## Facts

- Tyrant Anthony Green, age sixteen, was taken into custody in Dallas on January 14, 1983, after being observed committing aggravated robberies and sexual assaults against three young women.
- He was placed in a juvenile detention center under the Texas Family Code and, after a juvenile court order, remained detained from January 14 to March 21, 1983 (67 days).
- Green was later re-arrested on August 23, 1983, and indicted on August 31, 1983, for three aggravated robberies arising from the same conduct.
- He pleaded guilty in district court and received concurrent ten-year sentences; the judgments credited time served beginning August 23, 1983.
- Green sought postconviction habeas relief under Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 11.07, arguing he was entitled to additional credit for the 67 days spent in juvenile detention.
- The habeas court recommended denying relief, reasoning juvenile detention is not equivalent to jail confinement for sentence-credit purposes.

## Issues

1. Whether Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 42.03, § 2(a) requires credit on an adult criminal sentence for time a defendant spent confined in juvenile detention attributable to the same offense conduct later prosecuted in criminal court.

## Decision

- The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (en banc) granted habeas relief.
- The court held Green was entitled to sentence credit for the 67 days he was confined in the juvenile detention center from January 14 to March 21, 1983.
- The court ordered that the 67 days be credited toward each of Green’s concurrent ten-year sentences.

## Legal Principles

- Under Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 42.03, § 2(a), a convicted defendant must receive credit for time spent confined “in jail” in connection with the case.
- For time-credit purposes, confinement is assessed functionally: when a person is held under lawful authority, in connection with the same cause, and without a meaningful choice of custodian, the confinement constitutes custody requiring credit.
- The statute does not permit disparate treatment between defendants first detained as juveniles and those detained as adults when the confinement stems from the same offense conduct and results in later criminal prosecution.

## Conclusion

A defendant transferred to criminal court and sentenced as an adult must receive credit for prior juvenile detention time attributable to the same offense conduct, because such detention is custody for purposes of Texas’s mandatory presentence credit statute.


Ex parte Green, 688 S.W.2d 555 (Tex. Crim. App. 1985)