Smith v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

9 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “A sentence which does not include proper credit for presentence incarceration is illegal. Smith v. State, 932 P.2d 1281, 1282 (Wyo.1997). A criminal defendant is entitled to credit against his sentence for the time he was incarcerated prior to sentencing, provided that the confinement was due to his inability and failure to post bond on the offense for which he was awaiting disposition. Meek v. State, 956 P.2d 357, 358 (Wyo.1998); Renfro v. State, 785 P.2d 491, 498 (Wyo.1990). The purpose of this rule is to provide equal protection to defendants who are unable to post bond because of their indigence. Renfro, 785 P.2d at 497-98 . A defendant is not, however, enti tled to credit for the time that he spent in custody when his confinement would have continued despite his ability to post bond. Meek, 956 P.2d at 358 ; Renfro, 785 P.2d at 498 . In accordance with this principle, a defendant is not entitled to credit against his sentence for the time he spent in custody while awaiting probation revocation proceedings because that confinement was not attributable to his financial inability to post bond. Milladge v. State, 900 P.2d 1156, 1160-61 (Wyo.1995). Our review of the record reveals that Smith was incarcerated for five different periods of time. The district court credited two of those periods against his sentence: the twenty days that he spent in custody between August 18, 1995, and September 7, 1995; and the 156 days that he spent at Community Alternatives. The other three per”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Merta v. State