Sentence Credit

Listen to this article

WI Court of Appeals – District III

Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. Wyatt William Kontny

Case No.: 2019AP1257-CR

Officials: Stark, P.J., Hruz and Seidl, JJ.

Focus: Sentence Credit

Wyatt Kontny appeals a judgment of conviction and an order denying his postconviction motion seeking one day of additional sentence credit under WIS. STAT. § 973.155 (2017-18). Kontny argues he is entitled to 162 days of sentence credit instead of 161 days because he should have been granted credit for the date of his arrest, during which he spent fourteen minutes in custody. The circuit court denied Kontny’s motion for additional sentence credit, concluding Kontny was barred from seeking additional credit because he had stipulated to 161 days of sentence credit during his sentencing hearing.

On appeal, the State concedes the circuit court erred by concluding that Kontny’s stipulation to the amount of sentence credit during his sentencing hearing barred him from seeking additional credit following his conviction. The State also concedes that Kontny was entitled to one day of credit for the date of his arrest, even though he was in custody for only fourteen minutes that day. The State argues, however, that Kontny is nevertheless entitled to only 161 days of sentence credit because he is not entitled to any credit for the date on which he was sentenced. We agree with the State that a defendant’s sentencing date should not be included when calculating the amount of sentence credit to which the defendant is entitled. We therefore affirm Kontny’s judgment of conviction and the order denying his postconviction motion, albeit on different grounds than those relied upon by the circuit court. See State v. Smiter, 2011 WI App 15, ¶9, 331 Wis. 2d 431, 793 N.W.2d 920 (2010) (court of appeals may affirm a circuit court’s decision on different grounds).

Recommended for Publication

Full Text

Derek A Hawkins is trademark corporate counsel for Harley-Davidson. Hawkins oversees the prosecution and maintenance of the Harley-Davidson’s international trademark portfolio in emerging markets.