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John Buford GIBSON, Appellant, v. C. H. LOONEY, Warden, United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kansas, Appellee

United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit1958-08-22No. No. 5847
258 F.2d 879

Summary

Holding. The court affirmed the discharge of the habeas corpus writ and the remand of Gibson to the Warden's custody, holding that the sentences were properly imposed as consecutive, the Board of Parole had authority to serve the violator warrant years after issuance, and good-time credits could be properly forfeited upon revocation of conditional release.

Gibson was sentenced to consecutive sentences totaling nineteen years across multiple convictions between 1939 and 1940. He was conditionally released in 1950 but violated his parole when he received an additional three-year sentence in 1955. The Board of Parole issued a violator warrant in June 1955, which was not served until September 1957. When the warrant was finally served, Gibson's conditional release was revoked and he was ordered to resume serving his original sentences, with forfeiture of good-time credits earned during his conditional release period.

Gibson challenged the revocation on two grounds: first, that the Board lacked authority to serve the warrant more than two years after issuance, and second, that the sentencing language did not clearly establish the sentences as consecutive rather than concurrent. The court rejected both arguments, finding that the sentencing court's language clearly indicated consecutive sentences and that the Board possessed authority under federal law to revoke conditional release and require completion of sentences at any time before their expiration.

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

Key issues

  • Whether sentencing language indicating sentences would commence upon termination of prior sentences establishes consecutive rather than concurrent sentences
  • Whether the Board of Parole possessed authority to serve a conditional release violator warrant more than two years after its issuance
  • Whether good-time credits earned during conditional release could be forfeited upon revocation of parole

Procedural posture

The appeal challenges an order discharging a writ of habeas corpus and remanding the petitioner to the custody of the Warden of the United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

majority opinion

PER CURIAM.

This appeal is from an order diseharg-ing a writ of habeas corpus and remanding the petitioner to the custody of the Warden of the United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas,

The facts are not in dispute. The petitioner was sentenced to four years imprisonment in May, 1939, and escaped while serving this sentence. After ap prehension in January, 1940, he was sentenced to five years imprisonment for the escape. The escape sentence was “to commence when and as the sentence being served at the time of his escape has terminated”. On the same day he was also sentenced on two other indictments, On one of these a five year sentence was imposed which was to commence at the termination of the escape sentence, and on the other, a five year sentence was given which was to commence when the other two sentences pronounced that day were “completed or terminated as provided by law”.

After this rather fruitful day in court, the petitioner was incarcerated for service of the sentences imposed upon him. On September 23, 1950 he was conditionally released, but less than five years later, on August 12, 1955, he was sen-fenced by another Federal Court to three years imprisonment. On June 14, 1955 the Board of Parole, acting under the provisions of Title 18 U.S.C.A. Section 4205, issued a conditional release violator warrant which was not served until September 30, 1957, while he was still serving this last sentence. Thereafter the conditional release was revoked and the petitioner ordered to serve the original sentences.

service sentences was interrupted by the violation • ii i 1*1 n*i* i i committed while on conditional release, , ... . ’ and completion of the service of these , ,, , sentences could be required after the pe- .... . , , , , . ,, * titioner had been released from the serv- . . . , . ice of the sentence imposed m 1955. Zerbst v. Kidwell, 304 U.S. 359, 58 S.Ct. 872, 82 L.Ed. 1399, 116 A.L.R. 808. We „ , ... find no merit m the contention that the t, , j. t, , , , ,, ., Board of Parole had no authority to serve the warrant over two years after ., . , ., „ , , . , it was issued, as the Zerbst case clearly . ,. , , ,, L , ,, . , indicated the Board could require comple- .. „ ,, . . , , , ,f tion of the original sentences at any time , „ ...... before their expiration. The sentences had not expired at the time of the service of the warrant

The petitioner further contends that as the Federal Court which sentenced him in 1940 had used the. phrase “to commence when and as the sentences * * * [already imposed] have been completed or terminated as provided by law”, there was no intent shown that the sentences were to be consecutive. Therefore, he argues, when he was conditionally released, he had completed the service of the first two sentences imposed on him, and when his conditional release was revoked he could not be required to serve good time he earned on those sentences. The District Court concluded that “this contention is without substance and what the [sen-fencing] Court in fact did was to impose consecutive sentences, and that for the purpose of computing good time deducti<ms the sentences must be aggregated and considered as a sentence of nineteen years under Title 18 [U.S.C.] § 4161. If this is so, it follows that when he violated his conditional release and was retaken the authorities correctly revoked good time earned and that such revocation applied to all these sentences * * The language of the sentencing Court is such as to make it clear that the sentences were to run consecutively. Criminal sentences cannot possibly eliminate every conceivable doubt as to their meaning. All that is necessary is that they disclose on their face „ . ... . a fair certainty of the intent of the trial United States v Daugherty, 269 U.S. 360, 46 S.Ct. 156, 70 L.Ed. 309; Ong v. Hunter, 10 Cir., 196 F.2d 256; Smith v. United States, 10 Cir., 177 F.2d 434; Ziebart v. Hunter, 10 Cir., 177 F.2d 847. We find no uncertainty in the meaning °f •t^e and agres with the Trial Court that the sentencing Court in- . , , , , , ... tended them to be served consecutively. x , The sentences were properly aggregated „ ,, „ , for the purpose of computing good con- , . „ , JT... “ TT „ „ . duct allowance under Title 18 U.S.C.A. Section 4161. Hurst v. Zarter, 10 Cir., 195 F.2d 526; Wilson v. Hunter, 10 Cir., 180 F.2d 456; Grant v. Hunter, 10 Cir., 166 F.2d 673; Mills v. Aderhold, 10 Cir., 110 F.2d 765.

Affirmed.