Opinion ID: 2268164
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Remand Decision

Text: On remand, Hamilton's counsel filed a habeas corpus petition contending that on the face of the records of Hamilton's sentences, it showed that Hamilton's short-time release date had passed and Hamilton should be released immediately. The Superior Court did not grant the habeas corpus petition directly. In its May 16, 2003 report on remand of Hamilton's appeal, however, the Superior Court determined that Hamilton's October 1988 robbery and conspiracy resentences had, in fact, been imposed concurrently by Judge Martin. The Superior Court also found, on reconsideration of its September 23, 2002 order denying postconviction relief for Hamilton, that the Department of Correction had in 1995 improperly recalculated these 1988 resentences as commencing many years after the 1976 date that Judge Martin had ordered that these sentences to commence. The Superior Court also found that the Department of Correction's incorrect calculation had the effect of extending Hamilton's total sentences by nine years and his short-time release date by approximately five years. [6] Consequently, the Superior Court directed the Department of Correction to recalculate Hamilton's sentences consistent with the Superior Court's findings and to commence those concurrent sentences in 1976, not in 1985. The Superior Court directed the Department of Correction to recalculate Hamilton's sentences immediately, but in any event, no later than May 25, 2003. [7] In response to the Superior Court's remand order, the State argues that the law of the case doctrine precludes any determination that the October 1988 resentencing could run concurrently with the 1976 sentences because this Court previously found otherwise. [8]