Payton v. Superior Court

Opinion

THE COURT.* Stephen Payton petitions this court for an increased award of custody credits which would have reduced his 90-day jail sentence to 46 days and allowed for a release date of June 22, 2011, instead of his actual [1189]release date of July 7, 2011.1 Payton pleaded guilty to a Health and Safety Code violation in May 2008, for a crime committed in January 2008, and was sentenced to three years of probation.

On May 17, 2011, he admitted a violation of his probation and was sentenced to 90 days in the Orange County jail. He was awarded 10 days of actual credit and four days of conduct credit. Payton contends he should have been awarded day-for-day conduct credits under the January 25, 2010, amendment to Penal Code section 4019.2 The trial court denied Payton the additional conduct credits because his crime was committed before the effective date of the amendment. The district attorney argues section 4019 should be applied prospectively. The Attorney General concedes the trial court’s denial of additional conduct credits was error and Payton is entitled to the additional conduct credits. We agree with the Attorney General’s position. The petition is granted.

FACTS

On May 13, 2008, Stephen Payton pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a controlled substance in violation of Health and Safety Code section 11350, subdivision (a). The date of the violation was January 26, 2008. Payton was sentenced to three years’ formal probation. On April 28, 2011, the Orange County Probation Department prepared a petition for arraignment on probation violation. On May 17, 2011, Payton admitted a violation of probation and was sentenced to 90 days in jail. Payton was awarded 10 days of actual credit and four days of conduct credit for a total of 14 days of credit.

On June 28, 2011, Payton’s motion to receive day-for-day credit under Penal Code section 4019 was heard and denied by the superior court. “The court believes that the controlling date is the date of the violation—the date of violation being January the 26th of 2008—and that the credits were appropriately given.” Payton filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus on June 29, 2011, and was released from the custody of the Orange County jail on July 7, 2011.

This court filed an order inviting real parties in interest to file an informal response and advising the parties that the court was considering issuance of a peremptory writ in the first instance, citing Palma v. U.S. Industrial Fasteners,