Dept. of Pub. Saf. & Corr. Serv. v. Fenton

Summary

The Supreme Court of Maryland held that an incarcerated individual is barred from receiving diminution of confinement credits under CS § 3-702(c) only when the prior qualifying conviction occurred before commission of the offense for which the individual is serving the sentence. The statute's phrase "previously convicted" is ambiguous, but its legislative history shows that the provision targets repeat offenders and deterrence, so it does not apply to multiple offenses committed before any resulting conviction. The Court affirmed the Appellate Court's judgment and directed recalculation of the credits for Count 8.