DocketNumber： OP 23-0055
Filed Date： 2/7/2023
Status： Non-Precedential
Modified Date： 2/8/2023
02/07/2023 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA Case Number: OP 23-0055 OP 23-0055 FEB 0 7 2223 ROBERT EDWARD LYON, :unwood Etpvvcil Ci,rk of Supreme Court State of Montana Petitioner, v. ORDER SARGEANT BRADLEY BRAGG, Respondent. Robert Edward Lyon has filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus, indicating illegal incarceration because personnel with the Department of Corrections (DOC) over-rode his original, 2021 commitment to DOC and placed him with the Montana State Prison (MSP) after his disciplinary infraction. Lyon explains that after four months at MSP he had clear conduct and appeared before the Board of Pardons and Parole (Board), where the Board granted him parole. However, while on parole he had an encounter with the criminal justice system where he was "involved in a misunderstanding that required [him] to prove his innocence before a jury of [his] peers." Lyon states that he is in the Lewis and Clark County Detention Center on a parole hold. Lyon expresses his confusion that he thought his time with the Board was satisfied. He requests to be "returned to his original sentence as said sentence was passed upon [him] by a judge[,] [s]ince an imposition of an altered sentence of [MSP] violated the terms of the sentence imposed by [his] sentencing judge." Lyon provides the criminal case numbers. Lyon does not provide much more information about his cases. He does not include any copies of sentencing judgments or other relevant documents pertaining to his claim. As a petitioner, Lyon has the burden of proof or burden of persuasion to convince this Court that it should issue a writ for habeas corpus relief. In re Hart,178 Mont. 235
, 249,583 P.2d 411
, 418 (1978). Available electronic records indicate that from 2017 to 2021, Lyon received eight sentences, including deferred impositions and revocations, from three different District Courts. Most offenses are for felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs (CPODD). Recently, on January 8, 2021, the Gallatin County District Court committed Lyon to the DOC for a three-year, unsuspended term for two counts of CPODD. On January 28, 2021, the Cascade County District Court committed Lyon to the DOC for felony obstructing justice and to a three-year, unsuspended term to run concurrently with the sentence from Gallatin County. On April 15, 2021, the Park County District Court revoked his 2017 sentence and imposed a sentence of one year and 229 days to the DOC, to run consecutively to his other sentences. We also requested and reviewed his pending case in the Lewis and Clark County District Court. In October 2022, Lyon received new charges, and the court arraigned him. Lyon has counsel to represent him in his pending District Court case. We address what appears to be Lyon's asserted error—that his sentence "be converted back to its originally ordered form of a D.O.C. sentence, not 'over-ridden.'" When a commitment is made to the DOC, MSP remains a placement option available to the DOC. AII "commitments to prison are, in essence, commitments to the Department of Corrections?' See Henson v. Ferriter, No. OP 09-0276, Order (Mont. June 30, 2009). Nothing in the statutes or Montana Rules of Administrative Procedure specify in which facility DOC officials must place an inmate. Once Lyon was placed at MSP, he was given the opportunity of being paroled, and was paroled. However, the Board retained authority over Lyon while released on parole and therefore had authority to place a parole hold on Lyon after his arrest on new charges. Section 46-23-1023, MCA; Admin. R. M. 20.25.801(7) (2022). We conclude that Lyon's sentence is valid. Lyon should refrain from filing pleadings on his own behalf with this Court while he is represented by counsel. M. R. App. P. 10(1)(c). Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that Lyon's Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus is DENIED and DISMISSED. 2 The Clerk of the Supreme Court is directed to provide a copy of this Order to: the Honorable Kathy Seeley, District Court Judge; Angie Sparks, Clerk of District Court, Lewis and Clark County, under Cause Nos. CDC-2022-478; Ann-Marie McKittrick, County Attorney's Office; Suzanne Seburn, Defense Counsel; counsel of record, and Robert Edward Lyon personally. DATED this ay of February, 2023. Chief Justice Justices 3