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Louis Collins COCHRAN, Petitioner-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, and United States Attorney General, et al., Respondents-Appellees

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit1974-02-19No. No. 73-3650
489 F.2d 691

Summary

Holding. The court affirmed the district court's denial of mandamus relief, holding that a prisoner is not entitled to credit against his sentence for time spent free on bond prior to conviction, even though such a person may be considered "in custody" for federal habeas corpus purposes.

Louis Cochran, a federal prisoner serving a three-year sentence for counterfeiting, sought mandamus relief to receive credit against his sentence for time spent in custody before conviction. He claimed entitlement to credit for 20 days in jail before sentencing and 203 days free on bond between arrest and guilty plea. The district court limited review to the bond period because Cochran had not exhausted prison remedies regarding the jail time.

Cochran argued that because the Supreme Court in Hensley v. Municipal Court found a defendant released on recognizance to be "in custody" for habeas corpus purposes, he should receive credit under the federal statute governing sentence credits. The court rejected this reasoning, holding that Hensley's definition of "custody" applies only to habeas corpus proceedings and cannot be extended to the sentence-credit statute. The court noted that the Ninth Circuit had previously interpreted the statute to exclude time spent on bail, and the Fifth Circuit had similarly denied credit for time spent on parole.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • Whether time spent on bond before conviction qualifies as "custody" for sentence credit
  • Whether the habeas corpus definition of "custody" applies to federal sentence-credit statutes
  • Proper scope of judicial review in mandamus actions by federal prisoners

Procedural posture

A federal prisoner appealed from a district court order denying his motion for mandamus relief seeking sentence credit for time in custody.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

majority opinion

PER CURIAM:

Louis Cochran, a federal prisoner, appeals from an order of the district court denying his motion for mandamus relief. He is currently confined to the federal penitentiary in Atlanta resulting from a guilty plea to a charge of counterfeiting. He filed his mandamus action in the district court in an attempt to receive credit against his three-year sentence for various periods of time during which he alleged he had been in custody resulting from the counterfeiting charge. We affirm.

It is claimed that prior to his sentencing he had been incarcerated in jail for 20 days and subsequent to his arrest and prior to his guilty plea had been free on bond for 203 days. Accordingly, he requested credit for the total period of 223 days of alleged “custody.” At the time he filed his motion for relief, prison authorities were considering his application for credit for the time spent in jail but they had refused to consider the period of time during which he was free on bond. Because of Cochran’s evident partial failure to exhaust his prison remedies, the district court correctly limited its review to the 203 days spent free on bond. See O’Connor v. Attorney General, 470 F.2d 732, 734 (5th Cir. 1972); Pace v. Clark, 453 F.2d 411 (5th Cir. 1972).

We are thus limited to a review of the question whether a prisoner is entitled to credit against his sentence for time he spent while released on bond prior to his conviction on a plea of guilty. In support of his contention that he is entitled to receive credit for the 203 days while free on bond, Cochran relies on Hensley v. Municipal Court, 411 U.S. 345, 93 S.Ct. 1571, 36 L.Ed.2d 294 (1973). In that decision the Supreme Court held that a criminal defendant released on his own recognizance pending execution of sentence following conviction was in “custody” within the meaning of the federal habeas corpus statute, 28 U.S.C. §§ 2241(c)(3) and 2254(a). In a rather novel syllogism, Cochran maintains that since 18 U. S.C. § 3568 provides that the Attorney General “shall give . . . [any person convicted of an offense] credit toward service of his sentence for any days spent in custody in connection with the offense or acts for which sentence was imposed,” a defendant free on bail is in “custody” for habeas corpus purposes and thus is also in “custody” within the meaning of § 3568.

Our reading of Hensley however, reveals that Cochran’s attempted patchwork extension of the “custody prerequisite” within the meaning of § 3568 is both misplaced and unsupported. Hensley is limited to the unique requirements and factors of a criminal defendant seeking federal habeas corpus relief while he is released on his own recognizance and after he has exhausted his state remedies. The opinion draws heavily from our legal history as to the traditional purpose to be served by the writ of habeas corpus. The Court carefully limited its review, posing the crucial issue in a proscribed manner. Justice Brennan limited the scope of the issue reviewed by stating:

This case requires us to determine whether a person released on his own recognizance is “in custody” within the meaning of the federal habeas corpus statute. 411 U.S. 345, 93 S.Ct. 1571, 1572, 36 L.Ed.2d 294, 297 (1973) (emphasis added).

Cochran’s attempted superimposition of the Hensley definition of “custody” to be used in habeas corpus proceedings upon the credit to be given prisoners for time previously served while their case is pending ultimate resolution is unwarranted, illogical and unsupported by judicial precedent in analogous situations.

The term “custody” as used in § 3568 was interpreted by the Ninth Circuit not to include time spent while on bail. See Sica v. United States, 454 F.2d 281 (9th Cir. 1971); cf. Marchese v. McEachen, 451 F.2d 555 (9th Cir. 1971), cer. denied 406 U.S. 945, 92 S.Ct. 2043, 32 L.Ed.2d 332 (1971). Similarly, we have previously held that an inmate whose parole is revoked is not entitled to credit on sentence for the time spent on parole. Starnes v. Cornett, 464 F.2d 524 (5th Cir. 1972), cert. denied 409 U.S. 987, 93 S.Ct. 341, 34 L.Ed.2d 253 (1972); Woods v. United States, 449 F.2d 740 (5th Cir. 1971); Blanchard v. United States, 433 F.2d 13 (5th Cir. 1970), cert. denied 401 U.S. 959, 91 S.Ct. 989, 28 L.Ed.2d 244 (1970).

Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is affirmed.