Deason v. State

I find myself in agreement with the construction of the statute urged by the appellant. Plainly read, the statutory language means that an inmate will be subject to conditional release when he has both (a) been convicted of a category 1,2, 3, or 4 crime and (b) been given a habitual felony offender sentence or served a prior felony commitment.

I disagree with the majority’s reliance upon tidbits of legislative history to discern “legislative intent.” In my view, the law means what its text most appropriately conveys, and we should content ourselves with reading it rather than psychoanalyzing…