- Court: Oregon Court of Appeals
- Area(s) of Law: Sentencing
- Date Filed: 09-20-2023
- Case #: A178703
- Judge(s)/Court Below: Powers, J. for the Court; Ortega, P.J.; & Hellman, J.
- Full Text Opinion
Woods was convicted for attempted second-degree robbery (Count 5). The court imposed a reduction-eligible sentence and split it into two parts—one that was concurrent and the other that was consecutive to a sentence for a different charge (Count 6). Woods appealed a dismissal of his petition for habeas corpus relief. He assigned error to the calculation of his eligibility for earned-time credit by the Department of Corrections, arguing that Count 5 was eligible for reduction and entitled to accumulate earned-time credit. The superintendent contended that because the Count 5 sentence was split, any credits earned did not affect Woods’s release date. “Except as provided in ORS 137.635, 137.700, 137.707, 163.105, 163.107 and 163.115, each adult in custody sentenced to the custody of the Department of Corrections for felonies is eligible for a reduction in the term of incarceration for: (a) appropriate institutional behavior, as defined by rule of the Department of Corrections; and (b) participation in the adult basic skills development program described in ORS 421.084.” ORS 421.121(1). The Court found that the Count 5 sentence was not subject to any of the statute’s exceptions and thus eligible for reduction. The superintendent's view would make sentence eligibility for earned-time credit dependent on whether it ran concurrently with ineligible sentences—an additional limitation not provided for in the statute. Reversed and remanded.