Reyes v. Fischer

934 F.3d 97
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedAugust 9, 2019
Docket17-1970- cv
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 934 F.3d 97 (Reyes v. Fischer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reyes v. Fischer, 934 F.3d 97 (2d Cir. 2019).

Opinions

John G. Koeltl, District Judge:

*100Plaintiff-appellee Ciara Reyes brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that her constitutional right to due process was violated when the defendants required her to serve an administratively imposed term of post-release supervision ("PRS") following her release from imprisonment after serving six-sevenths of two concurrent eight-year determinate sentences. The defendants-appellants Brian Fischer, the former Commissioner of the New York State Department of Correctional Services ("DOCS"); Anthony J. Annucci, the former Deputy Commissioner of DOCS; and Terrence X. Tracy, the former Chief Counsel for the New York State Division of Parole ("DOP"), bring this interlocutory appeal from the district court's order denying the defendants' motion for summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds and finding the defendants liable for violating Reyes's constitutional due process rights.

This appeal requires us to consider whether the defendants are entitled to qualified immunity for administratively imposing PRS prior to a judicial imposition of such supervision. More specifically, the appeal addresses whether the defendants are entitled to qualified immunity for two periods: the period of PRS before the conclusion of a determinate sentence when a plaintiff would otherwise be on conditional release, and the period following the end of a determinate sentence before a judicially imposed period of PRS when a plaintiff would not otherwise have been under supervision.

BACKGROUND

A.

In 1998, the New York State legislature enacted Penal Law § 70.45, which eliminated the parole system and provided that "[e]ach determinate sentence also includes, as a part therefor, an additional period of post-release supervision." Penal Law § 70.45(1) (McKinney 2005), amended by 2008 N.Y. Laws Ch. 141, § 3 (codified at N.Y. Penal Law § 70.45(1) (2009) ). Under that provision, the period of PRS to follow most offenses was five years. Id. § 70.45(2). Although § 70.45 required that PRS terms follow determinate prison sentences, in the years after the statute's enactment, "many judges did not include PRS as part of the sentence imposed." Betances v. Fischer, 304 F.R.D. 416, 423 (S.D.N.Y. 2015). Between the years 1998 and 2008, when offenders did not receive a judicially pronounced term of PRS, DOCS unilaterally calculated and imposed PRS terms without consulting the sentencing judge.1 Id.

This Court first addressed the constitutionality of administratively imposed PRS terms in Earley v. Murray, 451 F.3d 71 (2d Cir. 2006) (" Earley I"), reh'g denied, 462 F.3d 147 (2d Cir. 2006) (" Earley II"). Earley I involved a prisoner who, while serving his sentence, learned that DOCS had added a period of PRS to his judicially pronounced determinate sentence. Id. at 73. Earley I held that administratively imposing PRS terms that were not judicially pronounced violates due process. Id. at 76 & n.1. This Court held that in cases where a PRS term was not judicially pronounced, the defendants had two options: "either to *101have [the offenders] resentenced by the court for the imposition of PRS terms in a constitutional manner or to excise the PRS conditions from their records and relieve [the offenders] of those conditions." Vincent v. Yelich, 718 F.3d 157, 172 (2d Cir. 2013).

The defendants have appeared before this Court many times regarding their imposition of PRS, and their deliberate refusal to follow Earley I's holding is well documented. See, e.g., Hassell v. Fischer, 879 F.3d 41, 49 & n.15 (2d Cir. 2018) (noting that Fischer, Annucci, and Tracy understood Earley I's holding but decided not to follow it for many months); Betances v. Fischer, 837 F.3d 162, 167-68 (2d Cir. 2016) (same); Vincent, 718 F.3d at 168-69 (discussing Annucci). Defendants Fischer, Annucci, and Tracy each understood the holding of Earley I, and that it "applied to their departments" "but deliberately refused to" comply. Betances, 837 F.3d at 167-68. The defendants waited "to implement Earley I for many months after that decision was rendered." Hassell, 879 F.3d at 49.

In June 2008, the New York State Legislature passed Correction Law § 601-d to address the problem of DOCS's imposition of PRS terms that had not been pronounced by the sentencing judge. Section 601-d requires DOCS to notify the sentencing court of cases where the commitment order does not contain a term of PRS -- a signal to DOCS that PRS likely had not been judicially pronounced. N.Y. Correct. Law § 601-d(1), (2). When the sentencing court receives such notice from DOCS, § 601-d allows the court to hold a new hearing and impose a term of PRS, although it is not required to do so. See § 601-d(5).

B.

In 2001, Reyes was convicted of a violent assault and robbery, for which she received two concurrent eight-year determinate prison sentences. The sentencing judge pronounced Reyes's determinate sentences orally. The sentencing judge did not pronounce a term of PRS, nor was a term of PRS included in Reyes's Sentence and Order of Commitment.

In September 2007, DOCS calculated a five-year term of PRS and unilaterally imposed that term on Reyes.

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934 F.3d 97, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reyes-v-fischer-ca2-2019.