Morgan v. U.S. Parole Comm'n

304 F. Supp. 3d 240
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedApril 4, 2016
DocketNo. 14–cv–0770 (KBJ)
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 304 F. Supp. 3d 240 (Morgan v. U.S. Parole Comm'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Morgan v. U.S. Parole Comm'n, 304 F. Supp. 3d 240 (D.C. Cir. 2016).

Opinion

KETANJI BROWN JACKSON, United States District Judge

Pro se plaintiff Bobby D. Morgan, a prisoner who is currently incarcerated at the Hazelton Federal Correctional Institution in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia, has filed the instant action against the United States Parole Commission ("the Commission") and Commission Hearing Examiner Paul R. A. Howard ("Howard," and collectively, "Defendants") under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. In 2008, the Commission revoked the parole period that Morgan had been serving upon his release from prison for two 1988 District of Columbia convictions for armed robbery and carrying a pistol without a license. Howard was the official who presided over Morgan's parole revocation hearing; the Commission adopted Howard's recommendation that Morgan's parole be revoked following new convictions for weapons offenses in North Carolina, and the presumptive reparole date was set based on the Commission's then-current revocation guidelines. Morgan's complaint claims, in essence, that the Commission violated the Ex Post Facto Clause of the U.S. Constitution by applying the parole guidelines that were in effect in 2008, when Howard conducted the revocation hearing, rather than guidelines that were in effect in 1988, when Morgan committed the underlying offenses. (Compl., ECF No. 1, at 3.) Morgan seeks money damages against the Commission and against Howard (in his official and individual capacities) for "subject[ing] him to a longer period of incarceration" upon revocation than would have been the case if the 1987 regulations had been applied, as well as an order that the Commission afford him "a new parole hearing with instructions to the [Commission] to exercise its discretion within the framework created by the 1987 Regulations[.]" (Compl. at 3; Pl.'s Mem. of Law in Supp. of Compl. ("Pl.'s Compl. Mem."), ECF No. 1-2, at 5; Am. & Suppl. Compl., ECF No. 13, at 1.)1

*243Before this Court at present is Defendants' motion to dismiss Morgan's complaint. (Defs.' Mot. to Dismiss ("Defs.' Mot."), ECF No. 15.) In this motion, Howard and the Commission argue, among other things, that they are immune from the claims for monetary damages that Morgan has brought in this action, and that the doctrine of res judicata bars all of Morgan's claims relief because, in the context of a habeas action that he filed in federal district court in West Virginia, he previously litigated (and lost) the legal argument that his parole sentence violates the Ex Post Facto Clause. (Defs.' Mot. at 10-11.) For the reasons explained below, this Court has concluded that Defendants are, indeed, immune from Morgan's damages claims, and that res judicata bars all of his claims, including those for injunctive relief. Therefore, as set forth in the Order that this Court issued on March 31, 2016, Defendants' motion to dismiss has been GRANTED , and Morgan's complaint has been DISMISSED in its entirety.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Morgan's District Of Columbia Sentence And Parole Violations

In September of 1998, the Superior Court of the District of Columbia convicted Morgan of armed robbery and carrying a pistol without a license and sentenced him to consecutive terms of imprisonment of 15 years to life on the robbery charge and one year on the firearms charge. (Pl.'s Compl. Mem. at 7.) Morgan was released on parole in March of 2003 to the Western District of North Carolina, and in 2007, while under supervision in North Carolina, he was arrested for and charged with discharging a weapon into occupied property and assault with a deadly weapon causing serious injury. (Id. at 8.) Shortly thereafter, the Commission submitted an application for a parole violation warrant, alleging that Morgan had violated the conditions of his parole as a result of these new offenses and also that he had used illegal narcotics while under supervision. See Morgan v. Berkebile , No. 09-cv-0966, 2011 WL 5040432, at *1 (S.D. W. Va. Sept. 7, 2011) ( Morgan I ), adopted by 2011 WL 5040435 (S.D. W. Va. Oct. 21, 2011) ( Morgan II ).2 Morgan was arrested on the Commission's parole violation warrant on December 7, 2007. (Pl.'s Compl. Mem. at 8.)

On August 19, 2008, the Commission held a parole revocation hearing in Morgan's case, over which Howard presided. See Morgan I , 2011 WL 5040432, at *1. As a result of the hearing, Howard found that Morgan had violated the conditions of his parole and determined, under the Commission's 2000 parole revocation guidelines, that Morgan's guideline range was 78-110 months of incarceration. Id. Accordingly, Howard recommended that the Commission revoke Morgan's parole and a set presumptive reparole date of July 24, 2016, which would result in Morgan serving an additional 110 months in prison. Id. On September 19, 2008, the Commission issued a "Notice of Action," in which it implemented Howard's recommendations. Id. Morgan subsequently appealed that determination, and the National Appeals Board affirmed the Commission's decision. Id. at *2.

B. Morgan's West Virginia Petition For A Writ Of Habeas Corpus

On August 25, 2009, Morgan filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the *244United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. Id. His petition included a claim that the Commission's "retroactive application of new federal reparole guidelines" in his case established a "[p]rima facie ex post facto claim" because there was "a significant risk that his punishment [was] increased" due to the application of those guidelines, when compared to the reparole guidelines that were in effect when he committed his original offenses in 1988. Id. The matter was referred to a magistrate judge, who recommended that Morgan's habeas petition be dismissed in its entirety. See id. at *1. Regarding the ex post facto claim, the assigned magistrate judge found in the first instance that Morgan "failed to establish[ ] that the 2000 Guidelines were retroactively applied during his parole revocation proceedings." Id. at *6. The magistrate judge also found that, even if the Commission had improperly applied the 2000 Guidelines, this did not amount to an ex post facto violation because this purported error "did not ... create a significant risk of prolonging [Morgan's] incarceration." Id. at *7 ; see also Fletcher v. Reilly

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Bluebook (online)
304 F. Supp. 3d 240, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morgan-v-us-parole-commn-cadc-2016.