Opinion ID: 593950
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Credit for Time Served in State Custody

Text: 2 Chapter 227 of the United States Code contains the following provision regarding the calculation of a term of imprisonment for a federal offense: 3 Credit for prior custody.--A defendant shall be given credit toward the service of a term of imprisonment for any time he has spent in official detention prior to the date the sentence commences-- 4 (1) as a result of the offense for which the sentence was imposed; or 5 (2) as a result of any other charge for which the defendant was arrested after the commission of the offense for which the sentence was imposed; 6 that has not been credited against another sentence. 7 18 U.S.C. § 3585(b) (1988). In denying the defendants' requests for credit for time served in state custody, the district court reasoned that although their state detention arose from the same transaction for which they were convicted in federal court, it did not result from the offense for which they were being sentenced within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 3585(b)(1):Now, the fact that the elements of the two crimes might be the same doesn't mean that they are the same offense. One is an offense against the federal government, one entity. The other is an offense against the state government, which is another entity. 8 Transcript of Hearing, Aug. 13, 1990, at 40. The orders of judgment noted that the defendants would not receive credit for their time in state custody because such state confinement was not so exclusively a product of such action by federal law enforcement officials as to justify treating the state incarceration as the practical equivalent of a federal one. 9 The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) disagreed with the district court's interpretation of 18 U.S.C. § 3585(b), and concluded that both Moore and Bradley should receive credit toward their federal sentences for the seventy days they spent in state custody. Gene W. Gill, warden of the federal prison to which Moore and Bradley were committed, sent the district court a letter summarizing the BOP's position and indicating that unless the court directed otherwise, the BOP would award Moore and Bradley the credit they sought. The district court responded that it disagreed with the BOP and that it would take no further action regarding Moore and Bradley's sentences pending resolution of these appeals. 1 10 Section 3585, enacted as part of the Sentencing Reform Act, replaced section 3568, which stated in relevant part: The Attorney General shall give any such person credit toward service of his sentence for any days spent in custody in connection with the offense or acts for which the sentence was imposed. 18 U.S.C. § 3568 (1982), repealed by Pub.L. No. 98-473, tit. II, § 212(a)(2), 98 Stat. 1987 (Oct. 12, 1984). Although section 3585 deletes the reference to the Attorney General, it does not specifically confer upon any other entity the responsibility for awarding credit for time served. Section 3585's legislative history is silent regarding deletion of the reference to the Attorney General. See Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984, S.Rep. No. 225, 98th Cong., 2d Sess. 128-29, reprinted in 1984 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 3182, 3311-12. 11 In United States v. Wilson, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 1351, 117 L.Ed.2d 593 (1992), the United States Supreme Court decided that under section 3585(b), the appropriate credit for time spent in official detention is to be determined by the United States Attorney General after the criminal defendant has begun to serve his sentence rather than by a federal district court at the time of sentencing. 12 The Attorney General has delegated this authority to the BOP. See 28 C.F.R. § 0.96 (1990) (The Director of the Bureau of Prisons is authorized to exercise or perform any of the authority, functions, or duties conferred or imposed upon the Attorney General by any law relating to the commitment, control, or treatment of persons ... charged with or convicted of offenses against the United States....). The BOP has concluded that both men deserve seventy days credit as a result of their state incarceration. Accordingly, we vacate those portions of the orders of judgment denying Moore and Bradley credit for time served in state custody.