Man entitled to credit for time spent awaiting Indiana trial

The Indiana Court of Appeals has partially affirmed the denial of a man’s request for credit for time he spent incarcerated in Florida and New Hampshire, noting that after he was sentenced in Indiana, the Indiana and foreign sentences were meant to be served concurrently.

In Jacob Maciaszek v. State of Indiana, 43A03-1512-CR-2355, Jacob Maciaszek was charged with two counts of Class B felony burglary and two counts of Class D felony theft in May 2012. The state of Indiana subsequently placed a hold on Maciaszek in Collier County, Florida, where he was then incarcerated on an unrelated conviction and where he was also subject to holds from New Hampshire and Maine.

After completing his Florida sentence, Maciaszek was transferred to New Hampshire, where he filed a request for disposition of his pending Indiana charges under the Interstate Agreement on Detainers. Based on that request, Indiana authorities took custody of Maciaszek and transported him to the Hoosier state, where he pleaded guilty to two counts of Class B felony burglary and was sentenced to 16 years, with no credit for time served prior to his Indiana sentencing.

The Kosciusko Superior Court then ordered Maciaszek be sent back to New Hampshire to complete his sentence there. Maciaszek subsequently filed a “Verified Petition for Presentence Jail Time Credit and Earned Credit Time,” arguing that he should have been given credit on his Indiana sentence from May 23, 2012, when Indiana first put a hold on him in Florida, until his official 2013 sentencing in Indiana. The trial court denied Maciaszek’s petition without holding a hearing, prompting his appeal.

In a Monday opinion, the Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s decision in part, with Judge Melissa May writing that because the charges Maciaszek faced in Indiana were not related to his Florida or New Hampshire convictions, the trial court did not err in denying his request for credit time.

However, Maciaszek also argued that he was entitled to presentence credit time from March 19, 2013, to August 6, 2013, the time he spent in the Kosciusko County Jail after he was extradited from New Hampshire to stand trial for his Indiana charges. Drawing on precedent from the case of Ramirez v. State, 455 N.E.2d 609 (Ind. Ct. App. 1983), May agreed and wrote that Maciaszek’s Indiana and New Hampshire sentences were meant to be served concurrently.

Thus, Maciaszek was entitled to credit for the 141 days he spent in the Kosciusko County Jail awaiting his Indiana trial, May said. Additionally, the appellate panel found that the trial court should have determined whether Maciaszek was assigned to a credit class under Indiana Code 35-50-6-4 (2008) and, thus, remanded the case for that determination and to assign him the appropriate number of good-time credit days.