Rodriguez-Rosa v. Spaulding

• Decision Date: 19 May 2020
• Docket Number: CIVIL ACTION NO. 19-11984-MBB
• Parties: HERIBERTO RODRIGUEZ-ROSA, Petitioner, v. STEPHEN SPAULDING, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts

HERIBERTO RODRIGUEZ-ROSA, Petitioner, v. STEPHEN SPAULDING, Respondent.

CIVIL ACTION NO. 19-11984-MBB

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

May 19, 2020

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER RE: RESPONDENT'S MOTION TO DENY PETITIONER'S HABEAS PETITION

(DOCKET ENTRY # 11)

BOWLER, U.S.M.J.

Pending before this court is a motion to dismiss filed by respondent Stephen Spaulding ("respondent"), warden at the Federal Medical Center in Devens, Massachusetts ("FMC Devens"). (Docket Entry # 11). Respondent moves for a dismissal of a 28 U.S.C. § 2241 ("section 2241") petition filed by petitioner Heriberto Rodriguez-Rosa ("petitioner"), an FMC Devens inmate, because: (1) he failed to exhaust administrative remedies; and (2) the Federal Bureau of Prisons ("BOP") properly calculated his sentence. (Docket Entry # 11).

As set out in the petition, petitioner seeks to credit the time he spent serving a sentence imposed by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as time spent serving his 2005 federal sentence. (Docket Entry # 1). Petitioner submits that: (1) the BOP should designate the Metropolitan Detention Center ("MDC") in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico as a place of confinement for the federal sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b) ("section 3621(b)"); and (2) the BOP incorrectly calculated his federal sentence by failing to credit the amount of time served in MDC toward the federal sentence. (Docket Entry ## 1, 20). Relying on 18 U.S.C. § 3585(b)(2) ("section 3585(b)(2)"), petitioner contends that his arrest for the Puerto Rico offense took place after his commission of the drug "offense for which [his] federal sentence was imposed" and, as a result, he was in federal custody at MDC. (Docket Entry # 1, p. 6).

FACTUAL BACKGROUND¹

A. Petitioner's Criminal History

On March 18, 2005, petitioner was arrested and charged with second degree murder and carrying a firearm without a license by authorities for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. (Docket Entry # 12-1, pp. 1, 4, 7). On December 1, 2005, the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico issued a writ of habeas corpus ad prosequendum. (Docket Entry # 12-1, pp. 13-14). The writ commands "the Warden of 'Complejo Correccional Las Cucharas' in Ponce, Puerto Rico, to deliver" petitioner "into the custody of the United States Marshal" until"termination of the proceedings" in United States v. Rodriguez Rosa, Crim. No. 05-417-PG ("the federal case").² (Docket Entry # 12-1, pp. 13-14). On December 2, 2005, the United States Marshal Service ("USMS") removed petitioner from the Complejo Correccional Las Cucharas facility in Ponce under the writ of habeas corpus ad prosequendum for prosecution on various drug charges in the federal case. (Docket Entry # 12-1, p. 2, ¶ 5) (Docket Entry # 12-1, pp. 13-14, 16). The charges included conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 846. (Docket Entry # 12-1, p. 16). From December 2, 2005 to February 28, 2008, petitioner was housed at MDC "pursuant to [the] writ of habeas corpus ad prosequendum."³ (Docket Entry # 23-2, p. 1, ¶ 4).

Ordinarily, a state sovereign does not intend to relinquish custody of a state prisoner by loaning him to federal authorities under a writ of habeas corpus ad prosequendum. SeeJimenez v. Warden FDIC, Fort Devens, Mass., 147 F. Supp. 2d 24, 27 (D. Mass. 2001) (citing case law in majority of circuit courts) ("Jimenez I"; accord United States v. White, 874 F.3d 490, 507 (6th Cir. 2017) (when state sends prisoner to "federal authorities pursuant to such a writ, 'the prisoner is merely "on loan" to the federal authorities,' with the State retaining primary jurisdiction over the prisoner") (internal citation omitted); Thomas v. Whalen, 962 F.2d 358, 361 n.3 (4th Cir. 1992) (when prisoner "appears in federal court pursuant to a writ ad prosequendum[,] he is merely 'on loan' to federal authorities"). Whereas the writ employs the term "custody," "if a prisoner is serving a state sentence when he is produced for a federal prosecution, the writ temporarily transfers him to federal custody for prosecution but the state retains primary custody for the purpose of calculating his state sentence." Lugo v. Hudson, 785 F.3d 852, 854-55 (2d Cir. 2015) (emphasis added). Hence, under the circumstances presented, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico did not relinquish primary custody of petitioner by virtue of transferring him pursuant to the writ of habeas corpus ad prosequendum.

On August 30, 2007, the district judge ("the sentencing judge") in the federal case sentenced petitioner to a 216-month term of imprisonment with a five-year term of supervised release on the conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocainecharge (Count One) and dismissed the remaining charges on the government's motion ("the federal sentence"). (Docket Entry # 12-1, p. 2, ¶ 6) (Docket Entry # 12-1, p. 16); see United States v. Rodriguez-Rosa, Crim. No. 05-00417-PG (Docket Entry # 1096). The judgment was silent as to whether the federal sentence would run concurrent or consecutive to any impending sentence in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico proceeding. (Docket Entry # 12-1, p. 2, ¶ 6) (Docket Entry # 12-1, pp. 16-20).

A few days later on September 4, 2007, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Superior Court (Ponce Region) ("the Commonwealth court") sentenced petitioner to a 12-year term of imprisonment for second degree murder and carrying a firearm without a license ("the Commonwealth sentence"). (Docket Entry # 12-1, p. 2, ¶ 7). The Commonwealth court also sentenced petitioner to shorter, concurrent terms on several other charges in the case.⁴ (Docket Entry # 12-1, p. 2, ¶ 7).

Because "primary jurisdiction resides with the sovereign that first arrests a defendant," the Commonwealth court had custody of petitioner at the outset irrespective of the subsequently imposed federal sentence, which, in turn, preceded the Commonwealth sentence. Thomas v. Warden, Fed. Corr. Inst.,Berlin, N.H., No. 13-CV-259-LM, 2015 WL 502144, at *4 (D.N.H. Feb. 5, 2015) (citation omitted); accord Johnson v. Gill, 883 F.3d 756, 764-765 (9th Cir.), cert. denied sub nom. Johnson v. Copenhaver, 139 S. Ct. 251 (2018); United States v. Cole, 416 F.3d 894, 897 (8th Cir. 2005) (as between "state and federal sovereigns, primary jurisdiction over" a defendant "determined by which one first obtains custody of, or arrests, the person"); Thomas v. Whalen, 962 F.2d at 361 n.3; Jimenez I, 147 F. Supp. 2d at 27. On February 28, 2008, a federal detainer was lodged against petitioner with the Puerto Rico Department of Corrections regarding the 216-month federal sentence. (Docket Entry # 12-1, p. 29).

On October 19, 2009, while serving the Commonwealth sentence, the sentencing judge in the federal case allowed petitioner's motion to reduce the federal sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) ("section 3582(c)(2)"). Specifically, the sentencing judge reduced petitioner's federal sentence from the 216-month term of imprisonment to a 173-month term of imprisonment. (Docket Entry # 12-1, p. 25) (Docket Entry # 12-1, p. 2, ¶ 8). On June 7, 2016, petitioner filed another motion to reduce the federal sentence under section 3582(c)(2). The sentencing judge also allowed this motion and lowered the 173-month term of imprisonment to a 139-month term of imprisonment. (Docket Entry # 12-1, p. 35) (Docket Entry # 12-1, p. 3, ¶ 11).In January 2019, the sentencing judge denied petitioner's request to have the federal sentence run concurrently with the Commonwealth sentence. See United States v. Rodriguez-Rosa, Crim. No. 05-417-PG (Docket Entry # 2263).

Meanwhile on March 1, 2015, petitioner completed serving the 12-year Commonwealth sentence. (Docket Entry # 12-1, p. 2, ¶ 9). The Commonwealth sovereign's primary jurisdiction ended upon completion of the Commonwealth sentence. See Johnson v. Gill, 883 F.3d at 765 ("sovereign's priority terminates when the sentence expires, charges are dismissed, or the prisoner is allowed to go free"); Jimenez I, 147 F. Supp. 2d at 28 ("primary jurisdiction over a state prisoner ends and federal custody over him commences" when "state authorities relinquish him on satisfaction or extinguishment of the state obligation"). Martin attests that, "Petitioner remained in the custody of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico until March 26, 2015, at which time the USMS took custody of [petitioner] for service of his federal sentence." (Docket Entry # 12-1, p. 2, ¶ 9) (Docket Entry # 12-1, p. 30).

On March 26, 2015, petitioner's federal sentence commenced. See 18 U.S.C. § 3585(a) ("section 3585(a)"); Capaldo v. Winn, Civil Action No. 03-40204-PBS, 2004 WL 1454408, at *3 (D. Mass. Apr. 27, 2004) ("'federal sentence does not commence until the Attorney General receives the defendant into his custody forservice of the federal sentence'") (quoting Jimenez I, 147 F. Supp. 2d at 27); see Newman v. Cozza-Rhodes, 526 F. App'x 818, 821 (10th Cir. 2013) (under section 3585(a), "federal sentence commenced on August 10, 2010, when Newman was released from state parole and the federal marshals took him into custody to serve his federal sentence") (unpublished). Under section 3585(b), the BOP gave petitioner "prior custody credit for the time period from March 2" to March 25, 2015. (Docket Entry # 12-1, p. 3, ¶ 15). As of November 15, 2019, his projected release date, if he meets all anticipated good conduct time requirements, is January 14, 2025.⁵ (Docket Entry # 12-1, p. 3, ¶ 15) (Docket Entry # 12-1, p. 47).

B. Sentencing Requests and Attempted Appeals

On July 14, 2015, while serving the federal sentence and incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Coleman, Florida ("FCI Coleman"), petitioner "asked the BOP to reconsider his [federal] computation in light of" Barden v. Keohane, 921 F.2d 476, 483 (3d Cir. 1990) ("Barden"). (Docket Entry # 12-1, pp. 3-4, ¶¶ 17-18) (Docket Entry # 20-1, p. 2). Barden allows the BOP to designate nunc pro tunc a state prison as...