Randall Ray Kratzer v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)

Citation: Not availableDocket: 19A-CR-1181

Court: Indiana Court of Appeals; December 30, 2019; Indiana; State Appellate Court

Original Court Document: View Document

SummaryOriginalCytator Case TreatmentBackward CitatorAnalysis

EnglishEspañolSimplified EnglishEspañol Fácil

A memorandum decision from the Indiana Court of Appeals addresses Randall Ray Kratzer's appeal concerning the denial of additional jail time credit after the revocation of his probation and work release placement, along with a conviction for failure to return to lawful detention, classified as a Level 6 felony. The court affirmed the trial court's decision. The primary issue on appeal was whether the trial court incorrectly denied Kratzer jail time credit he believed he was entitled to.

Kratzer's history includes multiple periods of pretrial confinement from 2012 to 2019 across various jurisdictions. He faced charges in Perry County for driving with a suspended license and failure to appear, as well as theft charges in Vanderburgh County. In October 2013, he was charged in Dubois County with criminal confinement and sexual battery. After pleading guilty in May 2014 to related charges, a plea agreement stipulated that any violation of his Community Corrections or Probation terms would result in his remand to the Department of Correction (DOC).

At sentencing, Kratzer's counsel indicated that holds from Vanderburgh and Perry Counties were in place and requested a work release to manage these holds. The trial court was open to this but noted a hold would remain in Dubois County. Ultimately, on June 17, 2014, Kratzer was sentenced with specific terms, receiving 166 days of jail time credit for periods served in Dubois County, but he argued for additional credit for time spent in Vanderburgh and Perry Counties, which had not been granted.

On September 19, 2014, Kratzer was sentenced to time served and received 308 days of jail time credit for offenses in Vanderburgh County. He subsequently pleaded guilty to one of two charges in Perry County on October 9, 2014, resulting in another time served sentence. Beginning December 2, 2015, Kratzer was incarcerated in Daviess County, Kentucky, on various charges. On June 7, 2016, the State sought to revoke his work release, leading to his arrest in April 2018. During this period, Kratzer was sentenced in Kentucky for theft-related offenses, receiving a total aggregate sentence of three years, which he completed by April 8, 2018.

Upon his return to Dubois County on April 8, 2018, the State filed petitions to revoke his work release and probation, which he denied at a hearing on April 16, 2018. Following a series of events, including an unsuccessful work release on August 10, 2018, Kratzer absconded and was later arrested in Illinois. After a January 7, 2019 hearing, the trial court determined he violated his work release and probation. Kratzer was convicted on January 23, 2019, and on March 28, 2019, received a sentence of 3,285 days for the suspended sentence in FB-821, along with 344 days of jail time credit. He was also sentenced to 547 days in the DOC for F6-901, with the sentences to be served consecutively, though no jail time credit was awarded for F6-901.

Kratzer filed a motion to correct error on April 26, 2019, which was denied by the trial court on April 30, 2019. He is appealing the trial court's decision regarding jail time credit. Kratzer claims entitlement to additional jail time and good time credit for sentences FB-821 and F6-901, arguing that this credit should apply from his original 2013 arrest while held in Dubois County and other jurisdictions, including Illinois on an Indiana warrant. The State argues that Kratzer seeks to "double dip" by claiming credit for time served in multiple jurisdictions.

Pre-sentence jail time credit in Indiana is a statutory right rather than judicial discretion, as established in Weaver v. State. Indiana Code Section 35-50-6-3 outlines how good time credit is earned based on the classification of the offender: Class I earns one day of credit for each day served; Class II earns one day for every two days; Class III earns no credit; and Class IV earns one day for every six days served. 

The Indiana Supreme Court has indicated that when challenging pre-sentence credit validity, two types of credit must be calculated: (1) credit for actual time served and (2) additional credit for good behavior and educational accomplishments. A defendant is entitled to pre-trial credit only for time confined as a result of the criminal charges leading to the current sentence. 

Kratzer's offense relevant to the credit issue occurred before July 1, 2014. If a defendant is sentenced concurrently for multiple charges, they receive credit for each term; if sentenced consecutively, they receive credit only against the aggregate sentence. The trial court determines the good time credit based on the actual time served and the offender's classification.

Kratzer cites Maciaszek v. State to support his claim for additional credit for time served under a Dubois County hold while in other jurisdictions. In Maciaszek, the defendant was under holds from multiple states while serving a sentence in Florida and faced charges in Indiana, which ultimately influenced how his credit was calculated.

Maciaszek was transported from New Hampshire to Indiana to resolve his Indiana charges, where he pled guilty and was sentenced without credit for prior time served. He was returned to New Hampshire but later sought additional jail time credit for his incarceration in Florida and New Hampshire before extradition, which was denied by the trial court and upheld on appeal. The appellate court ruled that under Indiana law, credit is only applicable to the specific sentence for the offense at hand, excluding time served for unrelated offenses.

The case involving Kratzer is similarly complicated due to his multiple incarcerations across different jurisdictions. The trial court emphasized that Kratzer would only receive credit for time served related to his current charges, not for time served on other offenses. The record indicates Kratzer faced Indiana charges in multiple counties and also had charges in Kentucky, with most of his pretrial confinement connected to offenses in other jurisdictions. Specifically, he received 308 days of credit for Vanderburgh County offenses, a "time served" sentence for Perry County, and completed a three-year sentence in Kentucky before returning to Dubois County custody. The complexity of Kratzer's situation arises from overlapping sentences and a lack of clarity in the documentation of his various incarcerations.

Kratzer was denied jail time credit for periods served in other jurisdictions on unrelated charges. The trial court ruled that legislative provisions for jail time credit apply only to time served for the specific offense at hand. Consequently, Kratzer was not eligible for credit in the Dubois County cases for pretrial confinement in Vanderburgh, Perry Counties, or Kentucky. The court confirmed that Kratzer did serve pretrial confinement in the Dubois County Security Center from April 8, 2018, to August 10, 2018, and from August 21, 2018, to March 28, 2019, for which he was granted appropriate jail time credit. Ultimately, the trial court's decision to affirm Kratzer’s jail time credit in Dubois County was upheld, with no denial of entitled credits. The ruling was affirmed by the Court of Appeals of Indiana.