State of Missouri ex rel. Andrew Bailey v. Hon. Drew F. David, Circuit Judge of DeKalb County

Maysville, Missouri lawyers represented the defendant.



The Attorney General seeks a permanent writ of prohibition or mandamus preventing the Honorable Drew F. Davis ("Respondent") from ordering Victor Vickers ("Vickers") released from custody following the issuance of a preliminary writ of habeas corpus. Because Respondent acted in excess of its authority and abused its discretion when it issued a preliminary writ of habeas corpus and ordered Vickers released from custody, this Court makes its preliminary writ of prohibition absolute, and issues a permanent writ prohibiting Respondent from taking any further action other than to

vacate the preliminary writ of habeas corpus and order for release, and to enter an order denying Vickers's petition for writ of habeas corpus.



Vickers was convicted and sentenced to life without parole after a jury trial on first-degree murder and related charges. His convictions were reversed, and a new trial ordered, in response to Vickers's Rule 29.15 motion for postconviction relief. Vickers v. State, 632 S.W.3d 781 (Mo. App. W.D. 2021). Vickers then entered an Alford plea[1] to voluntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, and armed criminal action. Vickers was sentenced to concurrent sentences totaling fifteen years on April 14, 2022. The judgment of conviction and sentence ordered that Vickers "be given credit for 3,767 days against the sentences imposed," based on "time spent awaiting trial in this case in the Jackson County Detention Center, all time spent in federal custody in 12-00283-06-CR-W-DW, and all time spent in the Missouri Department of Corrections since 2016 for the previously imposed sentence of life imprisonment."



Vickers was delivered to the Department of Corrections, and was originally in custody in the Crossroads Correctional Center in DeKalb County, Missouri. The Department of Corrections calculated Vickers's jail-time credit, and awarded 2,695 days. The Department of Corrections did not award jail-time credit for 1,072 days that Vickers

spent in federal custody. The Department of Corrections calculated Vickers's conditional release date as November 27, 2026.



On April 13, 2023, Vickers filed a petition for declaratory judgment in the Circuit Court of Cole County, Missouri, Case No. 23AC-CC02368, against the Department of Corrections. Vickers sought a declaration that he was entitled to 1,072 days of jail-time credit that the Department of Corrections failed to apply towards the service of his sentence ("Declaratory Judgment Action"). Vickers also sought a declaration that his conditional release date should be December 20, 2023, based on the additional days of jail-time credit.



Following cross motions for summary judgment, the circuit court in the Declaratory Judgment Action entered its memorandum, order, and judgment on April 17, 2024, granting the Department of Corrections' motion for summary judgment and denying Vickers's motion for summary judgment, and entering judgment in favor of the Department of Corrections ("Judgment"). The Judgment found that Vickers was not entitled to jail-time credit for the time spent in federal custody pursuant to section 558.031, RSMo 2016, which was the same version of the statute in effect at the time Vickers committed his offenses on August 16, 2011. The Judgment also found that although the criminal sentencing court purported to award jail-time credit for the time Vickers was in federal custody, that portion of the judgment of conviction and sentence had no legal effect. The circuit court relied on Farish v. Missouri Department of Corrections, 416 S.W.3d 793, 798 (Mo. banc 2013), which held that pursuant to section 558.031 then in effect, the calculation of jail-time credit is an administrative function of the Department of Corrections, and a sentencing court has no authority to award jail-time credit.



Vickers filed a timely notice of appeal from the Judgment on May 28, 2024. That appeal is pending in this Court as WD87214. Vickers's appeal has been fully briefed, and is set on the submitted-on-briefs docket with a submission date of November 22, 2024.



State ex rel. Bailey v. Davis, WD87449 (Mo. App. Nov 19, 2024)

Our preliminary writ of prohibition is made absolute. The Respondent is prohibited from taking any action other than to vacate the August 28, 2024 Preliminary Writ of Habeas Corpus, to vacate the August 28, 2024 order directing Clay Stanton, Superintendent, Northeast Correctional Center to release Vickers, and to enter an order denying Vickers' petition for writ of habeas corpus.