Anthony Del Guzzi v. United States of America U.S. Parole Commission United States Marshal U.S. Attorney General

980 F.2d 1269 Anthony DEL GUZZI, Petitioner-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America; U.S. Parole Commission; United States Marshal; U.S. Attorney General, Respondents-Appellees. No. 90-15813. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Submitted Sept. 14, 1992. * Decided Dec. 2, 1992. Anthony Del Guzzi, pro per. George C. Stoll, Asst. U.S. Atty., San Francisco, Cal., for respondents-appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Before SCHROEDER, NORRIS, and BRUNETTI, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: 1 This case presents the question of a federal court's authority to credit a federal prisoner with time spent in state prison. In August 1985, Anthony Del Guzzi pled guilty to a counterfeiting charge in federal court and was sentenced to a 5-year term. The sentencing judge ordered Del Guzzi to self-surrender to federal officials the next month. One week before he was due to turn himself in, Del Guzzi was arrested and charged with a California drug violation. Del Guzzi pled guilty, and the state court judge sentenced him to a 7-year term, to run concurrently with the pending 5-year federal term. The state judge recommended that Del Guzzi…

This case presents the question of a federal court’s authority to credit a federal prisoner with time spent in state prison. In August 1985, Anthony Del Guzzi pled guilty to a counterfeiting charge in federal court and was sentenced to a 5-year term. The sentencing judge ordered Del Guzzi to self-surrender to federal officials the next month. One week before he was due to turn himself in, Del Guzzi was arrested and charged with a California drug violation. Del Guzzi pled guilty, and the state court judge sentenced him to a 7-year term, to run concurrently with the pending 5-year federal term. The state judge recommended that Del Guzzi be transported to federal prison to serve his concurrent terms.

Del Guzzi was not transported to federal prison. Although the state officials informed the federal officials of Del Guzzi’s presence in state prison, the federal officials declined to accept him, apparently on the ground that they would take custody of Del Guzzi only upon completion of his state sentence.

After completing his state sentence on April 17, 1989, Del Guzzi was released from state custody, and immediately accepted into federal custody. Del Guzzi had spent three years and…

concurring:

I agree that Anthony Del Guzzi was not awaiting transportation within the meaning of § 3568 and that Ninth Circuit law does not permit this court to credit Del Guzzi with the time he spent in state prison. But I see this as one of those deeply troubling cases in which the law dictates an unjust result.

It is undisputed that Del Guzzi was sentenced to five years in federal prison and seven years in state prison and that these terms were to run concurrently. It is similarly undisputed that because he was not immediately transported to federal prison, as the state sentencing judge recommended, he served his entire sentence in state prison before reaching federal prison, where he was then informed he would have to serve his entire federal sentence with no credit given for the state time. Accordingly, Del Guzzi will spend approximately 8 years and seven months in prison, although neither the federal nor the state sentencing court anticipated that he would spend more than five years in prison. 1 In essence, the refusal of the federal officials to accept custody of Del Guzzi turned his concurrent sentences into consecutive ones.

As the following exchanges make clear, this…