State v. Derello

In State v. Derello, 199 Ariz. 435, 437, P6, 18 P.3d 1234, 1236 (App. 2001), the defendant raised for the first time on appeal the possibility that the trial court's enhancement of his sentence with two prior felony convictions was error because the two offenses only constituted one historical prior felony conviction pursuant to 13-604(M), which provides that "convictions for two or more offenses committed on the same occasion shall be counted as only one conviction." 199 Ariz. at 437, P6, 18 P.3d at 1236. "Because the trial court record was silent on whether the convictions were committed on the same occasion," we remanded the matter for an evidentiary hearing to determine whether the offenses were indeed separate historical prior felony convictions. Id. The defendant argued that, in determining if his crimes were historical prior felonies under 13-604, the trial court could not exclude time incarcerated for other felonies. 199 Ariz. 435, P 20, 18 P.3d at 1238. He reasoned the phrase "'any time spent incarcerated' refers only to time spent incarcerated for the specific offense the State seeks to use as an historical prior felony conviction." Id. The Court disagreed, concluding the phrase clearly included "all time that a defendant spent in prison, regardless of whether that incarceration was for the particular prior conviction at issue or for some other crime." Id. P 22.