Opinion ID: 429493
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Roth's Crimes

Text: 8 In October 1979, Roth entered Safford Federal Prison to begin serving an 8-year prison term for committing two crimes: (1) violating his parole from a conviction for mail fraud in Chicago, 3 and (2) committing a second mail fraud offense in Denver. In 1975, he received a 3-year sentence for the Chicago crime, and in 1979, a 5-year sentence for the Denver crime. 9 The Commission held its first parole determination hearing in Roth's case on February 28, 1980. A panel of hearing examiners awarded Roth a salient factor score of 10 and an offense severity score of greatest I severity. In applying the Commission's existing guidelines to calculate these scores, the panel found no reason to go above the guidelines to set a parole date later than the scores called for. 4 The panel recommended that Roth be paroled after serving 40 to 52 months. 10 But an administrative hearing examiner and the Regional Commissioner disagreed with the panel's recommendation and referred Roth's case to the National Commissioners under 28 C.F.R. Sec. 2.24(a) (1980). On May 12, 1980, the National Commissioners determined that Roth should serve 68 months. 5 To set the 68-month figure, the National Commissioners calculated a new salient factor score of 7, but arrived at the same offense severity score of greatest I severity. The National Commissioners computed a presumptive period of service of 52 to 64 months, and then exercised their statutory discretion to go above the parole guidelines. 11 Two years later, on February 9, 1982, the Commission held an interim hearing at Safford. A panel of examiners determined that the Commission should deduct 9 months from Roth's 68-month presumptive parole time because of his superior achievement--that is, good behavior--in prison. 12 According to Roth, an important event happened between his initial parole hearing on February 28, 1980, and his later hearing on February 9, 1982. On August 1, 1980, the Commission adopted new parole guidelines. These guidelines required the Commission, before calculating the presumptive date of release on parole, to aggregate all of a prisoner's sentences. See 28 C.F.R. Sec. 2.20 General Note E (1983), originally published in 45 Fed.Reg. 44,925 (1980). 6 In Roth's case, this meant adding his 3-year Chicago sentence to his 5-year Denver sentence. 13 Relying on the examiners' February 9, 1982 findings, and applying the new guidelines, 7 the National Commissioners on March 25, 1982 reduced Roth's presumptive service time to 59 months. But Roth wanted the 9 months deducted from the first examiner panel's determination that he should be released after serving 40 to 52 months. He unsuccessfully appealed the March 25 decision to various appellate levels in the Commission. 14 Finally, after serving nearly 36 months, 8 Roth petitioned on May 8, 1982 for a writ of habeas corpus. A magistrate considered the petition and filed a report recommending that Roth be paroled immediately. The district court adopted the report and ordered the Commission to reconsider Roth's application for early parole. Roth was released on April 7, 1983.