George Phillips v. Commonwealth 2010-CA-000969-MR
Rendered February 24, 2010. To be published.
Phillips began his sentence in 1983. He was sentenced to three separate ten years sentences on rape, sodomy, and burglary. The final judgment and DOC had the convictions listed in that order.
Phillips argued he had to serve the sentences in that order and that with time credits he had served out on his qualifying sex crimes prior to the 1998 and 2000 amendments to SORA (requiring sex offenders to register) and thus was not required to register. Those amendments only applied to people sentenced or incarcerated after their effective date.
Although he was still incarcerated, Phillips argued that he was no longer serving on the sex offenses but, rather, on the burglary offense. The Court of Appeals found that under KRS 532.120(1)(b), the maximum terms of consecutive sentences are added to arrive at an aggregate maximum term. Since he was still incarcerated when the amendments took effect, the Court of Appeals found he was still serving on the rape and sodomy convictions because they are part of one aggregate term.
Contributed by Brandon Jewell
