Maurice Circle v Colville Confederated Tribes AP 11-006
Mr. Circle was convicted of an offense with a Domestic Violence enhancement. The Tribal Code is stern on the issue of Domestic Violence, and has some stern provisions. For example a person convicted of a domestic violence enhanced crime faces mandatory minimum sentences, the prohibition of good time credit to their sentences. What it does not say is that a defendant is not entitled to credit for time served prior to sentencing.
Mr. Circle was convicted and at sentencing the Judge refused to grant credit for his pre-trial confinement. On appeal the appellant pointed out that statutes are to be given their plain meaning in that when something isn’t mentioned in a piece of legislation one is compelled to assume that it was omitted deliberately. In addition and perhaps more persuasively the appellant argued that to deny credit for time served has the effect of punishing the poor more than those who can afford pre-trial release.
As an example, say Bob is a wealthy farmer and Tony is an unemployed mill worker. Bob and Tony are both arrested for a domestic violence crime on January 1 2011. At arraignment they are both subjected to $5,000 bail. Bob’s wife gets cash and bails him out, Tony sits in jail because all he can raise is $125. Bob and Tony are sentenced on March 1st 2011 and both receive a 180 day mandatory minimum sentence. When they are released 6 months later Bob the wealthy has served 180 days + the one day he served before being arraigned and bailing out. Tony on the other hand serves 180 days + the 60 he served in jail because he was unable to make bail.
Washington avoids this issue by codification of the common law.
(6) The sentencing court shall give the offender credit for all confinement time served before the sentencing if that confinement was solely in regard to the offense for which the offender is being sentenced. RCW 9.94A.505(6)
As soon as the opinion is published the Tribal Members of the Colville Reservation will have one more arena in which equal protection is granted to them.
This entry contains no information protected by Attorney Client Privilege, every item of fact presented is a matter of public record.
In the particular example, was the law explained to Tony? Is he aware of his rights that due to his imprisonment for not being able settle the bail, it will be included to his sentence? This is a major that a lawyer [Edit - Link removed] should play for the citizens like Tony.
Who is Tony or were you just trying to spam a link to Find Lawyer Direct into your comment?