Keytron W. Johnson v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)

MEMORANDUM DECISION Feb 20 2015, 10:03 am
Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), this
Memorandum Decision shall not be regarded as
precedent or cited before any court except for the
purpose of establishing the defense of res judicata,
collateral estoppel, or the law of the case.
APPELLANT PRO SE ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE
Keytron W. Johnson Gregory F. Zoeller
Bunker Hill, Indiana Attorney General of Indiana
Jesse R. Drum
Deputy Attorney General
Indianapolis, Indiana
IN THE
COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
Keytron W. Johnson, February 20, 2015
Appellant-Defendant, Court of Appeals Cause No.
02A05-1408-CR-370
v. Appeal from the Allen Superior
Court
Cause No. 02D04-0004-CF-232
State of Indiana,
Appellee-Plaintiff. The Honorable Frances C. Gull
Judge
Barnes, Judge.
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Case Summary
[1] Keytron Johnson appeals the denial of his request for educational credit time.
We reverse and remand.
Issue
[2] Johnson raises one issue, which we restate as whether the trial court properly
denied his motion without a hearing.
Facts
[3] In 2001, Johnson pled guilty to Class A felony burglary and was sentenced to
thirty-five years. On July 11, 2014, Johnson filed a pro se petition seeking
credit time for his completion of various education programs. The petition
alleged that he had completed the programs and that the Department of
Correction (“DOC”) failed to award him credit time for such. In his
memorandum of law in support of his petition, Johnson claimed the DOC did
not respond to his written requests for credit time or his appeals. On July 29,
2014, before the State responded, the trial court denied the motion without a
hearing. Johnson now appeals.
Analysis
[4] Johnson argues that the trial court improperly denied his petition for
educational credit time. In response, the State contends that, because Johnson
failed to show what administrative remedies were available, “it is impossible for
[Johnson] to prove that he exhausted his available remedies.” Appellee’s Br. p.
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6. The State goes on to argue, “since the DOC did not respond to [Johnson’s]
applications or appeals, it is unlikely that he actually exhausted his available
remedies. Accordingly, the [trial court] court did not have jurisdiction, and this
appeal should be dismissed.” Id.
[5] The State relies on Members v. State, 851 N.E.2d 979, 983 (Ind. Ct. App. 2006),
trans. denied, in which a panel of this court dismissed an appeal challenging the
failure to award educational credit time reasoning that the petitioner’s failure to
exhaust administrative remedies deprived the post-conviction court of subject
matter jurisdiction. In Young v. State, 888 N.E.2d 1255, 1256 (Ind. 2008), our
supreme court clarified “that post-conviction proceedings are the appropriate
procedure for considering properly presented claims for educational credit
time.” Further, to properly present a claim, the petitioner must follow the
Indiana Post-Conviction Relief Rules and, if the petition is not the first petition
for post-conviction relief, the rules for filing successive petitions must be
followed. Young, 888 N.E.2d at 1256-57. Without clearly addressing the issue
of subject matter jurisdiction, the Young court cited Members for the proposition
that, to prevail on a claim presented via post-conviction procedures, a petitioner
must establish to the post-conviction court that he or she exhausted his
administrative remedies. Id. 1257.
[6] Thus, based on Young, Johnson’s petition for educational credit time should be
treated as a post-conviction relief petition, not as a free-standing challenge to his
sentence. Nevertheless, dismissal is not appropriate because we do not believe
that the failure to exhaust administrative remedies implicates the subject matter
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jurisdiction of post-conviction courts. See First Am. Title Ins. Co. v. Robertson, 19
N.E.3d 757, 760 (Ind. 2014) (explaining “that the exhaustion of administrative
remedies under AOPA is a procedural error and does not implicate the trial
court’s subject matter jurisdiction.”); K.S. v. State, 849 N.E.2d 538, 542 (Ind.
2006) (observing that the question of subject matter jurisdiction involves a
determination of whether a court has jurisdiction over the general class of
actions to which a particular case belongs and that “characterizing other sorts of
procedural defects as ‘jurisdictional’ misapprehends the concepts.”). The State
makes no claim that post-conviction courts generally lack the authority to
determine educational credit time claims, and we decline to dismiss the appeal
on that basis.
[7] As for the State’s claim that Johnson did not establish he exhausted his
administrative remedies, the State offers no authority for the proposition that
exhaustion of administrative remedies must be proven in a petition. It may
very well be that Johnson has not exhausted his administrative remedies.
However, Johnson should be afforded the opportunity to establish such, and the
State should have the opportunity to respond before the post-conviction court
rules on the petition. See Wilson v. State, 785 N.E.2d 1152, 1155 (Ind. Ct. App.
2003) (remanding with instructions to allow the State the opportunity to
respond to a request for educational credit pursuant to Indiana Post-Conviction
Relief Rule 1(4)(a)). Thus, the trial court’s denial of Johnson’s petition was
premature and contrary to the procedure set forth in the post-conviction rules.
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Conclusion
[8] Johnson’s petition for educational credit time should be treated as a post-
conviction relief petition. As such, the trial court’s denial of his claim was
premature, and it should be addressed in accordance with the post-conviction
rules. We reverse and remand.
[9] Reversed and remanded.
May, J., and Pyle, J., concur.
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