Aaron Bruce GREGORY, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES Government, Appellee

United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit1961-11-30No. No. 6830

297 F.2d 80

Summary · law.co

Holding. The court affirmed the denial of permission to proceed in forma pauperis, finding no legal merit to the claim that aggregating consecutive sentences for good-time computation purposes was unlawful.

Gregory appealed an order preventing him from proceeding as an indigent litigant in a case challenging how his criminal sentences were combined. He received concurrent sentences from an Oklahoma federal court in 1955 for Dyer Act violations, then received an additional consecutive sentence from a Texas federal court in 1955 for an escape violation. When he arrived at the federal penitentiary in Kansas, prison officials combined all his sentences together to calculate good-time credits that reduce sentences. Gregory argued this aggregation was unlawful.

The court rejected his argument. Federal law explicitly permits the aggregation of consecutive sentences for purposes of computing good-time reductions. Prior circuit court decisions had consistently upheld this practice as legally permissible, and nothing in Gregory's circumstances changed that outcome.

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

Key issues

Whether aggregation of consecutive sentences for good-time deduction calculations is permissible
In forma pauperis appeal eligibility
Consecutive versus concurrent sentencing

Procedural posture

Gregory appealed from a district court order denying his request to proceed without paying court fees in a suit contesting the combination of his sentences.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion · public domain

majority opinion

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal from an order denying appellant permission to proceed in forma pauperis in an action wherein he seeks to restrain the aggregation of separate criminal sentences which were to be served consecutively.

On July 1, 1955, appellant was sentenced by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma to serve concurrently sentences of five years and two years for violations of the Dyer Act, 18 U.S.C.A. § 2311 et seq. On September 27, 1955, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas sentenced Gregory to a term of two years for violation of the Federal Escape Act, 18 U.S.C.A. § 751, to be served consecutively with the sentences he was then serving. Upon delivery to the United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, his consecutive sentences, totaling seven years, were aggregated for the purpose of computing good time deductions. There is no merit to the contention that such aggregation of the sentences was illegal. 18 U.S.C.A. § 4161. Gibson v. Looney, 10 Cir., 258 F.2d 879; Hurst v. Zarter, 10 Cir., 195 F.2d 526; United States ex rel. Johnson v. O’Donovan, 7 Cir., 178 F.2d 810; Grant v. Hunter, 10 Cir., 166 F.2d 673.

Affirmed.