Burnett v. Mueller

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedOctober 28, 2019
Docket3:17-cv-00650
StatusUnknown

This text of Burnett v. Mueller (Burnett v. Mueller) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burnett v. Mueller, (S.D. Ill. 2019).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS TERRY BURNETT, # B-14533, ) ) Petitioner, ) ) vs. ) CaseNo. 17-cv-650-NJR ) WARDEN OF ROBINSON ) CORRECTIONAL ) CENTER, ) ) Respondent. ) MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ROSENSTENGEL,Chief Judge: On July 11, 2013, Petitioner Terry Burnett pled guilty to two offenses in Peoria County: unlawfully acquiring a controlled substance (Case No. 11-CF-961) and burglary (Case No. 12-CF- 113). The verbal plea agreement provided for an aggregate 9-year sentence, to be followed by 3 years of mandatory supervised release. (Doc. 1, pp. 17-20). The sentence included 2-1/2 years on the drug offense, to be followed by 6-1/2 years for burglary, which was mandated to beserved consecutively. (Doc. 1, p. 18). Burnett was to receive credit for time spent in pretrial detention, including a 412-day period when he was being held on the two pending charges simultaneously. (Doc. 1, pp. 19, 27-28, 55; Doc. 7, p. 2). His disagreement with the amount of sentence credit awardedprompted this Habeas Petition, filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §2254. Burnett claims that he was denied the benefit of his plea bargain because he should have received pretrial credit for the 412 days against each of his consecutive sentencesseparately,which would amount to two days of credit for each of those days spent in pretrial custody. Respondent has answered, arguing that the Petition is time-barred as to the judgment in the 2011 drug case, and that theclaim for double credit lacks merit.(Doc. 7). Burnett has replied.(Doc. 14). RELEVANT FACTSAND PROCEDURAL HISTORY Burnett represented himself in the plea discussions, after having discharged his public defender. (Doc. 1, p. 16-26). Burnett agreed to a 9-year sentence “because that would put me at

doing 39 months instead of 45 months because I’m not going to get no good time[.]” (Doc. 1, p.17; see also Doc. 14, p. 1). The prosecutor explained to the court that Burnett would get 6-1/2 years on the burglary count, mandatorily consecutive to the 2-1/2 years for the drug count; three other counts would be dismissed. “He does receive credit for time previously served on each of the cases, and those dates are outlined in the orders, which I did provide to the defendant and explain to him those days.” (Doc. 1, p. 18-19). After accepting the plea and imposing the agreed- upon sentence, the court reiterated, “Those sentences will run consecutively. You’ll get credit for time served.” (Doc. 1, p. 24). The judgment in the burglary case specified the dates for which Burnett would receive credit as February 2 to March 14, 2012, and June 8, 2012 through his

transport to the Illinois Department of Corrections (“IDOC”) after the July 11, 2013 date of judgment. (Doc. 1, p. 27). Similarly, the drug case judgment provided for credit from October 9 to November 1, 2011, and from June 8, 2012 through transport to IDOC. (Doc. 1, 28). Burnett was transported to IDOC on July 25, 2013. (Doc. 7, p. 2). In light of the dates outlined in the two judgments, Burnett claims he should have been given credit for 435 pretrial custody days on the drug sentence (11-CF-961) and 454 days on the burglary sentence (12-CF- 113). (Doc. 1, p. 55). Burnett and Respondent agree that 412 of the pretrial custody days represented the simultaneous custody period from June 8, 2012 to July 25, 2013. (Doc. 1, p. 55; Doc. 7, p. 2). While Burnett maintains he should get a separate 412 days’ credit against each individual sentence, the IDOC credited these 412 days only once against Burnett’s aggregate sentence of 9 years. Burnett did not appeal from the judgment in either case. He did, however, filetwo petitions for state post-conviction relief. (Doc. 7, p. 2). His first post-conviction petition, filed July 11, 2014,1 challenged only the burglary conviction and did not raise the matter of sentence credit.

(Doc. 8-1, pp. 1-11). It was dismissed by the trial court. (Doc. 8-1, p. 13). On appeal from that dismissal, Burnett challenged the assessment of fines, some of which were vacated by the appellate court. (Doc. 8-2). Rehearing was denied on February 3, 2017, and Burnett did not seek review by the Illinois Supreme Court. (Doc. 8-2, p.1; Doc. 7, p. 2). Burnett filed the second state post-convictionpetition on October 7, 2015,2this time raising the benefit-of-the-bargain challenge to both judgments. (Doc. 15-1, pp. 26, 36-38). After a hearing, the trial court granted the state’s motion to dismiss the petition on May 21, 2016. (Doc. 1, pp. 34- 43, 45). Burnett appealed, and the matter was still pending before the Illinois Appellate Court, Third District (Nos. 3-16-0317, 3-16-0318, 3-16-0319),3 at the time he filed the instant habeas

Petition. (Doc. 1, pp. 2, 48, 50, 52, 54). Neither party has notified the Court of any resolution to the consolidated appeals, and the Court was unable to locate an order disposing of the matter. According to Burnett’s own calculation, his release date from the 9-year sentence should have been August 16, 2015, if he had been given the sentence credit he believed he was due.

1 Burnett’s certificate of mailing demonstrates that he submitted the post-conviction petition to prison officials for filing on July 11, 2014(Doc. 8-1, p. 10). Under the “mailbox rule,” it is considered filed as of that date. See Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266 (1988);Edwards v. United States, 266 F.3d 756, 758 (7th Cir. 2001). 2October 7, 2015, is the date Burnett submitted the post-convictionpetition for filing (Doc. 15-1, p. 31); it was file-stamped by the Circuit Court on October 19, 2015. 3Burnett was assigned a distinct appeal number for each of his circuit court cases: No. 3-16-0317 for Circuit Court No. 11-CF-961 (drug case); No. 3-16-0318 for No. 12-CF-113 (burglary case); and No. 3-16-0319 for No. 12-CF-509, a burglary case that was dismissed as part of the plea bargain. (Doc. 1, pp. 1, 48, 50, 52). (Doc.1, p. 55). However, he notes that he “spent [his] parole time in prison,” Id., because he was “violated at the door because of past convictions.” (Doc. 28, p. 1). Even so, he claims that he should have completed his mandatory supervised release time by February 16, 2017. (Doc. 1, p.55). In his Reply, filed on July 12, 2017, Burnett stated that his release date had been set for April 5, 2018. (Doc. 14, p. 4).

As of the date of this Order, Burnett remains incarcerated on unrelated convictions.4 APPLICABLE LEGAL STANDARDS 1. Substantive Law This Habeas Petition is subject to the provisions of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act(“AEDPA”). “The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 modified a federal habeas court’s role in reviewing state prisoner applications in order to prevent federal habeas ‘retrials’ and to ensure that state-court convictions are given effect to the extent possible under law.” Bell v. Cone, 535 U.S. 685, 693 (2002). Habeas is not merely another round of appellate review. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) restricts

habeas relief to cases where the state court determination “resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States” or “a decision that was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding.” A judgment is “contrary to” Supreme Court precedent if the state court “contradicts the governing law set forth in [Supreme Court] cases.” Coleman v.

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Burnett v. Mueller, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burnett-v-mueller-ilsd-2019.