Vann v. Angelone

• Decision Date: 09 January 1996
• Docket Number: No. 95-6471,95-6471
• Citation: 73 F.3d 519
• Parties: Anthony Leon VANN, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Ronald ANGELONE, Director, Virginia Department of Corrections, Respondent-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 519

73 F.3d 519

Anthony Leon VANN, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Ronald ANGELONE, Director, Virginia Department of Corrections, Respondent-Appellee.

No. 95-6471.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued Nov. 1, 1995.

Decided Jan. 9, 1996.

ARGUED: Gerald Thomas Zerkin, Gerald T. Zerkin & Associates, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellant. Mary Elizabeth Shea, Assistant Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General, Criminal Law Division, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Melanie A. Hopper, Gerald T. Zerkin & Associates, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellant. James S. Gilmore, III, Attorney General of Virginia, Office of the Attorney General, Criminal Law Division, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee.

Before WILKINSON, LUTTIG, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by published opinion. Judge WILKINSON wrote the opinion, in which Judge LUTTIG and Judge WILLIAMS joined.

OPINION

WILKINSON, Circuit Judge:

Anthony Leon Vann petitions for habeas corpus relief on the ground that the Virginia Department of Corrections ("DOC") denied him due process by arbitrarily finding him ineligible for parole under Virginia Code, Sec. 53.1-151(B1). This section of the Virginia Code prohibits parole eligibility for individuals convicted of three separate offenses of murder, rape, or armed robbery, when such offenses are not "part of a common act, transaction or scheme." While Vann contends that two of his robberies were "part of a common act, transaction or scheme," the DOC found otherwise. We hold that the DOC decision fully satisfied the requirements of the due process clause. In so holding, we affirm the judgment of the district court.

I.

On February 28, 1974, Anthony Leon Vann and an accomplice robbed Victor Vogel at gunpoint of $100, two holsters, and clothing while Vogel was at work in his Portsmouth, Virginia store. Approximately thirty minutes later, Vann and two companions entered a railyard, where they robbed railroad detective Horace Wishart of his revolver at gunpoint. In July of 1974, Vann pled guilty to two counts of robbery and was sentenced to ten years on the first count and five years on the second.

Vann was paroled on October 28, 1977, only to be reincarcerated for a parole violation on September 14, 1979. He was again paroled on November 9, 1981. In 1983, he was charged with robbery, abduction, and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. On July 1, 1983, Vann pled guilty to these charges. He received consecutive sentences of fifty years for the robbery, ten years for the abduction, and two years for the weapons charge.

Less than ten years into his sixty-two-year sentence, on February 22, 1993, Vann was tentatively approved for parole, provided that he was legally eligible. Pursuant to a sentence audit performed on all DOC prisoners before their release, it was discovered that Vann was ineligible for parole because he had committed three armed robberies--the two in 1974 and the one in 1983. The Virginia Code prohibits inmates from receiving parole if they have committed three such offenses, provided that the offenses are not "part of a common act, transaction or scheme." Va.Code Sec. 53.1-151(B1).

The DOC found that the two robberies Vann committed on the same evening in 1974 were not part of "a common act, transaction or scheme." The Virginia Parole Board then informed Vann of his ineligibility for parole by letter of August 25, 1993, citing Vann's "additional sentence(s)" as the reason for his ineligibility. Vann objected to the DOC's finding under Sec. 53.1-151(B1), contending that the DOC's decision was "standardless, arbitrary and contrary to law." Accordingly, Vann advanced habeas corpus claims, first to the Portsmouth Circuit Court, which found his claims to be meritless, then to the Virginia Supreme Court, which denied his appeal, and finally to the federal district court, which also denied relief. Vann now appeals the decision of the district court.

II.

Vann appears before us with a heavy burden. It is difficult to imagine a context more deserving of federal deference than state parole decisions. "There is no constitutional or inherent right of a convicted person to be conditionally released before the expiration of a valid sentence." Greenholtz v. Nebraska Penal Inmates, 442 U.S. 1, 7, 99 S.Ct. 2100, 2104, 60 L.Ed.2d 668 (1979). This is because "given a valid conviction, the criminal defendant has been constitutionally deprived of his liberty." Id. at 7, 99 S.Ct. at 2104, quoting Meachum v. Fano, 427 U.S. 215, 224, 96 S.Ct. 2532, 2538, 49 L.Ed.2d 451 (1976). The absence of a constitutional right to parole means that a state has no duty to establish a system of parole, id., and if it chooses to do so, federal courts should allow a state's parole authorities "a wide range for experimentation and the exercise of discretion." Franklin v. Shields, 569 F.2d 784, 800 (4th Cir.1977) (en banc), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 1003, 98 S.Ct. 1659, 56 L.Ed.2d 92 (1978). "Moreover, to insure that the state-created parole system serves the public-interest purposes of rehabilitation and deterrence, the state may be specific or general in defining the conditions for release and the factors that should be considered by the parole authority." Greenholtz, 442 U.S. at 7-8, 99 S.Ct. at 2104.

Most parole decisions involve a considerable degree of discretion. Hence, parole authorities must investigate and weigh "numerous factors including [the inmate's] history, mental and physical condition, attitude, and compatibility with the 'interests of society.' " Gaston v. Taylor, 946 F.2d 340, 344 (4th Cir.1991) (en banc). The cumulative impact of this experience endows state authorities with the expertise to predict whether a given inmate will continue to prey on society if released. Parole decisions involve more than the exercise of state expertise, however. They are an integral part of the larger interest of states in administering their own system of corrections. Given such compelling reasons, it is no surprise that federal courts have generally refrained from meddling in state parole proceedings.

The above principles apply both to state decisions with respect to the actual release of an inmate on parole and to state decisions with respect to an inmate's initial eligibility for parole consideration. With no constitutional right to parole per se, federal courts recognize due process rights in an inmate only where the state has created "a legitimate claim of entitlement" to some aspect of parole. Id. at 344, quoting Kentucky Dep't of Corrections v. Thompson, 490 U.S. 454, 460, 109 S.Ct. 1904, 1908, 104 L.Ed.2d 506 (1989). Such a liberty interest, however, is not created through the unilateral need, desire, hope, or expectation of a petitioner that the state will confer the benefit sought. Id. Because parole consideration and parole itself typically hinge on the discretionary decisions of parole authorities, inmates generally possess no entitlement, but only a desire, that a parole board will decide in their favor.

Even where this court has found that a parole statute establishes a liberty interest, we have held that inmates are entitled to no more than minimal procedure. At most, we have held that parole authorities must "furnish to the prisoner a statement of its reasons for denial of parole." Franklin, 569 F.2d at 784; see also Bloodgood v. Garraghty, 783 F.2d 470, 473 (4th Cir.1986). In sum, whether or not a liberty interest exists, federal courts must defer to state agencies applying state laws and thus their oversight of state parole proceedings...