SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) – The Illinois Supreme Court is currently debating whether people on home confinement and electronic monitoring pretrial should receive credits toward their prison sentence. The case surrounds a man who was sentenced before changes were made to state statute through the Pretrial Fairness Act.
A man convicted of aggravated domestic battery said he should have received nearly 630 days of credit against his prison sentence for time he spent on home confinement and electronic monitoring before his trial. Attorneys for Randall Stafford told justices the Pretrial Fairness Act states defendants should be given credit for each day they are subjected to electronic monitoring or home confinement pretrial.
“He was confined to the inside of his home, not even the property line, but the inside of his home 24 hours a day except for pre-approved movement on pre-approved routes to specific locations,” said Assistant Deputy Defender Jaime Montgomery.
The Illinois Attorney General’s office said the plain and ordinary meaning of the statute makes clear Stafford was not entitled to pre-sentence credit for time spent on bond while on electronic home monitoring.
They argue offenders can only receive pre-sentence credit when a supervising authority establishes terms and conditions of home detention, and a trial judge does not qualify for that role.
“A trial judge just imposing the sentence is not going to be tasked with keeping up to date with GPS technology,” said Assistant Attorney General Eldad Malamuth. “But a chief judge’s office or pretrial services division of a court is an agency that could do something like that.”
Attorneys for Stafford said lawmakers did not intend for this to be a confusing decision for a circuit court judge.
“The trial court should not have to consider whether or not specific terms of this defendant’s release meet the statutory definition in considering who is a supervisory authority or not.”
The Illinois Supreme Court took this case under advisement. A ruling is expected in the coming months.
