Mohr v. Jordan, Civ. No. 73-370-H.

• Decision Date: 18 February 1974
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 73-370-H.
• Citation: 370 F. Supp. 1149
• Parties: Donald C. MOHR, et al., Petitioners, v. James JORDAN, Commissioner, Division of Correction, et al., Respondents.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maryland

370 F. Supp. 1149

Donald C. MOHR, et al., Petitioners, v. James JORDAN, Commissioner, Division of Correction, et al., Respondents.

Civ. No. 73-370-H.

United States District Court, D. Maryland.

February 18, 1974.

Charles F. Morgan, Michael S. Elder, and Luther G. Blackiston, Legal Air Bureau, Inc., Baltimore Md., and Stanley Bass, N. Y., N. Y. for petitioners.

Francis B. Burch, Atty. Gen., and James G. Klair, Asst. Atty. Gen., Baltimore, Md., for respondents.

HARVEY, District Judge:

In this habeas corpus case, certain present or former state prisoners seek credit against their sentences for time spent in jail awaiting trial and other related relief. Four of the petitioners are presently confined in state institutions serving sentences imposed by various state judges, and the fifth petitioner was formerly a state prisoner but is now on parole.

This suit was initially filed under the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Originally named as defendants were the Commissioner of the State Division of Correction, the Secretary of the State Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, the Acting Chairman of the Maryland Board of Parole and four state trial judges. After this action was instituted, the Supreme Court decided Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 475, 93 S.Ct. 1827, 36 L.Ed.2d 439 (1973), which held that the sole remedy of a state prisoner challenging the fact or duration of his physical imprisonment is by way of an application for a writ of habeas corpus. As petitioners in this case are seeking a determination which would shorten the length of their confinement in state custody, it was agreed between the parties that this suit should be treated as an application for habeas corpus relief, and the action was dismissed as to the state judges originally named as respondents.¹

In their prayer for relief, petitioners have asked this Court to render a declaratory judgment pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2201, declaring unconstitutional the Maryland practice of leaving to the discretion of the sentencing judge the granting of credit for periods of pre-trial incarceration and further declaring unconstitutional certain state statutes to the extent that they deny petitioners credit for pre-trial incarceration in the determination of a prisoner's parole eligibility and in the awarding of good time credits. Specifically, petitioners are here attacking the constitutionality of the following state practices or statutes: (1) the custom and practice in the criminal courts of Maryland which permit the sentencing judge to determine whether or not to award credit against a defendant's sentence for time spent in jail awaiting trial; (2) § 122(a) and (b) of Article 41 of the Annotated Code of Maryland insofar as these subsections do not give petitioners credit towards their eligibility for parole for periods of their pre-trial incarceration;² and (3) § 700(b) of Article 27 of the Annotated Code of Maryland insofar as it denies petitioners good time credits during periods of their pre-trial incarceration.

Presently before the Court are cross-motions for summary judgment. Various affidavits have been filed in support of these motions, and other essential facts have been agreed to by way of stipulation. Petitioners also filed a motion for certification of this suit as a class action, pursuant to Rule 23, F.R. Civ.P. At the hearing held on the pending motions, petitioners withdrew their class action motion, and the case has proceeded with only the claims of the five individual petitioners at issue.³

The facts as to the individual petitioners are essentially similar. Each of them is serving or has served sentences which commenced on the date that sentence was imposed and not on the date that the individual petitioner was committed to jail awaiting trial. Each of them has not been granted good conduct credit for time spent in jail awaiting trial, and the period for parole eligibility of each has been or is being computed from the date of sentence and not from the date of his commitment to jail.

Petitioner Mohr is presently incarcerated in the Maryland Correctional Institution in Hagerstown, Maryland. He was arrested on November 27, 1964 on murder and other charges and was held without bail from November 27, 1964 until October 4, 1966 (a period in excess of 22 months). When he pled guilty to the murder charge before Judge Raine in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County, he was sentenced to life imprisonment dating from October 4, 1966.

Petitioner Sellers is confined in the Maryland House of Correction. Because he was indigent and unable to make bail when arrested on April 13, 1972 on a charge of forgery, he remained incarcerated until August 10, 1972 (approximately four months), when he pled guilty in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County. Sellers was sentenced by Judge Procter to a 2-year term of imprisonment beginning on August 10, 1972.

Petitioner Royster is presently incarcerated in the Maryland Correctional Camp System at Quantico, Maryland. He was arrested on September 12, 1971 on a robbery charge and was confined in Baltimore City Jail from September 13, 1971 until March 16, 1972 (approximately six months), because he was indigent and unable to make bail. On the latter date, he appeared in the Criminal Court of Baltimore City for trial and was found guilty of armed robbery. He was thereupon sentenced to a term of imprisonment of three years, commencing March 16, 1972.

Petitioner Smith is presently confined in the Maryland House of Correction. He was arrested on March 6, 1972 on charges of robbery with a deadly weapon and false pretenses. Because he was indigent and unable to make bail, Smith remained incarcerated in the Baltimore City Jail from March 7, 1972 until November 2, 1972 (approximately eight months), when he pled guilty to robbery and was sentenced by Judge Jones to a prison term of eight years, commencing November 2, 1972.

Petitioner Sessoms is presently on parole, after having served a part of a term of imprisonment in a state institution. He was arrested on December 27, 1966 on charges of breaking and entering and grand larceny. Because he was indigent, he could not make bail and remained incarcerated until his trial on May 3, 1967 (approximately four months). On the latter date, he was convicted of storehouse breaking in the Circuit Court for Dorchester County and was sentenced by Judge Mace to a term of imprisonment of eight years. His term of parole is due to expire on May 3, 1975.

I

Basic to the right of a state prisoner to seek habeas corpus relief in the federal court is the requirement that he shall have first exhausted his available state remedies. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b); Preiser v. Rodriguez, supra. It is settled, however, that a petitioner is not required to exhaust state remedies where the constitutional point being raised has been decided adversely to his contention by the state appellate court. Hayes v. Boslow, 336 F.2d 31 (4th Cir. 1964), cert. den. 386 U.S. 1039, 87 S.Ct. 1496, 18 L.Ed.2d 607 (1967); Benton v. Copinger, 291 F.Supp. 141 (D.Md.1968). In this case, the State concedes that these petitioners need not exhaust their state remedies with reference to their claim that they are entitled to credit for time spent in custody awaiting trial, inasmuch as the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland has decided this point adversely to petitioners' contentions.⁴ The Maryland courts have ruled that in a case where the maximum statutory sentence was imposed, a defendant is entitled to credit for confinement prior to trial because of a legislative intention that such maximum sentence be calculated by including time spent in jail before trial. Jones v. Maryland, 11 Md.App. 468, 275 A.2d 508 (1971); Wright v. Maryland, 11 Md.App. 673, 276 A.2d 411 (1971). However, the Maryland courts have further consistently ruled that a defendant is not entitled to such credit in other cases because the question is not one of constitutional dimension, either federal or state. Dennis v. Warden, 12 Md.App. 512, 513, 280 A.2d 53 (1971); Wright v. Warden, supra, 11 Md.App. at 675, 276 A.2d 411; Craig v. Warden, No. 39, Sept. Term, 1972 (June 26, 1972).

Although basing their claim for relief here on various provisions of the federal Constitution, the most substantial argument pressed by petitioners in this case is that the Maryland practice under attack is an invidious discrimination against the poor in violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. It is contended that those who are free on bail in effect receive credit for the period of time before their trials, whereas prisoners like petitioners who cannot make bail do not receive such credit under Maryland law.

In response, the State argues that pre-trial detention in lieu of bail is in no way punitive but is designed solely to assure the appearance at trial of a defendant who cannot make bail. See 18 U.S.C. § 3146; United States v. Erwing, 268 F.Supp. 879 (N.D.Cal.1967). The State asserts that if the Fourteenth Amendment requires the crediting of time spent in jail before trial against sentences of indigent persons who cannot make bail, then it would likewise prohibit the generally accepted practice in both state and federal courts of confining before trial those indigents who cannot make bail but releasing more affluent defendants who can.

Although there is some force to the position taken by the State, this Court concludes that the issue presented by the first claim has been conclusively determined by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in favor of petitioners. Ham v. State of North Carolina, 471 F.2d 406 (4th Cir. 1973), and subsequent rulings of the Fourth Circuit have established that a state prisoner is constitutionally entitled to credit against his sentence for time spent in jail awaiting trial.

In Ham, a North Carolina prisoner sought habeas corpus relief in federal court, claiming, inter alia, credit...