Virginia Supreme Court dismisses earned sentence credit case

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) – The Supreme Court of Virginia ruled against a man who claimed the state’s Department of Corrections wrongly withheld credits for an earlier release by using a date “well after his arrest” as the point he started earning the credits instead of his arrest date.

The petition to the high court from Paul R. White III, who is serving a nine-year sentence, challenged the corrections department’s decision not to use “the date of his arrest on one of the charges that predicates his current incarceration as the starting point for his accrual of Earned Sentence Credit (“ESC”),” per the court’s July 18 order .

White claimed in the petition, the court’s ruling reads, that he is entitled to earn sentence credits at a quicker rate under a law that took effect in July 2022 that allowed the enhanced credits to be applied retroactively.

The corrections department withheld “a significant amount of ESC” from White, he alleged, because of its policy to use the “Custody Responsibility Date” – the date when someone imprisoned “becomes state responsible” – as the point at which someone can earn the credits.

In its order, the Virginia Supreme Court rejected these claims after ruling state code on the eligibility for earned sentence credits has “plain language” revealing White’s ability to earn credits “did not begin upon his arrest.”

The c ode reads that eligibility for ESCs begins “upon the person’s incarceration in any correctional facility following entry of a final order of conviction by the committing court.”

The court’s order reads that despite White’s claims, the code lays out “that a prisoner qualifies to start earning ESCs upon his sentencing to serve a term of incarceration for a qualifying felony and his incarceration following a final order of the committing court.”

White did not meet those criteria “on the date of his arrest, November 21, 2017,” the ruling adds.
Per the court’s ruling, White is serving his sentence after initially getting 20 years with 12 years suspended and an order revoking his previously suspended 11-year sentence and “resuspending all but one year.”

The Supreme Court of Virginia ruled White failed to establish that the corrections department infringed upon any statutory orders by deciding to ignore his arrest date when calculating his credits or violated his due process rights by not granting him the credits.

The ruling comes after several legal challenges to the state’s interpretation of the new enhanced program, which was fully implemented in July.

A Virginia Department of Corrections spokesperson said the agency was processing 8News’ request for comment on the case.

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