United States v. Jackson

681 F. Supp. 295, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2169, 1988 WL 22627
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedMarch 7, 1988
DocketCrim. K-76-053
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 681 F. Supp. 295 (United States v. Jackson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Jackson, 681 F. Supp. 295, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2169, 1988 WL 22627 (D. Md. 1988).

Opinion

FRANK A. KAUFMAN, Senior District Judge.

Derrick Jackson was sentenced by this Court on May 4,1976 to 15 years under the Federal Youth Corrections Act (YCA), 18 U.S.C. §§ 5005-20, 1 after being convicted of aiding and abetting a bank robbery. Between November 11, 1976 and February 4, 1980, Jackson was confined in youth offender institutions of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (the Bureau). On that latter date, Jackson was paroled. On August 27, 1986, Jackson was notified, after a parole revocation hearing had been held, that his parole was revoked because of his conviction while on parole for attempted possession of a short-barrelled shotgun, for his failure to appear in a state court proceeding in Maryland in 1980, and for being a fugitive for three years subsequent to 1980. On August 27, 1986, when Jackson received the parole revocation notice, he was confined as a youth offender at the Federal Correctional Institution at Engle-wood, Colorado (Englewood). On November 26, 1986, Englewood wrote to the headquarters of the Bureau in Washington, D.C. requesting that “no further benefit” proceedings be initiated by the Bureau with respect to Jackson.

In June, 1987, while confined at Engle-wood, Jackson completed his General *297 Equivalency Diploma. On December 29, 1987, Jackson received thirty days’ disciplinary segreation for fighting with another inmate at Englewood. Jackson’s present presumptive parole date is October 30, 1990. The expiration date in connection with his service of all outstanding federal sentences is April 16, 1994.

On February 17, 1988, Jackson, represented by counsel, appeared before this Court. During that hearing, evidence was produced by the Government seeking a “no further benefit” finding under 18 U.S.C. § 5010(d) and by Jackson in opposition thereto, and the legal and factual issues discussed in this opinion were fully and ably argued by counsel for both the Government and Jackson.

I.

As part of its passage of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, 2 effective October 12, 1984 Congress repealed certain sections of the YCA, i.e., 18 U.S.C. §§ 5010-16. These sections include § 5010(c) under which Jackson was sentenced in 1976, and § 5010(d) under which the Government seeks to have this Court make a “no further benefit” finding. The repeal of the YCA requires this Court to confront the threshold question of whether it has subject matter jurisdiction to entertain the Government’s request for a “no further benefit” finding.

Prior to October 12, 1984, 18 U.S.C. § 5010(d), the section of the YCA at issue in this case, read as follows:

If the court shall find that the youth offender will not derive benefit from treatment under subsection (b) or (c), then the court may sentence the youth offender under any other applicable penalty provision.

Pursuant to that statutory language and the case law developed by Ralston v. Robinson, 454 U.S. 201, 102 S.Ct. 233, 70 L.Ed. 2d 345 (1981), and its progeny, a federal district court clearly had jurisdiction before 1984 to issue a “no further benefit” finding under certain circumstances. 3 However, in the recent case of United States v. Davison, 655 F.Supp. 1254 (D.Idaho 1987), the court held that it could not make a “no further benefit” finding, given the repeal of 18 U.S.C. § 5010(d).

Davison had originally been sentenced in 1974 to consecutive fifteen-year and life sentences, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 5010(c). After federal court litigation involving whether Davison was housed as required by the YCA, the Government, about twelve years after the original sentencing, sought a “no further benefit” finding. 4 The district court noted that Congress had repealed section 5010(d) which had conferred jurisdiction upon it to make a “no further benefit” finding, and that Congress had done so without enacting a savings clause relative to that and related sections. The district court therefore concluded that it had no jurisdiction to conduct a “no further benefit” hearing. In reaching that conclusion, the court wrote:

Congress repealed the YCA without a savings clause. Congress saw fit not to make any provision in the repeal for the continued status of YCA offenders. Congress, obviously cognizant of rulings upholding the district court’s right to make a no-benefit finding, repealed those provisions upon which authority to make such a finding was based. For this court to engage in a no-benefit hearing would in effect write into statute a savings clause for those provisions of the YCA which Congress repealed without a savings clause. The YCA has evaporated and any authority or duty which this court had during the dates the Act was in effect is gone. The mere fact that the Department of Justice has administratively determined that the ex post facto clause prohibits it from dismantling the infrastructure set up to accommodate *298 sentencing under the YCA has no bearing upon the issue before this court. Whether it is proper for the Bureau of Prisons to maintain that infrastructure is not before this court. The court can find no authority to act in any way under the YCA.

655 F.Supp. at 1256. 5

As noted in Davison, when Congress repealed 18 U.S.C. §§ 5010-16 in 1984, Congress did not enact any specific savings clause. As part of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, Congress did, however, provide for a gradual five-year phasing-out of certain functions of the Parole Commission. That phasing-out does affect the powers of the Parole Commission in connection with 18 U.S.C. §§ 5017-20. 6 Section 235(b)(1)(E) of the 1984 Act is labelled “Savings Provisions,” but may or may not constitute a true savings clause. 7 However, that issue need not be resolved in this case, because the general savings clause in 1 U.S.C. § 109 is applicable. 8

1 U.S.C. § 109 states as follows:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Vaughn v. United States
598 A.2d 425 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1991)
United States v. Leonard F. Davison
856 F.2d 1289 (Ninth Circuit, 1988)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
681 F. Supp. 295, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2169, 1988 WL 22627, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-jackson-mdd-1988.