Clifton Jones, Jr. VS James Leblanc, Secretary, Louisiana Department Public Safety & Corrections, Warden Steve Rader and Connie Kennedy
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NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION STATE OF LOUISIANA COURT OF APPEAL FIRST CIRCUIT 2011 CA 2371 CLIFTON JONES JR VERSUS JAMES LEBLANC ET AL LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF SAFETY AND CORRECTIONS V DATE OFJUDGMENT SEP 2 1 2012 ON APPEAL FROM THE NINETEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT NUMBER 598 SECTION 27 PARISH OF EAST BATON ROUGE 379 STATE OF LOUISIANA HONORABLE TODD HERNANDEZ JUDGE Clifton Jones Jr Jackson Louisiana Pro Se Jonathan R Vining Counsel for Defendant Appellee Baton Rouge Louisiana James M LeBlanc BEFORE KUHN PETTIGREW AND MCDONALD JJ Disposition AFFIRMED KUHN J Petitionerappellant Clifton Jones Jr an inmate in the custody of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections DPSC appeals the district court s dismissal of his petition for judicial review challenging DPSC denial of his s claim for administrative remedy procedure relief seeking good time eligibility on his charge of perjury We affirm FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND On August 29 1991 Jones was arrested and charged with one count of second degree murder On February 7 1992 Jones pled guilty to the reduced charge of manslaughter He was sentenced to serve a term of 21 years at hard labor with credit for time served On May 12 1992 Jones was arrested and charged with one count of inconsistent statements perjury Following a jury trial Jones was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years as a habitual offender under La S 529 R 15 1 Jones filed a request for an administrative remedy seeking to earn good time for his present sentence of perjury The DPSC denied his request for an administrative remedy upon which Jones sought judicial review averring that he was improperly being denied eligibility for good time credit After careful review of the administrative record and applicable law the Commissioner recommended that DPSC decision to deny good time eligibility be affirmed and that the appeal s be dismissed with prejudice From a judgment rendered in accordance with the s Commissioner recommendation Jones appeals contending that the district court erred in allowing the DPSC to deny him goodtime eligibility He contends that because his perjury charge under La R 15 is illegal he qualifies for the opportunity to earn S 529 1 good time pursuant to La R 15 Specifically he asserts that the instant S 571 2 offense of perjury is not listed on the enumerated convictions list under La R S 3 571 15 Additionally he maintains that because he pled guilty to the offense of manslaughter in 1992 rather than having been found guilty by a judge or a jury he has no conviction to support an imposition of La R 15 S 571 C 3 DISCUSSION La R 15 governs eligibility for good time In May 1992 the time S 571 3 of the offense for which Jones was adjudicated a habitual offender the statute provided in relevant part C Diminution of sentence shall not be allowed an inmate in the custody of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections if 1 The inmate has been convicted one or more times under the laws of this state of any one or more of the following crimes c Manslaughter r Any felony which is defined as an attempt to commit one of the crimes enumerated in a through q herein and 2 The inmate has been sentenced as an habitual offender under the Habitual Offender Law as set forth in R 15 and S 529 1 3 The inmate last conviction for the purposes of the Habitual s Offender Law was for a crime b committed on or after September 10 1977 The requirements of all three subsections of La R 15 must be S 571 C 3 present in order to deny an inmate the opportunity to earn good time Spellman v Stalder 98 0725 La App 1st Cir 4 740 So 671 674 writ g and 99 1 2d granted remanded on other cyrnimck 991801 La 10 750 So 99 8 2d 172 To fulfill the requirements of La R 15 either a prior conviction or the instant S 571 1 C 3 conviction may be used Spellman 740 So at 674 2d Although La R 15 been amended various times including by La 2011 Acts No S 571 3has 2 which repositioned the list of enumerated crimes to subsection B from subsection 186 C we apply the version of the statute in effect at the time Jones was convicted of perjury 3 As the commissioner clearly explained a guilty plea results in a final conviction State v Bosworth 451 So 1070 1074 La 1984 2d Thus Jones assertion that a guilty plea is not a conviction for purposes of La R 15 S 571 C 3 has no merit And a prior conviction for a crime listed in La R 15 S 571 1 C 3 may properly form the basis for the denial of goodtime eligibility See Spellman 740 So at 674 see also Newson v LeBlanc 101524 La App 1st Cir 2d 1 25 3 unpublished Thus DPSC correctly denied Jones the opportunity to earn good time DECREE For these reasons the district court judgment dismissing without prejudice s petitioner petition for judicial review rendered in conformity with the s commissioner screening report is affirmed in accordance with La Uniform Court of Appeal Rule 2 16 2 4 5 6 and 8 Appeal costs are assessed A 2 against petitionerappellant Clifton Jones Jr AFFIRMED E
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