Opinion ID: 678573
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Application of the Guidelines to Sultenfuss

Text: 18 The appellant, Stephen Sultenfuss, was convicted of two separate drug charges involving possession of cocaine. He received two concurrent sentences, the longest of which was fifteen years set to run from August 24, 1986, and set to expire on August 23, 2001. 5 19 In order to determine Sultenfuss' Tentative Parole Month, the Board used the Guidelines. Based on his two convictions, Sultenfuss' Crime Severity Level was II. The Board then analyzed the Parole Success Factors and gave Sultenfuss a Parole Success Likelihood Score of 11. Based on these two scores, the Parole Decision Grid resulted in a recommended incarceration period of ten months before parole. Nevertheless, the Board departed from the grid recommendation. Finding that the Crime Severity Level and Parole Success Factors did not adequately reflect the true nature of Sultenfuss' case, 6 the Board recommended a term of 61 months, yielding a Tentative Parole Month of January 1992. 7 20 On July 15, 1988, Sultenfuss and several other inmates filed a pro se complaint under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Claiming that the Board had violated their rights to due process and equal protection by departing from the grid recommendation in setting release dates, the inmates sought declaratory and injunctive relief as well as compensatory damages. Relying on Slocum v. Georgia State Bd. of Pardons & Paroles, 678 F.2d 940 (11th Cir.) (finding no liberty interest in Georgia parole system prior to 1980 changes), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1043, 103 S.Ct. 462, 74 L.Ed.2d 612 (1982), the district court sua sponte dismissed the complaint as frivolous under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1915(d). 21 Sultenfuss was the only inmate to appeal the district court's dismissal. On appeal, we affirmed the dismissal of the claim for compensatory damages, but reversed the dismissal of the due process claim. Sultenfuss v. Snow, 894 F.2d 1277 (11th Cir.1990) (per curiam). We held that the district court erred by relying on Slocum because that decision had dealt with the previous parole system and did not address the issue under the current system. While upon close examination, these changes may not have had an actual impact upon the Georgia parole system to vindicate the due process claim at issue, the changes are sufficiently significant to raise an arguable question of law so as to preclude Sec. 1915(d) dismissal. Sultenfuss, 894 F.2d at 1279. We thus remanded the case to the district court for further proceedings. 22 On remand, the district court appointed counsel to represent Sultenfuss, and Sultenfuss filed a restated complaint. On August 14, 1990, the Board filed a motion for summary judgment. Finding that Georgia's parole system does not create a liberty interest protected by the Due Process Clause, the district court granted the Board's motion for summary judgment. 23 Sultenfuss appealed pro se to this court, and, after briefs were filed, we appointed new counsel to represent him. Reversing the district court's grant of summary judgment, a panel of this court held that the current parole system does create a protected liberty interest. Sultenfuss v. Snow, 7 F.3d 1543, 1449-50 (11th Cir.1993), vacated and reh'g en banc granted, 14 F.3d 572 (11th Cir.1994). The panel concluded that the mandatory language of the statute and the Guidelines, combined with the particularized standards that guide the Board's parole determinations, create a liberty interest in parole release in Georgia. Id. at 1550-51. On February 4, 1994, we vacated the panel opinion and granted rehearing en banc. We now affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment and find that the Georgia parole system does not create a liberty interest protected by the Due Process Clause.