United States v. Maurice Walker
Opinion
A grand jury indicted Maurice Walker on one count of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, in violation of
Mr. Walker now contends that the district court improperly left to the BOP the calculation of credit for his time served before trial. He also submits that he should receive credit for all the time he spent in custody between his arrest and the superseding indictment. For the reasons set forth in more detail in this opinion, we cannot accept these contentions; they are controlled by settled law. Congress has committed the responsibility for the calculation of credit for pretrial confinement to the BOP. The district court therefore lacked the authority to make such a determination. The court does have, however, the discretion to make a recommendation to the BOP as to whether pretrial credit is appropriate. The district court therefore acted well within its discretion when it made such a recommendation. We therefore affirm its judgment. 2
I.
BACKGROUND
On June 11, 2016, while Mr. Walker was on parole for prior state convictions, Chicago
*991
police officers arrested him after he fled with a gun in hand and attempted to discard the weapon before being apprehended. On December 1, 2016, a grand jury returned an indictment charging Mr. Walker with one count of possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, in violation of
While awaiting trial, Mr. Walker was detained at the Kankakee County Jail, where his phone calls were recorded. The government listened to these recordings, which revealed that Mr. Walker had communicated with a family member and associates about locating individuals to testify falsely on his behalf at his upcoming trial. Specifically, the defendant's mother, a close associate, and others deposited money into the commissary account of another inmate, who agreed to sign a false affidavit and to testify falsely that the gun belonged to him and not to Mr. Walker. Another individual received approximately $ 500 to testify falsely that she had witnessed Mr. Walker's arrest and that he had not been carrying a gun at the time. Mr. Walker also conferred with his family and associates about finding other witnesses to provide false testimony. As a result, on June 29, 2017, a grand jury returned a superseding indictment, which charged Mr. Walker with an additional count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, in violation of
On February 20, 2018, Mr. Walker filed a pro se plea declaration, and on April 2, 2018, he pleaded guilty to both counts of the superseding indictment. The probation office prepared a presentence report, calculating a guidelines range of 92 to 115 months based on a total offense level of 23 and a criminal history category of VI. The presentence report recommended a sentence of 103 months' imprisonment per count, to run concurrently.
On August 8, 2018, the district court conducted a sentencing hearing. The Government recommended a sentence within the guidelines range. Mr. Walker requested a sentence of 41 months. After considering the sentencing factors set forth in
So this Court is going to recommend that any credit time start from there [June 29, 2017] to the present, not from the time he went in. The reason I'm doing that, sir, is because again, you were in there plotting and planning to try to subvert these proceedings. And this Court does not recommend you get time for that. And so I don't know if they give it to you anyway, but I do recommend that since the indictment, you do get [credit] for [time] served. 3
Neither Mr. Walker nor his counsel objected to this recommendation.
On August 10, 2018, the district court entered its final judgment. It committed Mr. Walker to the custody of the BOP for a term of 80 months on each count with those terms to run concurrently. The judgment further reiterated the court's recommendation to the BOP: "Defendant to receive credit for time being served beginning 6/29/2017 when the superseding indictment was filed (and not sooner), as conduct charged in Count 2 of the superseding indictment occurred while Defendant was detained in federal custody." 4
*992 Mr. Walker filed a timely notice of appeal on August 21, 2018.
II.
DISCUSSION
A.
Mr. Walker contends that the district court erred by leaving to the BOP the decision of how much sentencing credit he should receive and by recommending to the BOP that he should not receive credit for time served prior to June 29, 2017, the day on which the superseding indictment was filed. In Mr. Walker's view, we should review these issues de novo because these issues raise questions of law. The Government contends, however, that we should review the district court's sentencing decision only for plain error because Mr. Walker failed to object to his sentence in the district court.
The Government is correct. Before the sentencing hearing, Mr. Walker filed a pro se motion for a downward departure from the recommended guidelines range, but that motion focused exclusively on the "substandard conditions of confinement" at the Livingston County Detention Center.
5
At the sentencing hearing, neither Mr. Walker nor his counsel objected to the district court's recommendation to the BOP that he should not receive credit for time served prior to June 29, 2017. Therefore, we review the district court's sentence for plain error.
6
Mr. Walker therefore must demonstrate that "(1) there was error, (2) it was plain, (3) it affected his substantial rights and (4) the court should exercise its discretion to correct the error because it seriously affected the fairness, integrity or public reputation of the judicial proceedings."
United States v. Jumah
,
B.
Mr. Walker believes the district court erred by leaving it to the BOP to determine whether he should receive credit for all of the time he served in federal custody awaiting trial. He reasons that the BOP "is not authorized to determine penalties" and that "that is a duty that is bestowed upon the district court." 7 Mr. Walker points to the federal statute governing the calculation of a term of imprisonment, which provides that:
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-
(1) as a result of the offense for which the sentence was imposed ...
that has not been credited against another sentence.
The first of the plain error requirements is outcome-determinative here. Mr. Walker's position conflicts directly with the established precedent of the Supreme Court and of our court. In
United States v. Wilson
,
Relying on
Wilson
, we have repeatedly recognized that "it is the Attorney General," acting through the BOP, "and not the sentencing court, that computes the credit due under § 3585(b)."
United States v. McGee
,
C.
Mr. Walker also challenges the substance of the district court's recommendation to the BOP and contends that he should "receive credit for the time he served from the time of his arrest through when he was sentenced, including through and including June 29, 2017."
11
Of course, this appeal is not the proper mechanism for Mr. Walker to challenge the amount of sentencing credit he ultimately received from the BOP.
12
Instead, he first must seek relief through the BOP's administrative procedures.
See
Jake v. Herschberger
,
Conclusion
The judgment of the district court is affirmed. Because the BOP has exclusive authority over the computation of credit for time served under § 3585, the district court committed no error, let alone plain error, in leaving to the BOP the ultimate calculation of Mr. Walker's sentencing credit.
AFFIRMED
The jurisdiction of the district court is grounded in
Our jurisdiction is grounded in
R.94 at 66.
R.77 at 2.
R.72 at 1 (capitalization omitted).
See
United States v. Jumah
,
Appellant's Br. 3.
See also
Manuel v. Terris
,
See, e.g.
,
Barnes v. Masters
,
See also
United States v. Evans
,
Appellant's Br. 4.
At oral argument, counsel for the United States informed us that the BOP had given Mr. Walker partial credit for his pretrial confinement. Because this credit is less than the credit he seeks in this appeal, this case is not moot.
See also
Jones
,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Maurice WALKER, Defendant-Appellant.
- Cited By
- 43 cases
- Status
- Published