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Name: People v. McGarry
Case #: C037114
Opinion Date: 02/28/2002
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 3 DCA
Citation: 96 Cal.App.4th 644
Summary

Where the total of defendant’s presentence actual and good conduct custody credit exceeds the jail term imposed, the court many calculate a monetary credit based on the excess credit at $30 per day. (Pen. Code, sec. 2900.5, subd. (a).) Appellant here argued that since the trial court applied his credit to wipe-out the base fine, the penalty assessments were not “freestanding” because they applied only to fines collected by the court. The Court of Appeal disagreed, finding that a prisoner’s monetary credit resulting from excess presentence credit must be applied proportionally among his obligations to pay the base fine, penalty assessments, and the restitution fine rather than any one of these categories alone. If the credit does not eliminate all amounts due, the defendant still owes the remaining amount in each category.