FLORENCE (First InMaricopa) — An Arizona man serving time for two felony convictions was mistakenly released from prison this summer due to what officials called a clerical error, before U.S. marshals returned him to custody.

Shane Hounshell was convicted for driving drunk and with fentanyl in his system. He was arrested just outside Maricopa. Court records show Hounshell was sentenced on May 19 to one year in the Arizona Department of Corrections on an endangerment conviction and four months on an aggravated DUI. They were meant to be run concurrently. That means he starts both sentences at the same time.

That clock started June 3, when Hounshell was transferred to the Arizona State Prison Complex in Florence, according to the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office. 

The DOC failed to calculate his one-year sentence on the endangerment charge and released him early after he served the four-month DUI sentence.  

Hounshell spent more than 20 days on the outside before he contacted his attorney, Ray Kimball, when he realized he had been freed too soon. Kimball in turn alerted the court. 

At a hearing this week, Judge Jason Holmberg acknowledged the state’s error and commended both Hounshell and his lawyer for promptly reporting the mistake. Prosecutors did not object to awarding him credit for the time he spent free, ruling it was “through no fault of his own.” 

The court ordered Hounshell to receive 91 days of credit toward his prison term, covering both his time in custody before sentencing and the period he was erroneously released. He remains incarcerated to finish the remainder of his sentence. 

“This was a clerical error done by DOC,” said Holmberg in court. “They accidentally released him early, even though I sentenced him to a year. They just kicked him loose.” 

InMaricopa asked the DOC for a statement explaining the error but did not hear back by publication time.