Inmate not entitled to revised sentence under amended statute

Although the recently amended sentence-modification statute now applies to an inmate seeking to revise his sentence, the Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of Ivan Vazquez’s petition due to untimely filing.

Between 2010 and 2014, Vazquez filed three sentence-modification petitions as well as a motion to correct errors, all of which the trial court denied. He was serving a 45-year sentence for felony drug convictions.

Indiana Code 35-38-1-17 previously did not apply to Vazquez because he had committed his crimes and was sentenced prior to July 1, 2014, and the statute was not retroactive. But legislators amended the statute to now allow for retroactivity, so Vazquez could petition under the statute for sentence modification.

However, the trial court correctly dismissed his petition because it was untimely — it was filed just three months after his last petition. The trial court noted that Vazquez could refile on or after July 11, 2015. The amended statute mandates this result.

In addition, he has exceeded the number of petitions allowed under the statute.

The case is Ivan Vazquez v. State of Indiana, 79A02-1501-CR-47.