007. In addition, while a court may take
judicial notice of its own proceedings, La. C. E. art. 202 does not allow, nor has it
ever been interpreted to allow, courts to take judicial notice of suit records in other
courts. Documentation of other courts' proceedings must be offered into evidence
in the usual manner. Burniac v. Costner, 18- 1709, p. 5 n. 6 ( La. App. 1st Cir.
5/ 31/ 19), 277 So. 3d 1204, 1208 n.6. Thus, where it was not introduced into
evidence in the trial court, this court cannot consider the September 29, 2021 order
of the Twenty -Fourth Judicial District Court. Further, because the documents that
the Department seeks to have supplemented into the appellate record clearly
postdate the judgment on appeal and clearly were not considered by the trial court
below, the motion is denied.
DISCUSSION
As provided for in the Louisiana Corrections Administrative Remedy
Procedure Act ( CARP), an offender aggrieved by an adverse decision rendered
pursuant to any administrative remedy procedure can institute proceedings for
judicial review by filing a petition for judicial review in the Nineteenth Judicial
District Court. La. R.S. 15: 1177. The review shall be confined to the record and
shall be limited to the issues presented in the petition for review and the
administrative remedy request filed at the agency level. La. R. S. 15: 1177( A)(5).
The court may reverse or modify the agency decision " only if substantial rights of
the appellant have been prejudiced" because the administrative decisions or
findings are: ( 1) in violation of constitutional or statutory provisions; ( 2) in excess
3
of the statutory authority of the agency; ( 3) made upon unlawful procedure; ( 4)
affected by other error of law; ( 5) arbitrary or capricious or characterized by an
abuse of discretion; or ( 6) manifestly erroneous in view of the reliable, probative,
and substantial evidence on the whole record. See La. R.S. 15: 1177( A)(9).
On review of the district court' s judgment in a suit for judicial review under
La. R. S. 15: 1177, no deference is owed by the court of appeal to the factual
findings or legal conclusions of the district court, just as no deference is owed by
the Louisiana Supreme Court to the factual findings or legal conclusions of the
court of appeal. Grimes v. Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections,
20- 0089, p. 5 ( La. App. 1st Cir. 11/ 12/ 20), 316 So. 3d 35, 38.
In the matter herein, Mr. Parent was resentenced on May 21, 2020, on one of
seven counts with the sentencing judge stating the following at the hearing:
The Court has had the opportunity to review the PSI that was rendered
in this matter and also Mr. Parent' s criminal history in this matter.
And the Court also notes the various sentences that were previously
handed down to Mr. Parent in this matter.... And as to count six, the
Court will vacate the previous sentence in count number six. The
Court' s going to resentence the defendant to twenty years Department
of Corrections at hard labor. That sentence is to run consecutive with
all other sentences, and the defendant will be given credit for time
served.
Thereafter, the minute entry from the May 21, 2020 hearing reads, " Defendant is
given credit for time served pursuant to C. Cr.P. 880 from date of initial arrest until
today for each day defendant actually served." The Commitment Order indicates
that under the provision of La. C. Cr.P. art. 880, the defendant is given credit for
time served.
The Department contends that Mr. Parent is requesting overlapping or
rd
double" jail credits on a consecutive sentence, which is prohibited by La. C. Cr.P.
art. 880.' Mr. Parent contends the Department failed to administer his sentence
provisions as imposed by the sentencing court. We agree with Mr. Parent' s
contention.
It is well settled that the determination of the sentence a defendant is to
serve, and what, if any, conditions are to be imposed on that sentence, is made by
the trial judge, not the defendant' s custodian. The custodian' s obligation is to see
that the sentence imposed is the sentence served. See Boddye v. Louisiana
Department of Corrections, 14- 1836, p. 6 ( La. App. 1st Cir. 6/ 26/ 15), 175 So. 3d
437, 441, writ denied, 15- 1688 ( La. 10/ 30/ 15), 180 So. 3d 303. Furthermore,
where there is a discrepancy between the minutes and the transcript, the transcript
must prevail. See State v. Lynch, 441 So. 2d 732, 734 ( La. 1983); Howard v.
Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, 19- 0976, p. 3 ( La. App.
lst Cir. 2/ 21/ 20), 298 So. 3d 199, 201. Likewise, if a discrepancy exists between
the commitment order and the transcript, the transcript prevails over the
commitment order as well. Howard, 19- 0976 at p. 6, 298 So. 3d at 203.
1 Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure article 880, effective August 15, 2011, reads:
A. A defendant shall receive credit toward service of his sentence for time spent
in actual custody prior to the imposition of sentence.
B. A defendant shall receive credit only for time in actual custody and only once
during any calendar month when consecutive sentences are imposed.
C. No defendant shall receive credit for any time served prior to the commission
of the crime.
D. A defendant shall not receive credit for time served under home incarceration.
E. A defendant shall not receive overlapping jail credit, except in the instance of
concurrent sentences and then only for time spent in jail on the instant felony.
However, at the time Mr. Parent committed the crime herein, La. C. Cr.P. art. 880 included no
mention of "overlapping jail credits," reading only as follows, " A defendant shall receive credit
toward service of his sentence for time spent in actual custody prior to the imposition of
sentence." Acts 1997, No. 788 § 1.
5
Based on the record before us, we cannot say that it was not the intent of the
2
sentencing court to give the defendant credit for time served. Thus, it was the
duty of the Department to carry out Mr. Parent' s sentence as provided at the
sentencing hearing and in the trial transcript. The Department had no power to
alter Mr. Parent' s sentence as imposed by the sentencing court. We therefore
affirm the ruling of the district court.
CONCLUSION
For the above and foregoing reasons, the June 15, 2021 judgment of the
district court, granted in favor of Craig Parent and against the Louisiana
Department of Public Safety and Corrections, is affirmed. All costs of this appeal
in the amount of $ 957. 00 are assessed to the defendant/ appellant, Louisiana
Department of Public Safety and Corrections.
MOTION TO SUPPLEMENT THE RECORD AND TAKE JUDICIAL
NOTICE DENIED; AFFIRMED.
2 It is clear from the record that the sentencing court reviewed Mr. Parent' s criminal history and
noted the various sentences that were previously handed down to Mr. Parent, where he received
credit for time served on all counts.
no