JOHN E. STEELE, District Judge.
This case is before the Court on Petitioner German Giraldo's ("Petitioner's") petition for writ of habeas corpus, filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 (Doc. 1, filed February 23, 2012). Petitioner is in the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons ("BOP") and is currently housed at the Federal Correctional Complex in Coleman, Florida. Petitioner challenges the execution of his federal sentence, alleging that the BOP failed to award proper prior custody credit against his sentence.
Petitioner does not proffer any evidence that requires an evidentiary hearing, and the Court finds that the pertinent facts of the case are fully developed in the record.
On March 19, 1997, Petitioner was arrested by United States Customs and Border Protection (Doc. 7-1, Declaration of John A. Farrar, at ¶ 4; Doc. 7 at 2).
Petitioner was awarded 224 days of prior custody credit for time that he spent in custody between March 19, 1997 and October 28, 1997, the period before Petitioner's first federal sentence commenced (Doc. 7-1, Farrar Decl. at ¶ 10). The credit was applied against each sentence individually.
Petitioner's first sentence was completed on July 20, 2000 (Doc. 7-1, Farrar Decl. at ¶ 11). Petitioner's current projected release date from his second sentence is July 12, 2016.
Petitioner argues that the 20-year sentence he received for his murder conviction should have been calculated to begin on October 29, 1997, the date his 46-month sentence for the conspiracy conviction was imposed (Doc. 2 at 4-8). In other words, Petitioner argues that
The BOP is charged with the responsibility of sentence computation and other administrative matters regarding the length of a prisoner's confinement.
18 U.S.C. § 3585(a)-(b) (emphasis added). Under § 3585(b), the BOP did not have discretion to grant Petitioner sentence credit for the period between October 29, 1997 and August 4, 1999 because he received credit on his conspiracy sentence for that period, and § 3585(b) expressly prohibits the BOP from granting credit for time "credited against another sentence." 18 U.S.C. § 3585(b).
Petitioner's assertion that the sentencing court intended his second sentence to be "retroactively concurrent" to October 29, 1997 is equally unavailing (Doc. 2 at 3). "[A] federal sentence cannot commence prior to the date it is pronounced, even if made concurrent with a sentence already being served."
Petitioner was sentenced in two separate and unrelated proceedings. The sentencing court in the second proceeding, Petitioner's murder case, stated that Petitioner was sentenced "for a period of 20 years to run concurrent on all 3 counts and concurrently with the undischaged term of imprisonment imposed by Judge Weistein[.]" Petitioner insists that "concurrent" means "fully or retroactively concurrent" and that the BOP erred by calculating that his murder sentence began on the date it was imposed (Doc. 2; Doc. 9). He comes to this conclusion because, in cases involving an undischarged term of imprisonment on a prior sentence, § 5G1.3(c) of the United States Sentencing Guidelines Manual gives a sentencing court the option to impose a sentence to run concurrently, partially concurrently, or consecutively to a prior undischarged term of imprisonment "to achieve a reasonable punishment for the instant offense." (Doc. 2 at 4); USSG § 5G1.3(c). Petitioner has not, however, provided the Court with any support for his contention that a sentence set to run concurrently to a prior, partially discharged sentence, means that the later sentence is retroactively calculated to the starting date of the prior sentence. Despite Petitioner's assertions otherwise, the term "concurrent" is not synonymous with "the same starting date."
Moreover, the record does not reflect that the Eastern District of New York sought to impose a sentence retroactive to the beginning of Petitioner's first sentence. The district court indicated only that Petitioner's sentence on the murder conviction would run concurrently with the undischarged term of his other federal sentence and did not indicate that Petitioner would receive credit for time already spent in custody on another sentence (Doc. 2 at 13);
The Court finds that the BOP properly determined that Petitioner's 20-year sentence on the murder case did not commence until August 4, 1999, the date it was pronounced. Petitioner does not produce any evidence from the record nor cite to any persuasive or binding authority that would bring about a different result. Consequently, the Court finds that Petitioner has not demonstrated that the BOP has unlawfully or incorrectly calculated Petitioner's sentence.
ACCORDINGLY, it is hereby
1. The petition for habeas corpus relief filed by German Giraldo (Doc. 1) is
2. The