Clark v. State
Citation | 321 S.C. 377,468 S.E.2d 653 |
Decision Date | 25 March 1996 |
Docket Number | No. 24398,24398 |
Parties | Michael D. CLARK, Petitioner, v. STATE of South Carolina, Respondent. |
Court | United States State Supreme Court of South Carolina |
Assistant Appellate Defender Lisa T. Gregory of the South Carolina Office of Appellate Defense, Columbia, for appellant.
Attorney General Charles Molony Condon, Deputy Attorney General John W. McIntosh, Assistant Attorney General Teresa Nesbitt Cosby, all of the Attorney General's Office; and General Counsel Larry C. Batson, Deputy General Counsel Robert E. Petersen, and J. Pamela Price, both of S.C. Dept. of Corrections, Columbia, for respondent.
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI
We granted certiorari to review the denial of Post-Conviction Relief (PCR) to Petitioner, Michael Clark. We reverse and remand.
finding he should seek clarification of his sentence from the plea judge. 1
The sentence of a person convicted of a federal offense commences to run from the date on which such person is received at the penitentiary. Thomas v. Whalen, 962 F.2d 358 (4th Cir.1992); United States v. Huss, 520 F.2d 598 (1975). A federal court is powerless to impose a concurrent sentence until the defendant has been sentenced by another court. United States v. Neely, 38 F.3d 458 (9th Cir.1994). 2
The determination by federal authorities that a defendant's federal sentence runs consecutive to his or her state sentence is a federal matter which cannot be overridden by a state court provision for concurrent sentencing on a subsequently obtained state court conviction. Bloomgren v. Belaski, 948 F.2d 688 (10th Cir.1991). Although a state trial judge may properly order the sentences which he or she imposes to run concurrently, or consecutively, to each other, a state court is without authority to modify or place conditions on a sentence from a foreign jurisdiction. Ex parte Huerta, 692 S.W.2d 681 (Tex.Crim.1985) (Onion, J. dissenting). Accordingly, it appears the only way to effectuate a state trial court's order that a state sentence run concurrently with a prior federal sentence is to have the defendant returned to federal custody to serve his federal sentence. See In Re Altstatt, 227 Cal.App.2d 305, 38 Cal.Rptr. 616 (1964); In Re Stoliker, 315 P.2d 12 (Cal.1957) ( ). 3
A plea agreement rests on contractual principles and each party should receive the benefit of their bargain. Thrift v. State, 312 S.C. 282, 440 S.E.2d 341 (1994). When an accused pleads guilty upon a promise of the prosecutor, the agreement must be fulfilled. State v. Thompson, 278 S.C. 1, 292 S.E.2d 581 (1982) overruled on other grounds, State v. Torrence, 305 S.C. 45, 406 S.E.2d 315 (1991) (Toal, J., concurring). "When the State's Attorney has given his word in the form of a plea bargain and that bargain is accepted by the trial court, it behooves the State's Attorney to make every reasonable effort to correct any deviation from the bargain when the deviation is called to his attention." Alston v. State, 38 Md.App. 611, 379 A.2d 754, 757 (App.1978). Once a court accepts a plea agreement, it is bound to honor its promise to perform the agreement, insofar as the terms of the agreement are within the power of the court to order. State v. Rhinehart, 312 S.C. 36, 430 S.E.2d 536 (Ct.App.1993).
It is within the power of the circuit court to order the Department of Corrections (DOC) to deliver Clark to the custody of federal authorities to begin service of his federal sentence. 4 Accordingly, the matter is remanded to the circuit court with instructions to take further action in accordance with this opinion.
REMANDED.
1 This Court will not uphold the rulings of the PCR judge where there is no evidence to support them. High v. State, 300 S.C. 88, 386 S.E.2d 463 (1989). There is no evidence to support the finding that clarification of the plea judge's order is necessary. On the contrary, the intent of the order is clear, and the PCR court specifically noted the intent of the trial court was for Clark's sentence to run concurrently. A remand for further clarification would further perpetuate the bureaucratic quagmire in which petitioner finds himself.
2 Prior to 1986, it appears a federal court's recommendation...
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...the sound discretion of the circuit judge. See State v. Gates, 299 S.C. 92, 95, 382 S.E.2d 886, 887 (1989); Clark v. State, 321 S.C. 377, 381, 468 S.E.2d 653, 656 (1996) (only after acceptance of a plea bargain is the court bound to honor the agreement); see also State v. Rhinehart, 312 S.C......
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