MEMORANDUM OPINION BY Judge MICHAEL H. WOJCIK.
Edward Cavanaugh petitions for review of the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole's (Board) decision denying his request for administrative review and affirming the Board's modified decision recommitting him as a convicted parole violator to concurrently serve an unexpired term of 10 months, 4 days, and changing his parole violation max date to July 25, 2015. Appointed counsel, Kent D. Watkins, Esq. (Counsel), has filed an application to withdraw as counsel, asserting that Cavanaugh's petition for review is meritless. We grant Counsel's application and affirm the Board's decision.
On December 12, 2011, the Bradford County Court of Common Pleas sentenced Cavanaugh to a 1- to 4-year term of imprisonment based on his conviction for driving under the influence (DUI) at the highest blood alcohol content (BAC) level. The sentence had a minimum expiration date of June 29, 2012, and a maximum expiration date of June 29, 2015. Certified Record (C.R.) at 7. On October 18, 2012, Cavanaugh was released on parole. Id.
On June 27, 2013, the Pennsylvania State Police arrested Cavanaugh for DUI; DUI at the highest BAC level; public drunkenness; driving while his registration and license were suspended; and possessing an alcoholic beverage in a motor vehicle. On February 7, 2014, bail was set on the new charges; however, on March 5, 2014, Cavanaugh's bail was changed and he was released on unsecured bond. C.R. at 37, 97. On September 23, 2014, Cavanaugh pleaded guilty in the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas to the DUI, DUI at the highest BAC level, and driving while his license was suspended charges; he was sentenced to a 1- to 2-year concurrent term of imprisonment for the DUI conviction and a concurrent 90-day sentence for his driving under suspension conviction. Id. at 109.
The Board issued a detainer when the new charges were filed on June 27, 2013. C.R. at 11. On September 29, 2013, a revocation hearing was conducted on Cavanaugh's purported violation of the technical conditions of his parole. Id. at 60-90. By decision mailed on November 20, 2013, the Board revoked Cavanaugh's parole and ordered his recommitment based on the admitted technical violations. Id. at 91-93. By decision mailed on February 6, 2015, the Board modified its November 2013 decision, and recommitted him as a convicted parole violator to serve his unexpired term of 11 months, 28 days, granting him credit for the time that he was on parole.
On January 18, 2016, Cavanaugh mailed to the Board an administrative appeal and a petition for administrative review challenging the Board's credit to his sentence because it did not comply with the judge's date of release. C.R. at 128. By decision mailed April 18, 2016, the Board denied the petition and affirmed its decision stating, in relevant part:
Id. at 133-134.
Cavanaugh then filed the instant petition for review of the Board's decision alleging that the Board failed to give him credit for all of the time served exclusively under its detainer.
When court-appointed counsel concludes that a petitioner's appeal is meritless, counsel may be permitted to withdraw if counsel: (1) notifies the petitioner of the request to withdraw; (2) furnishes the petitioner with a copy of an Anders
Here, Counsel mailed Cavanaugh a letter informing him of Counsel's request to withdraw. Counsel included a no-merit letter, which detailed the nature and extent of Counsel's review of Cavanaugh's case, set forth the issue raised in the petition for review, and explained why Counsel concluded that Cavanaugh's appeal is meritless. The no-merit letter also advised Cavanaugh of his right to retain substitute counsel or file a pro se brief. Because Counsel has satisfied the technical requirements of Turner, this Court will now independently review the merits of Cavanaugh's appeal.
Cavanaugh argues that the Board's decision should be reversed because the Board failed to give him credit for all of the time that he served due to its detainer. We disagree.
The Prisons and Parole Code provides that any parolee who, during the period of parole, commits a crime punishable by imprisonment and is convicted or found guilty of that crime may be recommitted as a convicted parole violator. 61 Pa. C.S. §6138(a)(1). A parolee recommitted as a convicted parole violator must serve the remainder of the term that he would have been compelled to serve had parole not been granted, with no credit for the time at liberty on parole, unless the Board exercises its discretion to award credit. 61 Pa. C.S. §6138(a)(2), (2.1). If a new sentence is imposed, the parolee must serve the balance of the original sentence prior to commencement of the new sentence. 61 Pa. C.S. §6138(a)(5)(i).
When a parole violator satisfies bail requirements prior to sentencing on new charges and is incarcerated solely by reason of the Board's detainer, the period of incarceration prior to sentencing is credited to the convicted parole violator's original sentence. Gaito, 412 A.2d at 571. However, when bail is not posted, time incarcerated on both the new criminal charges and the Board's detainer must apply to the new sentence. Id.
As outlined above, the Board gave Cavanaugh credit on his original sentence for the periods that he was held solely on the Board's detainer from June 27, 2013, the date the detainer was filed, to February 7, 2014, the day that bail was set on the new charges, and from March 5, 2014, the date that he was released on unsecured bond on the new charges, to September 23, 2014, the date of sentencing on the new charges. Contrary to his claim in the petition for review, the Board did not err in granting credit for all of the time that Cavanaugh served solely as a result of the Board's detainer. Gaito, 412 A.2d at 571.
Accordingly, we grant Counsel's application to withdraw and affirm the Board's decision.
AND NOW, this 28th day of December, 2016, the Application to Withdraw as Counsel filed by Kent D. Watkins, Esq. is GRANTED, and the decision of the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole dated April 18, 2016, is AFFIRMED.