Zaccour v. Baer

629 F. Supp. 259, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29995
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedJanuary 28, 1986
DocketCiv. A. No. 85-687-N
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 629 F. Supp. 259 (Zaccour v. Baer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Zaccour v. Baer, 629 F. Supp. 259, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29995 (E.D. Va. 1986).

Opinion

ORDER

DOUMAR, District Judge.

The petitioner in this matter, an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution at Petersburg, Virginia, seeks a writ of habeas corpus from this Court under 28 U.S.C. §§ 2241 et seq. It appears to the Court that all avenues of administrative relief have been exhausted by the petitioner and that the respondents have filed their answer to the petition. The matter is, therefore, ripe for the Court’s consideration. For the reasons articulated below, the petition is DENIED.

I.

In December of 1981, the petitioner was convicted in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, of conspiring and attempting to import cocaine. 21 U.S.C. §§ 952(a), 963. He was subsequently sentenced under 18 U.S.C. § 4205(b)(2) to an aggregate prison term of 13 years.

In July of 1983, the petitioner received his initial parole hearing at the Federal Corrections Institution at Ashland, Kentucky. Under the federal regulatory guidelines, see 28 C.F.R. § 2.20 (1985), the parole panel rated the petitioner’s “offense severity” as Category Six1 and accorded him a “salient factor” score of 10.2 By locating these factors on the grid found at 28 C.F.R. § 2.20 (1985), the panel arrived at a “base” guideline that provided for presumptive parole after 40 to 52 months of incarceration. The panel, however, added 6 to 12 months to this base because, according to information furnished by the Assistant United States Attorney who prosecuted [261]*261the petitioner’s ease, he had failed to appear for court proceedings on similar cocaine charges in the Bahamas. Accordingly, the panel gave the petitioner a presumptive parole date of January 26, 1987. No action was taken by the petitioner following this decision.

The petitioner’s parole status was reviewed again on May 8, 1985. At that time, the petitioner sought credit for his outstanding institutional adjustment under 28 C.F.R. § 2.60 (1985). He submitted to the panel letters of commendation from the staff at the prison and evidence that his job performance within the prison had been exemplary. One of the examiners felt that the petitioner’s excellent institutional performance warranted a credit for “superior program achievement”, thereby advancing the presumptive date the full 8 months allowed under 28 C.F.R. § 2.60 (1985). The other, however, concluded that no award should be made, “based primarily upon the seriousness of [the petitioner’s] offense.” Summary of May 8, 1985 hearing at 2.

The petitioner appealed this decision administratively, asserting essentially the same claims he asserts before this Court. The National Appeals Board affirmed the prior decisions on August 30, 1985.

II.

The petitioner raises several specific issues in his petition. He claims that the panel’s decisions were contrary to the sentencing judge’s intent and beyond the scope of the panel’s statutory and regulatory authority.

It must first be noted that court review of the Parole Commission’s decisions is extraordinarily limited in scope. Because Congress has committed parole decisions, with few exceptions, to the discretion of the Commission, see United States v. Addonizio, 442 U.S. 178, 99 S.Ct. 2235, 60 L.Ed.2d 805 (1979), this Court can only review those decisions for violations of the “constitutional, statutory, regulatory or other restrictions” placed on the exercise of that discretion. Garcia v. Neagle, 660 F.2d 983, 988 (4th Cir.1981), cert. denied 454 U.S. 1153, 102 S.Ct. 1023, 71 L.Ed.2d 309 (1982). This Court will not review the merits of the decision itself.

The Court now turns to the specific allegations raised by the petitioner and considers each seriatum.

A. Failure to act in conformity with intent of sentencing Judge.

The petitioner’s first contention is that the Parole Commission’s decision “ereate[s] an unlawful usurpation of the judicial sentencing function.” Petition at 4. The petitioner claims, and the respondents apparently accept, that the sentencing judge in his case intended for the petitioner to be released after 24 to 36 months of incarceration, as indicated in the presentence report.3 The judge apparently chose to sentence the petitioner under 18 U.S.C. § 4205(b)(2) in order to expedite his parole. Since the respondent does not deny these allegations, this Court must accept them as true. See Joost v. U.S. Parole Comm’n, 698 F.2d 418, 419 (10th Cir.1983); cf. Hospital Building Co. v. Trustees of Rex Hospitals, 425 U.S. 738, 96 S.Ct. 1848, 48 L.Ed.2d 338 (1976).

The issue the petitioner now raises in this Court has already been resolved by the United States Supreme Court. In United States v. Addonizio, 442 U.S. 178, 99 S.Ct. 2235, 60 L.Ed.2d 805 (1979), the Court held that a prisoner could not challenge a Parole Commission decision as being contrary to the subjective intent of the sentencing judge. The judge may determine when a prisoner is to be eligible for consideration for parole but, “[w]hether wisely or not, Congress has decided that the Commission is in the best position to determine when release is appropriate____” Id. at 188-89, 99 S.Ct. at 2242. Although the Commission is entitled to consider the [262]*262judge’s subjective intent, see 28 C.F.R. § 2.19(4) (1985), it is but one factor among many that must be considered in arriving at such decisions. The lack of congruity between the Commission’s decision and the judge’s subjective intent does not make the former subject to collateral attack. Addonizio, 442 U.S. at 190, 99 S.Ct. at 2243.

B. Refusal to grant superior program achievement award.

Under 28 C.F.R. § 2.60

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Related

Guerrero-Guerrero v. Clark
687 F. Supp. 1022 (E.D. Virginia, 1988)
Zaccour v. Baer
791 F.2d 166 (Fourth Circuit, 1986)

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Bluebook (online)
629 F. Supp. 259, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29995, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zaccour-v-baer-vaed-1986.