State v. Bowden
Annotate this CaseDefendant was one of a group of prisoners called Bowden-class inmates who committed offenses between 1974 and 1978 and received death sentences that were later reduced to life imprisonment. Defendant accrued various credits during his incarceration, and the Department of Correction (DOC) applied some of Defendant’s credits towards earlier parole eligibility but not towards the calculation of an unconditional release date. In 2005, Defendant filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, claiming he was entitled to immediate release from prison because, after applying his various credits, he had completed his life sentence. The trial court ultimately concluded that all of Defendant’s credits should be applied to his sentence for all purposes, including calculating an unconditional release date, and the DOC erred in refusing to apply Defendant’s credits in this way. The trial court then determined that Defendant had served his entire sentence and ordered the DOC to release Defendant unconditionally. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the DOC was not required to apply the credits towards the calculation for an unconditional release date for a Bowden-class inmate, and therefore, Defendant remained lawfully incarcerated and was not entitled to release.
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