SUmmary 2009 WY 68

Summary of Decision issued May 28, 2009

Summaries are prepared by Law Librarians and are not official statements of the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Case Name: Simmons v. State

Citation: 2009 WY 68

Docket Number: S-08-0223

Appeal from the District Court of Natrona County, the Honorable W. Thomas Sullins, Judge.

Representing Appellant Simmons: Pro se.

Representing Appellee State: Bruce A. Salzburg, Wyoming Attorney General; Terry L. Armitage, Deputy Attorney General; D. Michael Pauling, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Graham M. Smith, Assistant Attorney General.

Facts/Discussion: Simmons entered guilty pleas on separate charges in Wyoming and Nevada. The Wyoming court imposed a sentence which it suspended in favor of supervised probation. The Nevada court imposed a prison sentence which Simmons served until he was released on parole. After his release in Nevada, Simmons returned to Wyoming where he was still on probation. Two years later, the Wyoming court revoked his probation and reinstated the original sentence. The district court awarded credit for time served related to the probation revocation proceedings, but did not award credit for the time spent in prison. Simmons questions whether he was entitled to credit against his Wyoming sentence for time he served in Nevada.
When credit is awarded, it is for time attributable to the underlying criminal offense and not to some unrelated offense. Simmons was incarcerated in Nevada solely because of the offense he committed in Nevada. He would have remained in prison in that state regardless of any offense committed in Wyoming.

Conclusion: The district court properly denied Simmons credit against his Wyoming sentence for the time served in Nevada.

Affirmed.

J. Kite delivered the decision.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/mddgmu .

[SPECIAL NOTE: This opinion uses the "Universal Citation." It was given an "official" citation when it was issued. You should use this citation whenever you cite the opinion, with a P.3d parallel citation. Please note when you look at the opinion that all of the paragraphs are numbered. When you pinpoint cite to a quote, you should cite to this paragraph number rather than to any page number. If you need assistance in putting together a citation using the Universal Citation form, please contact the Wyoming State Law Library.]