Opinion ID: 1467272
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: Did the Parole Commission properly consider sentence proportionality as a mitigating factor in its decision to deny parole?

Text: Furnari claims that the Parole Commission should have taken into account the lack of proportionality of his sentence when on July 8, 2005, it adhered to its prior determination to postpone any parole decision until a rehearing in 2011. [6] It is unclear, however, whether he is challenging his sentence ab initio as the sentencing court imposed it or is challenging it on the basis of the Parole Commission's allegedly erroneous exercise of its discretion in weighing the length of his sentence as a possible mitigating factor warranting release on parole. Therefore we will consider the sentencing point as if Furnari presented both ways. If Furnari is challenging his sentence ab initio, he brought his action in the wrong district because a defendant may collaterally attack his conviction and sentence only in a proceeding before the sentencing court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255. See United States v. Frady, 456 U.S. 152, 165, 102 S.Ct. 1584, 1593, 71 L.Ed.2d 816 (1982); United States v. Addonizio, 442 U.S. 178, 179, 99 S.Ct. 2235, 2237, 60 L.Ed.2d 805 (1979); see also Knight v. United States, 37 F.3d 769, 772 (1st Cir.1994). In this regard 28 U.S.C. § 2255 provides: A prisoner in custody under sentence of a court established by Act of Congress claiming the right to be released upon the ground that the sentence was imposed in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States ... may move the court which imposed the sentence to vacate, set aside or correct the sentence. Accordingly, if Furnari wished to attack his sentence ab initio, he was required to do so in a section 2255 petition in the Southern District of New York where he was convicted as neither the Parole Commission nor the District Court in the Middle District of Pennsylvania could address a challenge to his sentence as imposed on the basis that it was disproportionate as compared to that of other defendants. Moreover, Furnari did challenge the proportionality of his sentence on direct appeal but the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit found Furnari's sentence to be proportional. Salerno, 868 F.2d at 543. [7] If, on the other hand, Furnari is challenging the Parole Commission's refusal to find the length of his sentence a mitigating factor warranting a grant of parole, in a jurisdictional sense he brought his claim correctly as he is confined in the Middle District of Pennsylvania and we may consider it on the merits inasmuch as 28 U.S.C. § 2241 allows habeas corpus petitions to be brought attacking the Parole Commission's exercise of discretion in making parole decisions in the district in which the petitioner is confined. See United States v. Eakman, 378 F.3d 294, 297 (3d Cir.2004); Coady v. Vaughn, 251 F.3d 480, 485 (3d Cir.2001); United States v. Kennedy, 851 F.2d 689, 690-91 (3d Cir.1988). Parole determination criteria focus on the nature and circumstances of the offense and the history and characteristics of the offender as well as the consequences of releasing the prisoner back into the public: If an eligible prisoner has substantially observed the rules of the institution or institutions to which he has been confined, and if the Commission, upon consideration of the nature and circumstances of the offense and the history and characteristics of the prisoner, determines: (1) that release would not depreciate the seriousness of his offense or promote disrespect for the law; and (2) that release would not jeopardize the public welfare; subject to the provisions of subsections (b) and (c) of this section, and pursuant to guidelines promulgated by the Commission pursuant to section 4203(a)(1), such prisoner shall be released. 18 U.S.C. § 4206(a)(1)-(2). Section 4206(a) does not, however, mention the length of the sentence as imposed as a factor for the Parole Commission to consider in granting parole and thus Congress did not intend it to be a body with authority to review an initial sentencing determination of a sentencing court. On the other hand, the Parole Commission has the complete authority to assign the weight to any mitigating factors in determining whether to grant parole. See Campbell, 704 F.2d at 113. We have held that the statute instructs the Commission to use its own judgment in factoring sentencing length because sentencing and parole are separate, although related, processes. Geraghty v. United States Parole Comm'n, 719 F.2d 1199, 1208 (3d Cir.1983). Accordingly, when considering mitigating factors in its determination of when to set a release date or rehearing date, the Parole Commission can consider the length of a prisoner's sentence as compared to those of similarly situated prisoners. Id. But in Farkas v. United States, 744 F.2d 37, 40 (6th Cir.1984), the court held that the Parole Commission had no obligation to consider the petitioner's sentence length in making its parole decision. In addressing the proportionality issue, the Board stated: You compare your sentence to sentences imposed on other defendants in other cases, but not to your own co-defendants. The Board refers you to the Second Circuit's decision, United States v. Salerno, 868 F.2d 524, 542-543 (2d Cir.1989), where the court affirmed your 100-year sentence and the 100-year sentences imposed on all but one of your co-defendants. The Second Circuit found that your 100-year sentence was constitutional and it rejected your argument that your sentence was disproportionate to your crime, pointing out that you were a consigliere of the Luchese Family and `had been involved in many of the recorded meetings where intimate knowledge of the Commission's violent business was evident.' 868 F.2d at 543. The Board agrees with the Commission's conclusion on page 4 of the hearing summary that your sentence was not disproportionate to your crime and it declines to change the Commission's decision for you. App. at 122. Though they were not subject to a statutory obligation to do so, the Parole Commission and the Board considered the length of Furnari's sentence and found that it was not an appropriate mitigating circumstance warranting the grant of parole. We cannot possibly reject their conclusions in this respect because the mafia, an organization of which Furnari was a part and in whose activities he participated, as the record in this case demonstrates, intolerably set itself up as a sort of shadow government, complete with an established structure, exercising taxing, regulatory, and adjudicative authority over its members and victims. Indeed, even Furnari's brief, which quite naturally attempts to minimize his mafia activities, paints what to us is a disturbing picture of the conduct for which he was convicted. There can be no doubt but that the Government must suppress the mafia and clearly the imposition of substantial criminal sentences on persons engaging in mafia criminal activity is one way to do so. Inasmuch as the Parole Commission has full discretion to determine the weight of mitigating factors in considering whether to grant parole, the District Court correctly held that the Parole Commission properly considered the length of Furnari's sentence when making its parole determination.