Limitation on Custody Credits |
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The California Supreme Court decided on February 8, 2001, that a third-striker
is not entitled to prison conduct credits for use against his mandatory indeterminate
term of life imprisonment. The case was In re Cervera , 24 Cal.4th 1073.
The Three Strikes law says that a defendant with
one or two strikes may not receive prison conduct credit in excess of one-fifth
of the total term of imprisonment (Pen. Code, §§ 667, subd. (c)(5), 1170.12,
subd. (a)(5)), which means that at least 80% of the term must be served. But
this is only a limitation on the credits authorized elsewhere in the Penal Code,
the Court said, and the Penal Code does not authorize prison conduct credits
for defendants who are serving indeterminate sentences (that is, sentences that
do not have a fixed termination date. Twenty-five years to life is an indeterminate
sentence.) So it appears that a third-striker has to serve at least 100% of
the minimum term of his sentence.
The Cervera case does not affect pre-sentence credits. Neither does the
limitation of prison credit to one-fifth of the total term of imprisonment apply
to pre-sentence custody credits. In People v. Hill
(1995) 37 Cal.App.4th 220, 224, the Court of Appeal ruled that that limitation
does not affect pre-sentence credits. This was a victory for the defendant, but
marred a bit by the court's gratuitous comment that "capping prison credit
while leaving presentence conduct credit untouched has the unfortunate and
doubtlessly unintended result of encouraging delay [but] it is not the function
of the courts to judge the wisdom of statutes or the way they are written."
(Id. at p. 226.)
On December 6, 1999, in People v. Thomas,
21 Cal.4th 1122, the Supreme Court agreed with People v. Hill that the
limitation on custody credits in the Three Strikes law does not affect
pre-sentence credits. The Court also considered the application of Penal Code
section 2933.1's limitation on custody credits. That section provides that any
person convicted of a felony offense listed in section 667.5 shall accrue no
more than 15% of worktime credit, and applies this limitation to pre-sentence
as well as post-sentence credits. Section 667.5 lists violent felonies. The
Court ruled that section 2933.1's limitation applies only when the current
felony is violent.
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3-Strikes.
Date last modified: 10/6/02.
