D. Marshall v. PBPP

CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 8, 2020
Docket1115 C.D. 2019
StatusUnpublished

This text of D. Marshall v. PBPP (D. Marshall v. PBPP) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
D. Marshall v. PBPP, (Pa. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Dwight Marshall, : : Petitioner : : v. : No. 1115 C.D. 2019 : Submitted: May 29, 2020 Pennsylvania Board of : Probation and Parole, : : Respondent :

OPINION NOT REPORTED

MEMORANDUM OPINION PER CURIAM FILED: October 8, 2020

Dwight Marshall (Parolee) petitions for review of the decision of the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole (Board)1 denying his administrative appeal of the Board’s action that denied credit for the time that he spent at liberty on parole following his recommitment as a convicted parole violator (CPV). We affirm. We have summarized the relevant history of this case as follows:

In 1998, [Parolee] was sentenced to 11 to 22 years in prison for murder in the third degree and robbery, with a maximum date of January 15, 2019. He obtained release on parole on March 3, 2008. Almost nine years later, as a result of a traffic stop in Delaware, [Parolee]

1 Subsequent to the filing of the petition for review, the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole has been renamed the Pennsylvania Parole Board. Sections 15, 16, and 16.1 of the Act of December 18, 2019, P.L. 776, No. 115 (effective February 18, 2020); see also Sections 6101 and 6111(a) of the Prisons and Parole Code, as amended, 61 Pa. C.S. §§6101, 6111(a). was charged with multiple crimes related to his possession of 200.49 grams of powder cocaine and 67.94 grams of crack cocaine. Specifically, a court in the State of Delaware, Kent County, convicted [Parolee] for “DDEAL Tier 4 (F) Cocaine” under 16 Del. C. §4752, and it sentenced him to eight years, custody level 5. Certified Record (C.R.) at [30] (Sentence Order, 5/10/17). Delaware then extradited [Parolee] to serve his sentence in Pennsylvania.

The new conviction subjected [Parolee] to a parole revocation hearing. [Parolee] acknowledged his conviction, and signed a waiver of his right to a hearing. C.R. at [44-45]. The parole revocation hearing report recommended “taking [his] street time” because [Parolee] “was on parole for Murder and was convicted of felony drug related crimes.” C.R. at [57].

As a result of his out-of-state conviction, the Board recommitted [Parolee] to serve 24 months as a [CPV]. In determining the appropriate recommitment range, the Board determined that [Parolee’s] Delaware conviction most closely related to the Pennsylvania crime of possession with intent to manufacture or deliver a controlled substance (cocaine) under Section 13(a)(30) of The Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act (Controlled Substance Act), [Act of April 14, 1972, P.L. 233, as amended, 35 P.S. §780–113(a)(30),] that carries a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years. 37 Pa. Code §75.1. Pursuant to 37 Pa. Code §75.2, the presumptive recommitment range for that new offense is 18 to 24 months. The Board did not award [Parolee] credit for his time spent at liberty on parole because of his “felony drug related crimes.” C.R. at [59]. Based on his conviction, the Board recalculated [Parolee’s] maximum sentence date as April 29, 2028.

Through counsel, [Parolee] filed an administrative appeal of the Board’s recommitment order. The Board issued a decision, affirming and explaining the term of recommitment. Because it stated a reason for denying [Parolee] credit for his time spent at liberty on parole, the

2 Board deemed moot his challenge to its exercise of discretion in its denial of credit. C.R. at [84]. Marshall v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, 200 A.3d 643, 646-47 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2018). On appeal to this Court, Parolee asserted that the Board: (1) violated his due process rights because he was not notified at the time of his revocation hearing waiver that a new maximum sentence date could be imposed; (2) was not authorized to alter his original maximum date beyond his judicially imposed sentence; (3) applied the incorrect recommitment range for the most serious Delaware conviction; and (4) abused its discretion in denying him credit for the time that he spent at liberty on parole and violated the due process requirements of Pittman v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, 159 A.3d 466, 474 (Pa. 2017), by “den[ying him] credit without conducting any individual assessment of the facts and circumstances surrounding his parole revocation.” Marshall, 200 A.3d at 647, 650 (emphasis in original). Initially, we rejected Parolee’s claims that the Board violated his due process rights with respect to his waiver of a revocation hearing; the Board was not authorized to alter his judicially imposed sentence; and the Board applied the incorrect recommitment range. Marshall, 200 A.3d at 647-649. Accordingly, we affirmed the Board’s decision in these respects. Id. at 652. However, regarding Parolee’s claim that the Board erred in failing to grant credit for the time that he spent at liberty on parole, we stated:

Section 6138(a)(1) of the Prisons and Parole Code [(Code)] provides that any parolee who commits a crime punishable by imprisonment while on parole, and is convicted or found guilty of that crime, may be

3 recommitted as a CPV. 61 Pa. C.S. §6138(a)(1).[2] Further, Section 6138(a)(2.1) of the [Code], 61 Pa. C.S. §6138(a)(2.1),[3] “unambiguously grants the Board discretion to award credit to a CPV recommitted to serve the remainder of his sentence,” except when the recommitment involves the reasons in subsections 6138(a)(2.1)(i) and (ii) (including violent and sexual offender crimes), not present here. Pittman, 159 A.3d at 473.

Relevant here, in Pittman, our Supreme Court held that in not explaining its exercise of discretion with reasons for awarding or denying credit, the Board

2 Section 6138(a)(1) states, in relevant part, “A parolee under the jurisdiction of the [B]oard . . . who, during the period of parole . . . commits a crime punishable by imprisonment, for which a parolee is convicted . . . in a court of record, may at the discretion of the [B]oard be recommitted as a parole violator.”

3 Section 6138(a)(2) and (2.1) states, in relevant part:

(2) If the parolee’s recommitment is so ordered, the parolee shall be reentered to serve the remainder of the term which the parolee would have been compelled to serve had the parole not been granted and, except as provided under paragraph (2.1), shall be given no credit for the time at liberty on parole.

(2.1) The [B]oard may, in its discretion, award credit to a parolee recommitted under paragraph (2) for the time spent at liberty on parole unless any of the following apply:

(i) The crime committed during the period of parole . . . is a crime of violence as defined in 42 Pa. C.S. §9714(g) (relating to sentences for second and subsequent offenses) or a crime requiring registration under 42 Pa. C.S. Ch. 97 Subch. H (relating to registration of sexual offenders).

(ii) The parolee was recommitted under [S]ection 6143 (relating to early parole of inmates subject to Federal removal order).

61 Pa. C.S. §6138(a)(2), (2.1) (emphasis added).

4 violated its statutory mandate and denied a parolee’s constitutional due process rights. The Court reasoned that the Board satisfies constitutional due process by stating the reasons for exercising its discretion to deny credit for the time a parolee spent at liberty on parole. However, the Court did not set forth criteria for such a statement, noting only that it need not “be extensive and a single sentence explanation is likely sufficient in most instances.” Id. at 475 n.12.

Here, the Board’s reason for denying [Parolee] credit for time spent at liberty on parole consisted of four words: “felony drug related crimes.” C.R. at [59].

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