Opinion ID: 778749
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Compliance With the 50-Year Condition

Text: 43 Campbell also contends that his 155-year sentence violated the terms of the Costa Rican government's grant of extradition, which included the condition that the United States would not sentence him to a prison term longer than 50 years. Given the record of the communications between the two nations, and the district court's judgment as a whole, we see no violation. 44 In the initial grant of extradition, as translated, the Costa Rican Criminal Court imposed the condition that the United States must promise that Campbell will not receive a sentence of more than 50 years. Extradition Decree. In response to that condition, the United States Department of State promised that Campbell would not be sentenced to serve a term of imprisonment greater than 50 years (State Department Note (emphasis added)), and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York gave the assurance that that court would not impose any sentence pursuant to which the defendant would serve a term of imprisonment of greater than fifty years (1997 Order at 2 (emphasis added)). 45 In light of the possible lack of congruence between the phrases will not receive a sentence and will not be sentenced to serve, the United States, following Campbell's conviction, sought clarification as to whether the judgment could permissibly announce a longer term, so long as Campbell's release was guaranteed after no more than 50 years. The Costa Rican government plainly responded in the affirmative. The Costa Rican Ministry stated that 46 the guilty verdict issued in the United States against a person who was extradited from Costa Rica may make reference to the general amount of jail time to be imposed. However, both the dispositive part and the explanation of purposes must establish in a clear and manifest fashion that the maximum sentence to be served is fifty years, as provided by Article 51 of the Costa Rican Criminal Code. 47 (Costa Rican Ministry Letter (emphasis added).) We think it plain that the Costa Rican government's reference to verdict — given its conception of a document that would not only announce guilt but would also impose sentence — was a reference not to the jury's finding but rather to the judgment of conviction. And plainly the Costa Rican Ministry stated that so long as the dispositive part of the judgment made clear that Campbell could serve[] no more than 50 years, the judgment could permissibly make reference to the amount of jail time that would generally be applicable. Our interpretation of the Costa Rican Ministry Letter is confirmed by the language of the accompanying letter from the Costa Rican Consul General, which stated that 48 [T]he verdict in the United States against an extradited person[] can refer to the total years that the accused can be indicted for. Nevertheless, the sentence must state, in a clear and manifest way, that the maximum time the accused must serve is 50 years. This would be the real serving time. 49 (Costa Rican Consul General's Letter (emphasis added).) 50 In accordance with these clarifications, the district court, after announcing a sentence of 155 years, stated that in order to comply with the terms of the Extradition Decree the judgment would be clarified by an accompanying order making clear that Campbell was to serve no more than 50 years of that sentence. The court then attached to the judgment of conviction an order stating that Campbell shall be released after he serves a period of incarceration not greater than 50 years. Judgment Addendum at 2. That order constitutes an integral part of the judgment, and it clearly and dispositively establishes that the maximum sentence to be served by Campbell — his real serving time — is 50 years. Accordingly, the sentence imposed complies with the terms of the Costa Rican government's grant of extradition. 51 Finally, we note that it was well within the discretion of the district court to impose its sentence in the form of a 155-year sentence with an order that exactly 50 years be served, without any diminution for, e.g., good time credits, in order to ensure that Campbell would be incarcerated for the full 50 years permitted by the Extradition Decree. See, e.g., United States v. Casamento, 887 F.2d 1141, 1185 (2d Cir.1989) (extradition decree requiring only that the maximum period of imprisonment may not in any event exceed 30 years not violated by judgment sentenc[ing the defendant] to prison for forty-five years but order[ing] that he be released after thirty years (internal quotation marks omitted)), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 1081, 110 S.Ct. 1138, 107 L.Ed.2d 1043 (1990). 52