Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-4_03-cv-00464/USCOURTS-cand-4_03-cv-00464-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 530
Nature of Suit: Prisoner Petitions - Habeas Corpus
Cause of Action: 28:2241 Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus

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United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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ASTARTE DAVIS-RICE, )

)

 Plaintiff, )

)

 v. )

) No. C 03-00464 DLJ

HARLEY G. LAPPIN, DIRECTOR, )

FEDERAL BUREAU OF PRISONS, )

ET AL., )

) ORDER

 Defendant. )

______________________________)

On April 9, 2007, plaintiff Astarte Davis-Rice (Davis-Rice)

filed a “Motion for Declaratory Judgment” in the above-captioned

case. In her motion, Davis-Rice asserts that the Federal Bureau of

Prisons has projected her release date 30 days later than she

should be held. Davis-Rice bases this assertion on an 

Order of this court which was filed September 5, 2006. Davis-Rice

claims that this Order requires that her prison sentence be reduced

by 285 days and that the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has instead

reduced her sentence by only 255 days. In her present motion,

Davis-Rice seeks $969 million in damages in compensation for the

allegedly wrongful imprisonment she will suffer in the last 30 days

she will spend in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons. Her

current projected release date is May, 14, 2008.

On January 13, 1992, Davis-Rice was sentenced to a term of 15

years in the custody of the BOP. On May 27, 2003, she was

sentenced to an additional 2 years of BOP custody for her escape

from federal prison in 1998. As a result of her escape, Davis-Rice

remained out of BOP custody until her arrest in 2002. Thereafter

Davis-Rice filed this suit pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 claiming

Case 4:03-cv-00464-DLJ Document 39 Filed 12/14/07 Page 1 of 3
United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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that she was not receiving sufficient credit on her 15-year

sentence. Following a hearing this Court granted her 1200 days of

sentence relief. Davis-Rice appealed the order. With the

assistance of the Ninth Circuit Mediator the parties reached an

agreement that Davis-Rice should receive an additional eight and a

half months credit on her sentence. Based on the agreement reached

by the parties, the Court issued an Order on September 5, 2006,

which reads, in relevant part, as follows: “the sentence will be

reduced by eight months and 15 days (which is a total of 285

days).” This statement has a readily apparent clerical error, in

that eight months and 15 days is actually 255 days. 

When it modified the sentence pursuant to the September 5,

2006, Order, BOP noted the error and brought it to the attention of

the parties. The parties agreed that this was a typographical

error and notified the Court of their agreement in a letter of

clarification on September 14, 2006. BOP then awarded the sentence

credit in accordance with that agreement.

On January 29, 2007, Davis-Rice filed an administrative tort

claim with the BOP claiming that she should receive an additional

30 days sentence credit and compensation in the amount of

$969,000,000. BOP denied the claim on April 6, 2007. 

On August 23, 2007 Davis-Rice sent the Court a request for an

order to show cause.

Based upon this history it is apparent that the September 5,

2006, Order of this Court granted Davis-Rice an additional sentence

credit of eight and a half months pursuant to the agreement reached

by the parties after mediation. That credit totals 255 days; it

does not total 285 days. The number 285 was a typographical error

Case 4:03-cv-00464-DLJ Document 39 Filed 12/14/07 Page 2 of 3
United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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which has already been acknowledged as such by the parties and BOP. 

BOP has already awarded a sentence credit of 255 days. In order to

memorialize the record in this case, the Court now AMENDS its Order

of September 5, 2006 to read 255 days instead of 285 days.

Accordingly, Davis-Rice does not have a cognizable claim based

on the Bureau of Prison’s reduction of her sentence by only 255

days. A reduction of her sentence by only 255 days was and is the

order of the Court. Her present motion is therefore DISMISSED with

prejudice.

IT IS SO ORDERED

Dated: December 14, 2007

_________________________

D. Lowell Jensen

United States District Judge

Case 4:03-cv-00464-DLJ Document 39 Filed 12/14/07 Page 3 of 3