By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//December 17, 2014//
Wisconsin Court of Appeals
Criminal
Sentence – Sentence credit
When a convicted offender has put sentence credit at issue, the court—not the clerk—must make and explain the decision on how much sentence credit is to be awarded.
“Kitt met his burden to place the issue of sentence credit before the court by introducing the booking sheet showing that he was in custody from the time of his arrest until his sentencing on the charge he was arrested for. The initial presumption is that Kitt is entitled to credit for all 265 days between his arrest and sentencing. Kitt, however, acknowledged that he was not entitled to all of the time between his arrest and sentencing due to other sentences. It was the court’s responsibility, not Kitt’s nor the clerk’s, to determine how many of the 265 days that Kitt spent in custody were for sentences or civil commitments not ‘in connection with the course of conduct for which sentence was imposed’ and to deduct that amount from the 265-day total.”
Reversed and Remanded.
Recommended for publication in the official reports.
2014AP500-CR State v. Kitt
Dist. II, Racine County, Torhorst, J., Reilly, J.