Goldberg v. Beeler

82 F. Supp. 2d 302, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19900, 1999 WL 1416979
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Jersey
DecidedNovember 24, 1999
DocketCivil Action 98-1741(JBS)
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 82 F. Supp. 2d 302 (Goldberg v. Beeler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Goldberg v. Beeler, 82 F. Supp. 2d 302, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19900, 1999 WL 1416979 (D.N.J. 1999).

Opinion

OPINION

SIMANDLE, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on application of petitioner Boris Goldberg for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. In his petition, Goldberg claims that his due process rights have been violated. The U.S. Parole Commission (the “Commission”) has allegedly relied upon an erroneous presentence report in calculating his minimum length of sentence. This Court will first determine whether petitioner has failed to exhaust available administrative remedies before mounting the challenge to the Commission’s decision. Reaching the merits, the principle issue is whether the decision of the U.S. Parole Commission denying Golberg’s release from confinement is based on criteria that are appropriate, rational and consistent with the law. For reasons explained below, the Court finds that petitioner has exhausted available administrative remedies and that this petition will be denied in its entirety upon the merits.

I. BACKGROUND

Petitioner is presently incarcerated at FCI Fort Dix serving a pre-guidelines sentence of 15 years incarceration imposed by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York following his plea of guilty to one count of RICO conspiracy. The relevant background facts are as follows.

A. Petitioner’s Conviction and Judicial Appeals

After being arrested on RICO Conspiracy charges on September 17, 1991, petitioner accepted the U.S. Attorney’s plea-bargain offer to plead guilty to one count of RICO conspiracy in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d), a Class C Felony with a maximum penalty of twenty years imprisonment, in return for a dismissal of all other counts in the indictment.

The plea agreement left open the length of sentence to the sentencing judge’s discretion, and a presentence investigation report (“PSIR”) was ordered. On July 28, 1992, the U.S. Probation Department issued a PSIR outlining the foundations for the RICO charge, which included, inter alia, allegations of murder, attempted murder, racketeering, and robbery. The presentence report did not make any specific recommendations as to length of sentence. Soon after the PSIR was issued, the Parole Commission issued on September 25, 1992 a Parole Guideline Estimate Worksheet that estimated that petitioner would have to serve 100+ months before being eligible for parole. 1 On October 13, *305 1992, after a review of the PSIR and after hearing all the relevant evidence, the trial judge imposed upon petitioner the current fifteen year sentence, plus a $250,000 fine and a $50 dollar special assessment.

Petitioner appealed his sentence, arguing that the district court violated his due process rights by improperly relying on hearsay testimony about his involvement with a murder and three attempted murders in determining that he should be sentenced as the leader of the charged criminal enterprise. In an unpublished decision, the Second Circuit affirmed petitioner’s sentence. United States v. Goldberg, 996 F.2d 301 (2d Cir.1993).

Petitioner then filed a motion to vacate, set aside or correct his sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 before the sentencing court. Petitioner claimed: (1) that the sentencing court erred in not accurately advising him of the maximum possible penalty; (2) that the sentencing court erred by failing to consider the factual basis of his guilty plea and by failing to advise petitioner of his right to withdraw his plea if the court chose not to accept his plea agreement; and (3) that he received ineffective assistance of counsel during the guilty plea and sentencing phases of his criminal case. The sentencing court found no merit in petitioner’s contentions and denied the motion. Goldberg v. United States, 1995 WL 87304 (E.D.N.Y. Feb.15, 1995). The sentencing court also denied petitioner’s motion for reconsideration. Goldberg v. United States, 1995 WL 228382 (E.D.N.Y. April 11, 1995).

Petitioner then appealed the sentencing court’s denial of his § 2255 petition. On appeal, petitioner argued that he received ineffective assistance of counsel at his sentencing and that the sentencing court erred (1) in failing to, determine whether he was able to pay the fine imposed as part of his sentence, (2) in not ordering an evidentiary hearing to consider whether he was able to pay the fine or whether a new presentence report was warranted, and (3) in denying his motion for a new presen-tence investigative interview and presen-tence report as the present report included unreliable hearsay. In an unpublished decision, the' Second Circuit rejected each claim, specifically noting that Goldberg’s attorney had challenged the credibility of the hearsay witnesses at the presentence hearing, and affirmed the sentencing court’s denial of petitioner’s § 2255 motion. Goldberg v. United States, 100 F.3d 941, 1996 WL 10104 (2d Cir.1996).

B. Petitioner’s Administrative Appeals

In the period during which Goldberg was pursuing judicial appeals of his sentence, the Parole Commission held hearings to officially determine the point at which Goldberg would be eligible for parole. Ta this end, the Commission conducted an initial parole hearing for petitioner on December 6, 1994. (Resp’t’s Ex. 3.) In its report dated December 27, 1994, the Commission assessed Goldberg’s “salient factor score” at nine (9), placing him in the lowest category of risk for parole violation, but rated the severity of his offense as Category Eight (8) based on its finding that,- as detailed in the PSIR, in the course of committing the underlying RICO offense, Goldberg had conspired to commit the murder of rivals Ilia Goldstein and Evsie Agron. Id. This combination of salient factors and . offense severity yielded a parole guideline range of 100+ months to be served prior to release. See 28 C.F.R. § 2.20 (1992), Guidelines for Deci *306 sion-Making. 2 Pursuant to these findings, the Commission ordered that Goldberg serve approximately 107 months, making Goldberg eligible for parole in approximately September 2000. (Notice of Action, Resp’t’s Ex. 4 at 3.)

After his parole hearing, Goldberg twice petitioned the U.S. Probation Department to amend his PSIR to reduce his offense level downward from Category Eight. Both requests were denied. In a June 20, 1996 letter sent to Goldberg’s FCI Fort Dix Correctional Counselor, Joseph Kali-nowski, the probation department stated that it would not consider a defendant’s objection to a PSIR once the defendant had been sentenced. Apparently, this was also the position taken by the Probation Department in a March 3, 1995 letter written to Goldberg by Probation Officer Kearns. (See

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Bluebook (online)
82 F. Supp. 2d 302, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19900, 1999 WL 1416979, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/goldberg-v-beeler-njd-1999.