Probation & Jail Time Credit

Probation & Jail Time Credit

Heather Hopkins was convicted and sentenced in two different cases.  State v. Hopkins, 285 P.3d 1021, 1022 (Kan. 2012).  For aggravated burglary and obstruction of legal process Hopkins was sentenced to 36 months of probation, with an underlying sentence of 41 months.  Id.  For possession of cocaine Hopkins received 18 months of probation, with an underlying sentence of 11 months.  Id.  As part of her possession conviction Hopkins was also ordered to complete mandatory drug abuse treatment.  Id.

After serving a short period in a drug abuse inpatient treatment, Hopkins violated her probation and left the facility.  Id.  At her revocation hearing, Hopkins argued that while she did violate her probation, she should be credited the time she spent in the facility for her robbery sentence.  Id.  The district court did not hold for Hopkins argument, and instead revoked her probation in both cases and ordered her to serve the two sentences consecutively.  Id.  The Kansas Court of Appeals affirmed that decision.  Id.       

As the Kansas Supreme Court noted, “K.S.A. 21-4614a(a) broadly grants a probationer jail time credit in “any criminal action in which probation … is revoked,’ for the time ‘spent in a residential facility while on probation.”  Id. at 1024.  Thus, the court held that Hopkins should have been awarded jail time in her robbery sentence for the time she spent in the drug abuse treatment facility because treatment was not a condition of her burglary case.  Id. at 1025. 

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