Court Opinion

ID: 9483547
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 09:23:45.86076+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:49:41.101230
License: Public Domain

PREGERSON, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent because I believe that the position set forth in footnote 2 of my opinion in United States v. Williams, 651 F.2d 644, 647 n. 2 (9th Cir.1981), appropriately balances the interests of both the Attorney General and those of the district court. The Attorney General, through the Bureau of Prisons, has the discretion to designate the place of confinement. 18 U.S.C. § 4082; 28 C.F.R, § 0.96. Because this grant of authority precluded the District Court under 18 U.S.C. § 3568 from ordering that a federal sentence run concurrently with a state sentence, I believe it equally prevented the District Court from ordering a consecutive sentence. However, the District Court was free to recommend either situation.
Footnote 2 of Williams sets forth this position. The recommendation of the District Court was invariably followed by the Bureau of Prisons. I believe this approach best accommodated the interests of both the Bureau of Prisons and the District Court. In this way, the District Court accomplished what it wanted and the Attorney General retained the discretion afforded it under section 4082.
I am not persuaded by the majority’s argument that we should adopt the rule in United States v. Thornton, 710 F.2d 513 (9th Cir.1983), just because other circuits have done so. Ante at 1347. The footnote in Williams has been on the books for over a decade. As far as we know, District Courts in this circuit adhered to it until the Crime Control Act of 1984 became effective. See, e.g., United States v. Posey, 665 F.Supp. 848, 850 (C.D.Cal.1987) (noting that order of consecutive sentence was modified to reflect a recommendation to the Attorney General).
The approach in Williams has the appeal of consistency and balance. If the District Court could not order a concurrent sentence, it should not have been able to order a consecutive one. Otherwise, we would be giving the District Court the power to *1350make a sentence harsher, but not lighter. Accordingly, I dissent.