2017
Opinion No. 117
Appeal
from the District Court of the Fourth Judicial District,
State of Idaho, Ada County. Hon. Lynn G. Norton, District
Judge.
District
court order denying motion for credit for time served,
affirmed.
Eric
D. Fredericksen, Idaho State Appellate Public Defender,
Boise, for appellant. Sally Cooley, Deputy Appellate Public
Defender argued.
Hon.
Lawrence G. Wasden, Idaho Attorney General, Boise, for
respondent. Russell J. Spencer, Deputy Attorney General
argued.
BURDICK, CHIEF JUSTICE.
This
consolidated appeal from the Ada and Blaine County district
courts concerns credit for time served under Idaho Code
section 18-309. Marco Antonio Rios-Lopez and Corey Dale Young
(collectively, Appellants) seek credit for time served under
the construction of section 18-309 pronounced in State v.
Owens, 158 Idaho 1, 343 P.3d 30 (2015). The district
courts denied Appellants' motions, and the Court of
Appeals affirmed. This Court granted Appellants' timely
petitions for review, and we now affirm the orders of the
district courts.
I.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
A.
State v. Rios-Lopez
In
October 2001, Rios-Lopez was convicted of three counts of
trafficking cocaine and three counts of failure to affix
illegal drug tax stamps. On the three trafficking counts, the
district court imposed a sentence of fourteen years, with
seven years fixed. On the three drug tax stamps counts, the
district court imposed a sentence of two years, with one year
fixed. The district court ordered the sentences to run
consecutively. The district court awarded 253 days of credit
for time served under section 18-309 on the first trafficking
count. Rios-Lopez timely appealed, "contending that
there was error in the admission of evidence and
prosecutorial misconduct during closing argument, and that
the sentences are excessive, " but the Court of Appeals
affirmed in an unpublished opinion in 2003. A remittitur was
issued on October 29, 2003.
Some
fifteen years later, Rios-Lopez moved for additional credit
for time served. He filed a pro se motion under
Idaho Criminal Rule 35, seeking 253 days of credit on each of
the remaining seven[1] counts, for an additional credit of 1, 771
days. Rios-Lopez argued he was entitled to that credit under
the construction of section 18-309 pronounced in
Owens, even though his judgment of conviction had
become final before Owens was decided. The district
court concluded Owens did not apply retroactively
and denied the motion. The Court of Appeals affirmed, and
this Court granted Rios-Lopez' timely petition for
review.
B.
State v. Young
In
March 2013, Young was convicted of two counts of burglary and
two counts of grand theft. On the first burglary count, the
district court imposed a sentence of one year fixed. On the
second burglary count, the district court imposed a sentence
of nine years, with one year fixed. On the first grand theft
count, the district court imposed a sentence of eight years,
with one year fixed. On the second grand theft count, the
district court imposed a sentence of two years, with one year
fixed. The district court ordered the sentences to run
consecutively. The district court awarded 94 days of credit
for time served on the first burglary count. Young did not
directly appeal his conviction or sentence within 42 days of
the district court's judgment.
In
December 2015, Young moved for additional credit for time
served. He filed a pro se motion under Idaho
Criminal Rule 35, seeking 94 days of credit on each of the
remaining three counts, for an additional credit of 282 days.
Young argued he was entitled to that credit under
Owens, even though his judgment of conviction had
become final before Owens was decided. The district
court concluded Owens did not apply ...