Devane L. Hillard v. Alabama Department of Corrections

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REL: 09/30/2011 Notice: T h i s o p i n i o n i s s u b j e c t t o formal r e v i s i o n b e f o r e p u b l i c a t i o n i n t h e advance s h e e t s o f Southern R e p o r t e r . R e a d e r s a r e r e q u e s t e d t o n o t i f y t h e R e p o r t e r o f D e c i s i o n s , Alabama A p p e l l a t e C o u r t s , 300 D e x t e r A v e n u e , M o n t g o m e r y , A l a b a m a 3 6 1 0 4 - 3 7 4 1 ((334) 2 2 9 - 0 6 4 9 ) , o f a n y t y p o g r a p h i c a l o r o t h e r e r r o r s , i n o r d e r t h a t c o r r e c t i o n s may b e made b e f o r e t h e o p i n i o n i s p r i n t e d i n Southern R e p o r t e r . ALABAMA COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OCTOBER TERM, 2010-2011 CR-10-1328 Devane L. H i l l a r d v. Alabama D e p a r t m e n t o f C o r r e c t i o n s Appeal KELLUM, The from B i b b C i r c u i t (CV-11-19) Judge. appellant, Devane c i r c u i t court's dismissal corpus. Court L. Hillard, appeals from the o f h i s p e t i t i o n f o r a w r i t o f habeas CR-10-1328 On March inmate 22, 2001, H i l l a r d , at that housed a t the B i b b C o r r e c t i o n a l the Bibb Circuit Court for a writ credit f o r t i m e he s p e n t charge of Hillard that who robbery alleged i n the that further alleged o f habeas one c o u n t In an petitioned corpus his on J u l y seeking on t h e petition, 27, 2008, a n d of first-degree he r e m a i n e d was his trial degree. arrested that Facility, awaiting first he was he was c h a r g e d w i t h Hillard in jail time robbery. incarcerated until h i s t r i a l i n t h e H o u s t o n C i r c u i t C o u r t on November 2, 2009, a t which he was sentenced to found 30 Houston C i r c u i t days of jail conviction guilty years' Court credit. to this remanded t h e c a s e of f i r s t - d e g r e e imprisonment. credited C o u r t ; we 2010). and time, 1 year was the a n d 103 appealed his reversed h i s conviction and t o the Houston I n an a f f i d a v i t with that successfully p r o c e e d i n g s . See H i l l a r d v. S t a t e , App. At Hillard Hillard robbery Circuit Court 53 So. 3d 165 for further ( A l a . Crim. attached to h i s petition for a w r i t o f h a b e a s c o r p u s , H i l l a r d a l l e g e d t h a t he was r e s e n t e n c e d i n October years' 2010 b y t h e H o u s t o n C i r c u i t imprisonment, split t o serve 2 C o u r t t o a t e r m o f 20 5 years' imprisonment CR-10-1328 f o l l o w e d by 5 years' supervised probation. Hillard 1 t h a t when t h e H o u s t o n C i r c u i t C o u r t s e n t e n c e d him 2010 i n October t h e c o u r t f a i l e d t o g i v e him c r e d i t f o r t h e t i m e he i n c a r c e r a t e d f r o m J u l y 2008 t o O c t o b e r 2010, on alleged his c a l c u l a t i o n s , he was entitled May Alabama to and 799 spent t h a t , based days of jail credit. On 4, 2011, the Department of Corrections ("DOC") f i l e d a m o t i o n t o d i s m i s s o r , i n t h e a l t e r n a t i v e , for a not summary j u d g m e n t , properly credit address actual jail Code In an i t argued challenge his an and and inmate the to conviction calculating credit court 1975. on of sentencing Bruton, Hillard's certified responsibility i n which the to clerk. to See motion § conviction report provided by the 20 y e a r s s p l i t to serve H i l l a r d d i d not r e t u r n t o remand. 1 amount of lies with the 15-18-5, A l a . the 3 circuit Mark s t a t e d t h a t the Houston County resentenced 5 y e a r s w i t h 0 days of j a i l appeal the the c i r c u i t c l e r k ' s o f f i c e i n d i c a t e d t h a t H i l l a r d "was to jail because to dismiss, a s s i s t a n t d i r e c t o r o f r e c o r d s f o r DOC, certified could amount o f certifying the DOC report is entitled circuit attachment that credit c o u r t ' s judgment on CR-10-1328 on c a s e CC-2009-25 w i t h a sentence begins date of October 4, 2 0 1 0 . " (C. 2 8 . ) DOC d i d n o t r e f u t e H i l l a r d ' s a s s e r t i o n i n h i s petition f o r a w r i t o f h a b e a s c o r p u s t h a t he was e n t i t l e d t o jail c r e d i t and e x p r e s s l y "not a r g u i n g whether s t a t e d i n i t s r e s p o n s e t h a t i t was to jail c r e d i t o r p r e - t i m e s e r v e d t o w a r d h i s s e n t e n c e . " (C. 2 6 . ) The circuit court or not [ H i l l a r d was] e n t i t l e d s u b s e q u e n t l y g r a n t e d DOC's m o t i o n t o d i s m i s s . The r e l i e f s o u g h t b y H i l l a r d i s c o g n i z a b l e for w r i t o f habeas corpus. in a petition See B r e a c h v. S t a t e , 687 So. 2d 1257 ( A l a . C r i m . App. 1 9 9 6 ) . As we s t a t e d i n G r a v e s v. S t a t e , 710 So. 2d 535 ( A l a . C r i m . App. 1997): "A p e t i t i o n f o r a w r i t o f h a b e a s c o r p u s i s t h e p r o p e r method by w h i c h t o t e s t whether t h e S t a t e has c o r r e c t l y c a l c u l a t e d t h e t i m e an i n m a t e must s e r v e i n p r i s o n . S w i c e g o o d v. S t a t e , 646 So. 2d 158 ( A l a . C r . App. 1993) . S e c t i o n 15-18-5, A l a . Code 1975, r e q u i r e s t h a t a c o n v i c t e d p e r s o n be ' c r e d i t e d w i t h a l l of h i s a c t u a l time spent i n c a r c e r a t e d pending trial f o r such o f f e n s e . The a c t u a l t i m e spent i n c a r c e r a t e d p e n d i n g t r i a l s h a l l be c e r t i f i e d b y t h e c i r c u i t c l e r k o r d i s t r i c t c l e r k on forms t o be p r e s c r i b e d by the Board of C o r r e c t i o n s . ' " 710 So. 2d a t 536. N e i t h e r DOC n o r t h e c i r c u i t c o u r t s p e c i f i c a l l y t o H i l l a r d ' s a l l e g a t i o n t h a t he was e n t i t l e d jail responded t o 799 d a y s o f c r e d i t f o r t i m e he s e r v e d a f t e r h i s J u l y 2008 a r r e s t a n d 4 CR-10-1328 before he was resentenced i n O c t o b e r 2010. Therefore, this Court i s l e f t with only H i l l a r d ' s unrefuted a l l e g a t i o n s i n h i s p e t i t i o n , w h i c h must be t a k e n as t r u e . See B o u t w e l l v. S t a t e , 488 So. 2d 33, 34 ( A l a . C r i m . App. 1 9 8 6 ) ( " T h e S t a t e o f f e r e d no facts which Therefore, taken contradict those set out in the petition. t h e u n r e f u t e d f a c t s s e t o u t i n t h e p e t i t i o n must be as t r u e . " ) . In light of the above-cited a u t h o r i t y , i t appears H i l l a r d ' s u n r e f u t e d c l a i m may be m e r i t o r i o u s . remand t h i s case t o the c i r c u i t that A c c o r d i n g l y , we court with i n s t r u c t i o n s that t h a t c o u r t c o n d u c t an e v i d e n t i a r y h e a r i n g on t h e c l a i m r a i s e d in Hillard's (Ala. petition. Crim. necessitate App. See F r a z i e r v. S t a t e , 2000)(petition a hearing had t o determine 800 So. 2d 606 sufficient to credit whether j a i l merit was c o r r e c t l y c a l c u l a t e d a n d r e p o r t e d ) ; J o h n s o n v. S t a t e , 681 So. 2d 1104 ( A l a . Crim. evidentiary hearing was properly App. was entitled t o determine whether p r e t r i a l calculated evidentiary hearing, 1996)(inmate and the c i r c u i t w r i t t e n f i n d i n g s r e g a r d i n g those jail time reported). Following the court make shall specific, claims. I f the c i r c u i t determines that H i l l a r d i s e n t i t l e d t o c r e d i t 5 to f o r time court spent CR-10-1328 in j a i l f o l l o w i n g h i s J u l y 2008 a r r e s t a n d b e f o r e t h e October 2010 d i s p o s i t i o n o f h i s c a s e on remand f r o m t h i s C o u r t , it should sentence. so s t a t e and g i v e Hillard the credit against h i s The c i r c u i t c o u r t s h a l l t a k e a l l n e c e s s a r y ensure that the c i r c u i t clerk files action to a r e t u r n t o remand t h i s C o u r t w i t h i n 56 d a y s a f t e r t h e r e l e a s e o f t h i s The return t o remand evidentiary hearing, the circuit orders shall include a court may e n t e r of the by t h e p a r t i e s , court's written findings of fact, the c i r c u i t with opinion. transcript any a d d i t i o n a l f i l i n g s then and any o t h e r i n connection with this case. REMANDED WITH INSTRUCTIONS. W e l c h , P . J . , a n d Windom, B u r k e , a n d J o i n e r , J J . , c o n c u r . 6

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