Lapaille

Factual and Procedural History

The issues in this case are (1) whether defendant, who spent most of the time before sentencing on house arrest as a condition of release on his own recognizance, is entitled to presentence custody credit pursuant to Penal Code section 2900.5, as amended in 1991; (2) if not, whether denying him such credits, while allowing them to persons in electronic home detention programs, is a denial of equal protection; and (3) if entitled to custody credit, whether he is also entitled to good time/work time (conduct) credits under section 4019.

Undercover police officers arrested defendant and his wife after the couple had bought 20 pounds of ephedrine from the officers in a controlled buy. Defendant had told a police informant that he wanted the ephedrine for the purpose of manufacturing methamphetamine. He told the undercover officers that he was going to “cook” a batch of methamphetamine. After the couple’s arrest, defendant maintained that he had become involved in a scheme to manufacture methamphetamine in order to obtain the drug for his own use. He explained that he had been addicted to methamphetamine since 1958, and that he had recently…