Siers v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation & Parole

725 A.2d 220, 1999 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 62
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 8, 1999
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 725 A.2d 220 (Siers v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation & Parole) 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
Siers v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation & Parole, 725 A.2d 220, 1999 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 62 (Pa. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

JIULIANTE, Senior Judge.

Charles Siers (Siers) petitions for review from the June 5, 1998, decision of the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole (Board) that denied his request for administrative relief of a June 24, 1997 Board order recommitting him as a convicted parole violator. We affirm.

On November 26, 1979, Siers plead guilty to three counts of robbery in Philadelphia County and was sentenced to serve 6 to 12 years. (Certified Record “C.R.” at p. 1). Thereafter, on February 28, 1985, Siers was *221 granted parole, effective March 11, 1985. (C.R. at p. 5). 1

In 1986, Siers was arrested for and convicted of attempted murder in Florida. He was sentenced to serve 21 years at the Florida Washington Correctional Institution (FWCI). Accordingly, the Board lodged a detainer against Siers on April 10, 1986. (C.R. at p. 10).

On June 29, 1987, Siers wrote a letter to the Board requesting that it hold his parole violation hearing in absentia. Siers also requested that if the Board recommitted him, that it order his sentence to run concurrently with his Florida sentence. (C.R. at p. 12A). The Board acknowledged Siers’ letter and informed him that it would not conduct a revocation hearing in his absence because it would deprive him of the opportunity to present any favorable evidence on his behalf. (C.R. at p. 12B). The letter also informed Siers that Pennsylvania law prohibits convicted parole violators from serving parole violation time concurrently with any new sentence imposed as a result of the new crime committed while on parole. (Id.).

On March 3, 1997, FWCI informed the Board that Siers was being released on parole on March 11, 1997. (C.R. at p. 14). Siers’ parole from FWCI resulted from the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Lynce v. Mathis, 519 U.S. 433, 117 S.Ct. 891, 137 L.Ed.2d 63 (1997). (Id.). In that case, the Supreme Court determined that the Florida statute canceling prisoners’ early release credits after their award had resulted in the prisoners’ release from prison violated the ex post facto clause of Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution. 2

On March 18, 1997, Siers was returned to Pennsylvania. A parole revocation hearing was scheduled for April 24, 1997; however, Siers requested that the hearing be rescheduled so that he could retain counsel. A full panel hearing was held on June 24, 1997, at which time Siers testified on his own behalf. (C.R. at pgs. 21-58).

On July 21, 1997, the Board recommitted Siers as a convicted parole violator and ordered him to serve his unexpired term of 4 years, 11 months, and 7 days. (C.R. at p. 59). Siers sought administrative relief, which the Board denied on June 5, 1998. (C.R. at pgs. 61-64, 67-68). This appeal followed.

Siers raises two issues for our review: 1) whether the Board erred in failing to provide him with a timely revocation hearing and 2), whether the Board erred in failing to credit him with the 902 days that he served in FWCI in violation of his rights. Our scope of review is limited to a determination of whether constitutional rights were violated, an error of law was committed, or whether necessary findings of fact are supported by substantial evidence. Section 704 of the Administrative Agency Law, 2 Pa.C.S. § 704; Houser v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, 675 A.2d 787 (Pa.Cmwlth.1996).

In his first argument on appeal, Siers maintains that his revocation hearing was untimely. We agree with the Board that Siers has waived this issue. In his petition for review, Siers alleged that 1) the Board failed to give him proper credit for time served and 2), the Board improperly calculated his new maximum incarceration date. We decline to address Siers’ allegation that the Board failed to provide him with a timely revocation hearing since it was not included in the stated objections in his petition for review nor fairly comprised therein. Pa. R.A.P. 1513(a); Dorsey v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, 132 Pa.Cmwlth. 476, 573 A.2d 628, 629 n. 1, petition for allowance of appeal denied, 525 Pa. 649, 581 A.2d 575 (1990).

In his second argument on appeal, Siers maintains that his sentence should be credited with the 902 days that he served in FWCI in violation of his constitutional rights. Siers relies on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Lynce v. Mathis, 519 U.S. 433, 117 S.Ct. 891, 137 L.Ed.2d 63 (1997) as support for his *222 argument. The Lynce decision directly applied to Siers and therefore, a brief recitation of the facts of that case is appropriate.

In 1983, the Florida Legislature enacted a series of statutes that authorized the department of corrections to award early release and other provisional credits to prison inmates when the population of the state prison exceeded predetermined levels. In 1986, Lynce pleaded nolo contendere to attempted murder and was sentenced to 22 years (8,030 days) in prison. In 1992, he was released from prison because he had accumulated five different types of early release credits totaling 5,668 days. Of that total, 1,860 were awarded as a result of prison overcrowding.

Shortly after Lynee’s release, the Florida Legislature canceled provisional overcrowding credits for certain classes of inmates, including those convicted of attempted murder. The State Attorney General interpreted this repealing statute to be retroactive and accordingly, credits for inmates still in custody were canceled and re-arrest warrants were issued for those offenders previously released. Consequently, Lynce was rearrested.

In 1994, Lynce filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, alleging that the retroactive cancellation of the provisional credits violated the ex post facto clause of the U.S. Constitution. The District Magistrate concluded that the revocation of the provisional credits did not violate the ex post facto clause because the sole purpose of the credits was to alleviate prison overcrowding. Accordingly, the District Magistrate recommended that Lynce’s petition be denied. The District Court adopted the District Magistrate’s recommendation, and the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit denied a certificate of probable cause. The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari because the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reached a different conclusion on similar facts in Arnold v. Cody, 951 F.2d 280 (10th Cir.1991).

In Lynce, the Supreme Court ultimately determined that Florida’s 1992 cancellation of the provisional credits violated the ex post facto clause because it impermissibly lengthened the period of time that an offender would have to spend in prison.

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Bluebook (online)
725 A.2d 220, 1999 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 62, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/siers-v-pennsylvania-board-of-probation-parole-pacommwct-1999.