People v. Velasquez

California Court of Appeal May 25, 1984 No. No. F001924Published

Before: Franson

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Holding. A defendant is entitled to sentencing credit for time spent in the California Rehabilitation Center (CRC) pursuant to an improper commitment that occurred while the defendant was still serving a prior justice court sentence. Additionally, a defendant is entitled to presentence custody and conduct credits for time spent in jail awaiting sentencing on a pending case, even if concurrently serving a sentence for an unrelated offense.

Issues

Whether a defendant is entitled to credit for time spent at the California Rehabilitation Center (CRC) when committed there before the expiration of a prior justice court sentence.
Whether a defendant is entitled to presentence credit for time spent in jail awaiting sentencing on a pending case while simultaneously serving a sentence for an unrelated charge.
Whether a defendant is entitled to conduct credit for jail time resulting from violations of CRC outpatient parole.

Disposition. Affirmed and remanded for recalculation of credits.

Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion

“We answer the question in the affirmative.”

“Since the superior court had no jurisdiction to commit him to CRC, we conclude it is only reasonable that appellant’s illegal CRC commitment be treated as a prison sentence for credit purposes.”

“The judgment is affirmed. The matter is remanded to the trial court for recalculation of presentence credit”

[479]Opinion

FRANSON, Acting P. J. Statement of the Case

This appeal presents a narrow question of first impression: whether a defendant serving a justice court sentence who is removed from jail before the expiration of the sentence and committed to the California Rehabilitation Center (CRC) pursuant to a superior court sentence on a different charge is entitled to credit for the time spent at CRC before the expiration of the justice court sentence. We answer the question in the affirmative. Two other minor credit issues are also raised.

On July 14, 1977, appellant was charged with selling heroin (Health & Saf. Code, § 11352) or in the alternative, selling a substance in lieu of a narcotic (Health & Saf. Code, § 11355). He was arrested on July 18, 1977, while serving a previous jail sentence for being under the influence of heroin imposed by the Tulare County Justice Court. Appellant pleaded not guilty to the felony charge.

Appellant was thereafter tried and convicted of selling heroin. Criminal proceedings were suspended, and he was committed to CRC, being received there on October 22, 1977. According to the probation officer’s report, appellant’s justice court sentence was due to expire on February 20, 1978.

Nearly four years later on June 2, 1981, pursuant to In re Morales (1981) 115 Cal.App.3d 456 [171 Cal.Rptr. 425],1 appellant was returned to superior court where he was sentenced in this action to the upper term of 5 years and given credit as follows: 518 days for custody at CRC, 48 days’ conduct credit and 96 presentence days for a total of 662 days of credit. Criminal proceedings were again suspended, and appellant was recommitted to CRC.

A year and a half later on October 26, 1982, due to an unrelated grand theft conviction (Tulare County Superior Court action No. 21272), criminal proceedings again were reinstated in the present action. On November 12, 1982, appellant was committed to state prison in the present action for “the term prescribed by law,” his time to run consecutive to the grand theft [480]sentence which had been imposed on October 26, 1982. A total of 847 custody and conduct days were credited to appellant for his time spent awaiting sentencing. No credit was given to appellant for his time at CRC prior to the expiration of his justice court sentence.

People v. Velasquez

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