US v. Spinelle, 90-CR-80578-01.
| Decision Date | 21 October 1993 |
| Docket Number | No. 90-CR-80578-01.,90-CR-80578-01. |
| Citation | 835 F. Supp. 987 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. James L. SPINELLE, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan |
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Michael Stern, Asst. U.S. Atty., Detroit, MI, for plaintiff.
James Thomas, Detroit, MI, for defendant.
This case concerns the authority of a district judge to modify or revoke a statutorily-mandated term of supervised release. I conclude that 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e) authorizes me to terminate a term of supervised release, regardless of whether the original sentence was required by statute or discretionary under the Sentencing Guidelines ("Guidelines"). I also conclude that the petitioner's remarkable efforts at rehabilitation justify this order ending his term of supervised release.
On July 19, 1990, James L. Spinelle ("Spinelle"), the petitioner, pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme to manufacture marijuana in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(C). The Federal Sentencing Guidelines in force at that time dictated that Spinelle be incarcerated for a term of fifty-one to sixty-three months. In addition, subsection 841(b)(1)(C) required that he serve three years of supervised release after his release from prison. At the time of sentencing, I concluded that Spinelle's admirable post-arrest efforts warranted a downward departure from the applicable guidelines range. On April 18, 1991, I sentenced Spinelle to eighteen months in prison followed by three years of supervised release mandated by section 841(b)(1)(C). The government did not appeal Spinelle's eighteen-month sentence.
Spinelle has served the required time in prison and will have finished one year of supervised release on November 18, 1993. He now petitions me for release from serving the remainder of his three-year term of supervised release. The unusual facts of this case have convinced me to grant Spinelle's request. I hereby order him released from his term of supervised release effective November 18, 1993.
Spinelle made the most of his eighteen-month incarceration. He completed much of the requirements necessary to become a Chemical Dependency Therapist during his fourteen-month stay at the Federal Prison Camp in Duluth, Minnesota. The list of his course work is impressive: Drug Education (20 hours), Drug Abuse (40 hours), Stress and Depression (8 hours), Life Planning and Post Release (10 hours), Addictive Personality (10 hours), Psychology and Addictive Behaviors (8 hours), Cocaine Awareness (10 hours), Alcohol Awareness (9 hours), Rational Behavior Training (8 hours), Relapse and Recovery (9 hours), Co-dependency (8 hours), Persuasion and Influence (8 hours), Marriage and the Family (10 hours), The Brain (8 hours), Self Image (8 hours), Weight Loss and Exercise (7 hours), Assertiveness Training (9 hours), Post Release Business Plans (9 hours), The Brain/Mind (15 hours), Decision Making (8 hours), Introduction to Addictive Behavior (11 hours), Relaxation and Meditation (9 hours), and Planning for Success (15 hours).
While at Duluth, Spinelle also wrote a booklet on ways to induce therapeutic dialogue designed for use by substance-abuse therapy groups. In addition, he wrote two chemical dependency lectures, one on the effect that alcohol has on the human body and the other on the concept of addiction as a disease. He also participated in both Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous. These groups met seven days a week and Spinelle never missed a meeting.
Spinelle's time at Detroit's Project Rehab Half Way House also speaks to his industrious attempts to train himself in his newly-chosen career as a Drug Treatment Therapist. He spent his time at the half-way house working for the Summer Workshop Awareness & Prevention (SWAP) Project, a project which provided group therapy and drug counselling to over 40 "at risk" middle school students from the Southeastern Michigan school districts.
These commendable activities have continued since his release. In September 1992, he was hired by the Community Commission on Drug Abuse to serve as an apprentice Chemical Dependency Therapist/Counselor and Program Development and Evaluation Coordinator. He has authored several state, federal, and foundation grants for the Commission. These efforts have resulted in the Michigan Department of Corrections' funding of a drug-counselling program for probationers. He also has developed and applied for the funding of a therapy program for chemically dependent federal probationers. He hopes to serve as one of the therapists of the substance-abuse program, should it receive funding.
His studies also have continued since his release. He testified in court that since his release he has taken two courses at a local university. In addition, he has met the requirements and presently serves as a Eucharistic Minister for his church in Plymouth. He also recently completed a one-month course to become a prison minister and feels that his role as a prison minister will enable him to assist prisoners with planning for their lives upon release.
His accomplishments have not gone unrecognized. In September 1992, he was awarded a scholarship by the Michigan Department of Public Health to attend an intense five-day workshop by the Grantmanship Center on Program Planning and Proposal Writing. He recently was selected for a scholarship by the Michigan Department of Public Health's Center for Substance Abuse Services to attend the Summer Midwest Therapist Training Institute in Madison, Wisconsin. In addition, he now is licensed by the State of Michigan as a professional counsellor.
The government does not dispute this impressive record. Instead, the government chooses to oppose this motion primarily on jurisdictional grounds, maintaining that I have no authority to relieve Spinelle from his three-year term of supervised release. In particular, the government argues that Spinelle's three-year term of supervised release is mandatory under section 841(b)(1)(C) of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 ("ADAA"). Mandatory sentences, it argues, cannot be altered. Alternatively, the government argues that, even if I have the authority to terminate the term of supervised release, I should refuse to do so because Spinelle's attempts at rehabilitation do not warrant termination of his term of supervised release. This argument is opposed by the great weight of the evidence. Neither of these arguments is persuasive.
Section 3583 expressly grants courts the power to modify or revoke terms of supervised release after one year of post-release supervision:
18 U.S.C.A. § 3583(e)(1) (1985 & Supp.1993).
Subsection 3583(e) draws no explicit distinction between mandatory and discretionary terms of supervised release. The government nevertheless argues that Government's Brief at 2 (Aug. 17, 1993).
The government cites no case law to support its position. The Assistant U.S. Attorney instead explained the government's position during oral argument. He maintained that the word "shall" in subsection 841(b)(1)(C) required me to sentence Spinelle to a three-year term of supervised release. I agree with him. I did that. But that is not the question presented here. The issue before me is whether subsection 3583(e) gives me the power to terminate Spinelle's term of supervision after a mandatory one year of supervised release.
I also found no case law directly addressing this issue. Nevertheless, the authority I did find tends to indicate that my jurisdiction under subsection 3583(e)(1) does not depend on whether I have discretion to order supervised release in the first place, or whether I sentenced the defendant pursuant to the Sentencing Guidelines or pursuant to some other statutory authority.
There are two different ways of interpreting the government's claim. First, the government alleges that I am without authority to terminate a term of supervised release because subsection 841(b)(1)(C) of Title 21 makes a three-year term of supervised release mandatory and subsection 3583(e) does not apply to mandatory terms of supervised release. My other reading of the government's position is that subsection 3583(e) only permits me to terminate sentences imposed pursuant to the Sentencing Guidelines. My difficulty with both of these interpretations is that they require me to read into the statute a distinction that does not exist. This, I refuse to do.
My first interpretation of the government's argument is that section 3583, although making no explicit distinction, nevertheless implicitly distinguishes between discretionary and mandatory terms of supervised release. In essence, the government seems to be arguing that the meaning of the term "supervised release" in section 3583 encompasses discretionary but not mandatory terms of supervised release.
A comparison of subsection 3583(e) with subsection 3583(a) reveals inconsistencies with this interpretation....
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U.S. v. Spinelle, 93-2481
...Spinelle released from supervision immediately, pursuant to its authority under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3583(e)(1). See United States v. Spinelle, 835 F.Supp. 987, 994 (E.D.Mich.1993). Arguing that Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32.1(b) gave it a right to be heard on this issue, the United State......
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...of sentencing all may be relevant." United States v. Rivera, 994 F.2d 942, 947 (1st Cir.1993); see also United States v. Spinelle, 835 F.Supp. 987, 993 (E.D.Mich.1993), aff'd, 41 F.3d 1056 (6th Cir.1994). As firsthand witnesses to a defendant's claims and evidence, district courts wield a c......
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... ... release is imposed for his drug offense. 21 U.S.C. § ... 841(b)(1)(C); see United States v. Spinelle, 835 ... F.Supp. 987, 991 (E.D. Mich. 1993), aff'd, 41 ... F.3d 1056 (6th Cir. 1994) (”When Congress distinguishes ... between ... ...
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