United States v. Dorsey

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedJanuary 29, 1999
Docket98-5250
StatusUnknown

This text of United States v. Dorsey (United States v. Dorsey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Dorsey, (3d Cir. 1999).

Opinion

Opinions of the United 1999 Decisions States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

1-29-1999

USA v. Dorsey Precedential or Non-Precedential:

Docket 98-5250

Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/thirdcircuit_1999

Recommended Citation "USA v. Dorsey" (1999). 1999 Decisions. Paper 25. http://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/thirdcircuit_1999/25

This decision is brought to you for free and open access by the Opinions of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit at Villanova University School of Law Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in 1999 Decisions by an authorized administrator of Villanova University School of Law Digital Repository. For more information, please contact Benjamin.Carlson@law.villanova.edu. Filed January 29, 1999

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

No. 98-5250

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

v.

LORENZO DORSEY, aka LAMONT WHITE, aka HENRY JACKSON, Appellant.

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY

(D.C. Criminal No. 96-cr-00461-1)

ARGUED OCTOBER 29, 1998

BEFORE: STAPLETON and LEWIS, Circuit Judges, and CALDWELL,* District Judge.

(Filed January 29, 1999)

Chester M. Keller (ARGUED) Office of Federal Public Defender 972 Broad Street Newark, NJ 07102

Attorney for Appellant

_________________________________________________________________

* Honorable William W. Caldwell, United States Senior District Judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, sitting by designation. George S. Leone Shawna H. Yen (ARGUED) Office of United States Attorney 970 Broad Street, Room 700 Newark, NJ 07102

Attorneys for Appellee

OPINION OF THE COURT

CALDWELL, District Judge.

Lorenzo Dorsey appeals from the district court's refusal at sentencing to follow commentary to U.S.S.G. S 5G1.3(b) in application note 2 to the guideline. Under that note, the court could have reduced Dorsey's federal sentence by a certain amount of time he had spent in state custody, thereby essentially giving him credit for that period of imprisonment before the federal sentence was imposed. Dorsey also asserts that the district court's action violates the double jeopardy clause because by refusing him credit the United States would be punishing him twice for the same offense.

Because the district court erred in deciding that only the Bureau of Prisons has the authority to grant sentencing credits, we will reverse and remand for resentencing, and direct that the court comply with the procedure set forth in the application note. Our resolution of this guidelines issue renders consideration of the double jeopardy claim unnecessary.

I.

On May 7, 1996, the appellant was arrested in Newark, New Jersey, and charged with illegal possession of a firearm. He was sent to a New Jersey state prison the next day for a parole violation arising from this firearms offense. Both the United States and New Jersey decided to prosecute him for the offense. On August 21, 1996, he was indicted in federal court under 18 U.S.C. S 924(g)(1). On September 18, 1996, he was indicted in a New Jersey

2 court. On October 8, 1996, the appellant was released into the community from the sentence he was serving in state prison for the parole violation. On April 11, 1997, he was arrested by state authorities and incarcerated in a New Jersey state prison. Federal authorities lodged a detainer against him.

Appellant pled guilty to the state charge. On August 22, 1997, he was sentenced in state court to five years imprisonment. In sentencing the appellant, the state court credited him with the 134 days he had spent in state custody from April 11, 1997, to the date of sentencing.

The appellant also pled guilty to the federal offense. On May 12, 1998, he was sentenced to 115 months. Invoking application note 2 to U.S.S.G. S 5G1.3(b), the appellant sought credit for the entire time he had spent in state prison before his federal sentencing. This was a period of about 13 months, from April 11, 1997 (the date he was arrested on both the federal and state charges arising from the May 1996 firearms offense) to May 12, 1998, the date of his federal sentencing. However, the court refused the appellant's request, ruling that it had no authority to do so and that only the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) could give credit for the time he was incarcerated before imposition of sentence. As required by U.S.S.G. S 5G1.3(b), the district court did order that the sentence run concurrently with the state sentence.1 And, as a concession to the appellant, the court noted on its judgment order that it had not decided the issue of sentence credit and was leaving it to the BOP.

Dorsey then took this appeal. While the appeal was pending, the BOP gave the appellant credit for a part of the _________________________________________________________________

1. Section 5G1.3(b) provides, in pertinent part, as follows:

If . . . the undischarged term of imprisonment resulted from offense(s) that have been fully taken into account in the determination of the offense level for the instant offense, the sentence for the instant offense shall be imposed to run concurrently to the undischarged term of imprisonment.

Here the undischarged term of imprisonment was the New Jersey sentence for the same firearms offense that was the subject of the federal offense.

3 13-month period. The BOP gave him credit for the following periods of prefederal-sentencing incarceration, totaling about four months and two weeks: (1) May 7, 1996, the date of his apprehension on the firearms offense (for which he began serving a state parole-violation term the next day), and (2) a period from April 11, 1997, the date he was arrested on the federal and state firearms charges, to August 21, 1997, the day before his state-court sentencing. However, it refused to give him credit for the approximately 10-month period between his state sentencing, August 22, 1997, and his federal sentencing, May 12, 1998. The parties agree that no credit was given for the latter period because 18 U.S.C. S 3585(b) prohibits the BOP from granting credit for time "that has been granted against another sentence," and this 10-month period was time serving his state sentence credited by New Jersey. See The Bureau of Prisons' Sentence Computation Manual at 1-17 ("credit will not be given for any portion of time spent serving another sentence [until a state facility is deemed federal which may only occur after the federal sentencing]").

II.

Initially, we note that U.S.S.G. S 5G1.3(b) itself is not at issue here. As indicated by its language, that guideline section only requires that the sentencing court run the federal sentence concurrently to the undischarged term of the other sentence. The district court complied with this guideline and made the federal sentence concurrent with the New Jersey sentence.

The controversy arises from application note 2 to section 5G1.3(b), the commentary to that guideline section, which provides further guidance for the sentencing court in imposing the concurrent sentence. On its face, application note 2 would require, at least partially, the result the appellant sought at sentencing. The application note, captioned "Adjusted concurrent sentence--subsection (b) cases," provides:

When a sentence is imposed pursuant to subsection (b), the court should adjust the sentence for any period of imprisonment already served as a result of the

4 conduct taken into account in determining the guideline range for the instant offense if the court determines that period of imprisonment will not be credited to the federal sentence by the Bureau of Prisons.

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