People ex rel. Middleton v. MacDonald

• Decision Date: 18 June 1980
• Docket Number: No. 79-2261,79-2261
• Citation: 407 N.E.2d 775,41 Ill.Dec. 277,85 Ill.App.3d 982
• Parties: , 41 Ill.Dec. 277 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois on the relation of James G. MIDDLETON, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Neal MacDONALD, Warden, Sheridan Correctional Facility, Gayle M. Franzen, Director, Illinois Department of Corrections, James R. Irving, Chairman, Illinois Prisoner Review Board and their Agents, Representatives and Successors, and the Illinois Department of Corrections, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 775

407 N.E.2d 775

85 Ill.App.3d 982, 41 Ill.Dec. 277

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois on the relation of James G. MIDDLETON, Plaintiff-Appellee, v.Neal MacDONALD, Warden, Sheridan Correctional FacilityGayle M. Franzen, Director, Illinois Department of Corrections, James R. Irving, Chairman, Illinois Prisoner Review Board and their Agents, Representatives and Successors, and the Illinois Department of CorrectionsDefendants-Appellants.

No. 79-2261.

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, Third Division.

June 18, 1980.

James J. Doherty, Public Defender of Cook County, for defendants-appellants; Clifford G. Kosoff, Timothy P. O'Neill, Asst. Public Defenders, of counsel.

William J. Scott, Atty. Gen., Chicago, for plaintiff-appellee; Donald B. MacKay, Thomas C. Crooks, Asst. Attys.Gen., Chicago, of counsel.

McNAMARA, Justice:

The trial court granted petitionerJames Middleton credit on his state sentence for time served in federal custody on an unrelated and subsequently imposed federal sentence.Respondents appeal.

On February 24, 1972, Middleton was found guilty of deviate sexual assault and aggravated battery in the circuit court of Cook County.He was sentenced to concurrent terms of five to ten years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.Thereafter, on March 14, 1972, Middleton was found guilty of four counts of firearms violations in federal court and received concurrent sentences of four years on each count.The federal court specifically ordered that the federal sentence run concurrently with the five to ten years sentence imposed by the Illinois court.Execution of the federal sentence was stayed by the federal court pending plaintiff's state court appeal.

On January 30, 1975, the federal court ordered that the federal sentence be reduced to three years; on February 11, 1975, the federal court further reduced the sentence to 18 months.The federal judge also committed Middleton to the custody of the Attorney General of the United States for incarceration.On February 19, 1975, Middleton began serving his sentence in a federal correctional institution in Minnesota.On February 18, 1976, he was transferred to the federal institution in Chicago, where he remained until his release on March 19, 1976.

On May 17, 1976, this court affirmed Middleton's convictions for deviate sexual assault and aggravated battery.(People v. Middleton(1976), 38 Ill.App.3d 984, 350 N.E.2d 223.)On October 8, 1976, he was committed to the Illinois Department of Corrections.

On June 4, 1979, Middleton filed the present petition for a writ of mandamus praying for an order compelling the Illinois Department of Corrections to credit him with the 13 months he had served in federal custody.After a hearing, the trial court, on September 18, 1979, ordered that the 13 months which Middleton had spent in federal custody on the federal conviction be credited towards the state sentence he was now serving.

Respondents contend that the trial court improperly granted plaintiff credit on his state sentence for time served on a subsequently imposed federal sentence.We agree with respondents.

When a state sentence precedes a federal sentence it is the province of the federal court to determine, in fixing the subsequent federal sentence, what weight should be given to the existing Illinois sentence.(People ex rel. Fleming v. Pate(1971), 48 Ill.2d 426, 270 N.E.2d 4, cert. denied, 404 U.S. 1020, 92 S.Ct. 691, 30 L.Ed.2d 669(1972).)Only where the state sentence is imposed after the imposition of the federal sentence, should the question whether the sentences are to be concurrent or consecutive be determined according to Illinois sentencing law.(Ill.Rev.Stat., 1979, Supp. ch. 38, par. 1005-8-4.)Consequently, we believe the trial court erred in ruling that following the federal sentencing the State of Illinois was required to redetermine the Illinois sentence in light of the federal sentence.Under such circumstances, the decision whether the sentences should run concurrently is to be made by federal authorities.SeePeople v. White(1978), 69 Ill.App.3d 830, 25 Ill.Dec. 852, 387 N.E.2d 728.

By federal statute, a person convicted of a federal offense is committed to the custody of ...