Worley v. Georgia Board of Pardons & Paroles

932 F. Supp. 1466, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8984, 1996 WL 360532
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedJanuary 22, 1996
DocketCivil No. 1:94-cv-1393A-JEC
StatusPublished

This text of 932 F. Supp. 1466 (Worley v. Georgia Board of Pardons & Paroles) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Worley v. Georgia Board of Pardons & Paroles, 932 F. Supp. 1466, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8984, 1996 WL 360532 (N.D. Ga. 1996).

Opinion

ORDER

CARNES, District Judge.

This ease is presently before the Court on plaintiffs’ Motion for Reconsideration of Judgment [41] and plaintiffs’ Emergency Motion for Appointment of Counsel [42], The Court has reviewed the record and the arguments of the parties and, for the reasons set out below, concludes that plaintiffs’ motions should be denied.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs are inmates of the Georgia State Prison. Both are serving life sentences for convictions of armed robbery in unrelated incidents. Both plaintiffs unsuccessfully appealed their convictions.

Under the relevant version of the Code, inmates serving life sentences are not automatically considered for parole until they have served seven years. See O.C.G.A. § 42-9-45(b) (“Inmates serving sentences aggregating 21 years or more shall become eligible for consideration for parole upon completion of the service of seven years.”). If an inmate has been convicted of one of the crimes listed in 42-9^45(f), a grant of parole prior to the expiration of seven years may only be granted “to correct a patent miscarriage of justice.” O.C.G.A. § 42-9-45(f).1 Plaintiff Worley requested exceptional parole pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 42-9-45(f) alleging a “patent miscarriage of justice.” Plaintiff Getty never made such a request. Both inmates were notified by letter of a denial of parole. The letters did not set forth the reasons for the denials. (See Pl.Resp. to Def.Mot. to Dismiss [38] at 2 and exhibits.)

Plaintiffs brought this pro se suit in federal court pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Specifically they alleged that defendant “denied the plaintiffs their constitutional right to due process of law when, after reviewing the [1468]*1468plaintiffs[’] cases, they [defendant] denied parole without stating any grounds upon which the denial was based.”2 (Compl. at i.) Defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss [37]. That motion was granted by Order of this Court [39] on July 25, 1995 in light of the Eleventh Circuit opinion in Sultenfuss v. Snow, 35 F.3d 1494 (11th Cir.1994), cert. denied, — U.S. —, 115 S.Ct. 1254, 131 L.Ed.2d 134 (1995).

Plaintiffs subsequently filed this Motion for Reconsideration of Judgment [41]. It is plaintiffs’ contention that “the court incorrectly determined that the ‘threshold question’ of this complaint is “whether the Georgia Parole Guidelines System creates ... a protectible due process interest in parole.’” (Pls.Mot. for Reconsid. [41] at 2.) Instead, plaintiffs posit that “the focus of [their] complaint lies in the ‘exceptional parole process’ as created and governed by O.C.G.A. §§ 42-9—45(f); 42-9-46; and Ga.Comp.R. & Regs.R. 475-3-.06G).” 3 (Id.)

DISCUSSION

In 1994, the Eleventh Circuit en banc ruled that the Georgia Parole Guidelines System did not create a protectible liberty interest in parole, and thus, does not serve as the basis for a § 1983 due process claim. Sultenfuss v. Snow, 35 F.3d 1494 (11th Cir.1994), cert. denied, — U.S. —, 115 S.Ct. 1254, 131 L.Ed.2d 134 (1995). Plaintiffs correctly note that O.C.G.A. § 42-9-40, entitled “Parole guidelines system,” does not apply to inmates who, like themselves, are serving life sentences. See O.C.G.A. § 42-9—40. Plaintiffs posit that the statutes and regulations governing the exceptional parole process are relevant in their case, and unlike the Parole Guidelines System, create a protectible liberty interest in parole.

The Court will proceed to determine whether plaintiffs have a liberty interest in exceptional parole. Absent such an interest, Due Process is not implicated, thus obviating the need for further analysis.

Plaintiffs cite O.C.G.A. § 42-9-45(0 in support of their argument that the exceptional parole process creates a protectible liberty interest in parole. It states:

Except to correct a patent miscarriage of justice and not otherwise, no inmate serving a sentence imposed for any of the crimes listed in this sub-section shall be granted release on parole until and unless said inmate has served on good behavior seven years of imprisonment or one-third the prison term imposed by the sentencing court for the violent crime, whichsoever first occurs____ This subsection shall govern parole actions in sentences imposed for any of the following crimes: voluntary manslaughter, armed robbery, kidnapping, rape, aggravated sodomy, aggravated child molestation, statutory rape, incest, cruelty to children, arson in the first degree, homicide by vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or as a habitual traffic violator, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, trafficking in drugs, and violations of Chapter 14 of Title 16, the ‘Georgia’ RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act. Inmates serving sentences aggregating 21 years or more shall become eligible for consideration for parole upon the completion of the service of seven years.

See O.C.G.A. § 42-9-45(f). Plaintiffs also refer the Court to O.C.G.A. § 42-9—46 and the Georgia Administrative Code, Rules of State Board of Pardons and Paroles, Chapter 475-3.4

In evaluating whether a liberty interest exists, the Eleventh Circuit drew upon the Supreme Court’s discourse in Kentucky Dep’t of Corrections v. Thompson, which ex[1469]*1469plains the threshold requirements for the creation of a protectible interest:

The types of interests that constitute “liberty” and “property” for Fourteenth Amendment purposes are not unlimited; the interest must rise to more than “an abstract need or desire” and must be based on more than a “unilateral hope.” Rather, an individual claiming a protected liberty interest must have a legitimate claim of entitlement to it.

Sultenfuss, 35 F.3d at 1499 (quoting Kentucky Dep’t of Corrections v. Thompson, 490 U.S. 454, 460, 109 S.Ct. 1904, 1908, 104 L.Ed.2d 506 (1989)).

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Related

Board of Pardons v. Allen
482 U.S. 369 (Supreme Court, 1987)
Kentucky Department of Corrections v. Thompson
490 U.S. 454 (Supreme Court, 1989)
Charron v. State Board of Pardons & Paroles
319 S.E.2d 453 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1984)
Georgia State Board of Pardons & Paroles v. Turner
285 S.E.2d 731 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1982)
Kachina Plywood, Inc. v. Hurt
115 S. Ct. 1253 (Supreme Court, 1995)

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Bluebook (online)
932 F. Supp. 1466, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8984, 1996 WL 360532, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/worley-v-georgia-board-of-pardons-paroles-gand-1996.