Judges tweak offender’s amount of credit time awarded

A trial court incorrectly calculated the amount of credit for the time a man had served prior to the revocation of his probation as well as the sentence imposed after the revocation, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled.

In April 2012, Christopher Harding was charged with drug-related offenses and was incarcerated for 181 days from April 19, 2012, through October 16, 2012. He pleaded guilty to Class B and D felonies, and on October 17, 2012, the trial court sentenced him to 5,110 days in the Department of Correction with 3,285 days executed, including 2,555 days in the DOC, followed by 730 days on in-home detention; as well as 1,825 days suspended to probation. Harding was incarcerated at the DOC from October 17, 2012, until February 12, 2014, which is a total of 483 days.

His sentence was later modified and he was placed on supervised probation, but less than two months later he violated the terms and conditions of the re-entry program. He evaded arrest from April 4, 2014, to May 30, 2014. His probation and suspended sentence were revoked and he was ordered to serve 3,633 days in the DOC with 264 days credited to him.

Both the state and Harding agree he is entitled to at least 1,592 days of credit time, but Harding also argued that he is entitled to credit time for when he was on probation from Feb. 13, 2014, until his April 4 violation, and from that date until May 30 while he evaded the arrest warrant. The COA ruled he is not entitled to credit time for these periods.

The parties also disputed the balance of the executed days to which the 1,592 days of credit should be applied. The revocation of the suspended sentence conforms to the original 5,100-day sentence imposed, so the 1,592 days of credit time should be applied to that.

The COA remanded with instructions in Christopher Harding v. State of Indiana, 34A05-1410-CR-491, to award Harding 1,592 days of credit time and apply it to his original sentence for a sentence of 3,518 days.