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Published by the Indiana Office of Court Services

Godby v. State, No. 33A01-1203-CR-128, — N.E.2d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Oct. 10, 2012).

October 12, 2012 Filed Under: Criminal Tagged With: Appeals, E. Friedlander


FRIEDLANDER, J.

“[A] motion to correct sentence may only be used to correct sentencing errors that are clear from the face of the judgment imposing the sentence in light of the statutory authority.”  Robinson v. State, 805 N.E.2d 783, 787 (Ind. 2004).  . . . .

. . . .

At first blush, Godby’s other claim of error has some teeth. He claims that the trial court failed to fully comply with I.C. § 35-38-3-2(b) (West, Westlaw current with all 2012 legislation), which provides a list of items a sentencing judgment1 “must include”. The requirement at issue in this case is “the amount of the fines or costs (including fees) assessed, if any, whether or not the convicted person is indigent, and the method by which the fines or costs (including fees) are to be satisfied”. I.C. § 35-38-3-2(b)(3). Godby correctly observes that when imposing court costs, the trial court failed to include in the judgment of conviction the amount of the court costs, whether Godby was indigent, and the method of satisfying the court costs. This error is clearly apparent on the face of the sentencing judgment. Our analysis, though, does not end here.

Ind. Code Ann. § 33-37-2-2 (West, Westlaw current with all 2012 legislation) makes clear that costs imposed in a criminal action “are not part of the sentence”. Because the error in this case relates only to costs (and not fines),2 we conclude that Godby’s belated attempt to correct the error through a motion to correct erroneous sentence is not proper. In other words, the error here does not relate to a provision of Godby’s sentence and is not the type of fundamental sentencing error contemplated by I.C. § 35-38-1-15.
BROWN, J., and PYLE, J., concur.

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