Is Any Credit Owed to a Parolee Who Is In Prison Both for a Board Warrant and New Crminal Charges While Awaiting Trial ?

In Martin v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, 576 Pa. 588, 840 A.2d 299 (2003), our Supreme Court had occasion to address this Court's interpretation of Gaito as it related to the allocation of presentence confinement time when a new sentence was imposed. In particular, the Court determined what credit was owed to a parolee who is incarcerated because of both a Board warrant and new criminal charges, while awaiting trial on these criminal charges. In Martin, the parolee was on parole from his ten-year prison sentence when, on May 30, 2000, he was arrested and charged, inter alia, with two counts of driving under the influence (DUI). That same day, the Board lodged a detainer against him. The parolee did not post bail. On July 19, 2001, the parolee was convicted and sentenced to forty-eight hours time served and one year of probation, to be served after serving his prior sentence. On November 6, 2001, after a parole revocation hearing, the parolee was recommitted to serve six months backtime. The parolee in Martin sought administrative relief to challenge the Board's recalculation of his maximum date of expiry, asserting that it failed to give him credit for all of the time he served on the Board's detainer. Specifically, he asserted that because the DUI sentence imposed was forty-eight hours time served, his original sentence should have been credited for the remaining time he spent in custody, which was from June 1, 2000, to July 19, 2001. The Board rejected the parolee's request for relief and the Court affirmed.