United States District Court, S.D. Alabama, Southern Division
ORDER
JEFFREY U. BEAVERSTOCK UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE.
Pending
before the Court is Petitioner Marcus Lee Hall's Motion
to Vacate, Set Aside, or Correct Sentence under 28 U.S.C.
§ 2255 (and his related filings) (docs. 74, 75, 78, 79),
and the Government's Response in Opposition. (doc. 80).
Hall's petition was initially referred to Magistrate
Judge Bivins for report and recommendation pursuant to 28
U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B) and Rule 8(b) of the Rules
Governing Section 2255 Cases. Hall appeals Judge Bivins'
initial ruling that Hall's petition did not comply with
local rules.[1] Having carefully reviewed the record, the
undersigned finds that no evidentiary hearing is necessary
for the disposition of this matter.[2]
Upon
consideration, Petitioner's Motion to Vacate, Set Aside,
or Correct Sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 is
DENIED.
BACKGROUND
On
September 30, 2010, Petitioner Marcus Lee Hall was charged in
a single-count Indictment with being a felon in possession of
a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1).
(doc.1). Hall pleaded guilty on December 15, 2010. (docs. 18
and 20). Hall was sentenced to 46 months in prison followed
by three years of supervised release. (doc. 30).
Hall's
initial term of supervised release began on March 4, 2014 and
would have concluded on March 3, 2017. (doc. 34). However, on
October 23, 2014, Petitioner's supervised release was
revoked due to an arrest for possession of methamphetamine.
(Id.). Hall was sentenced to eight months in prison
to be followed with twenty-eight months of supervised
release. (doc. 46).
Hall's
second term of supervised release began on June 10, 2015, and
would have expired on October 9, 2017. (doc. 48). This second
period of supervised release was revoked following a drug
arrest. (Id.) On this occasion, Petitioner was
sentenced to eighteen months in prison to be followed by ten
months of supervised release. (doc. 58).
Petitioner's
third term of supervised release started on December 6, 2017
and would have ended on October 5, 2018. (doc. 60). However,
Hall's supervised release was revoked for a third time
related to his drug use. (Id.). On October 29, 2018,
this Court sentenced Hall to five months in prison with no
supervised release to follow. (doc. 71).
On
January 30, 2019, Petitioner filed a pro se Motion to Vacate
his third revocation and five month sentence, under 18 U.S.C.
§ 2255. (doc. 74). Hall notes that his original offense
was a Class C Felony, and argues that he cannot serve more
than a combined two years in prison based on violations of
his supervised release. (Id., p. 5). Since Hall
served over two years due to his first two revocations, he
claims this revocation was unlawful. (Id.).
ANALYSIS
Petitioner
was originally convicted as a felon in possession of a
firearm. Violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) is a Class C
felony. See 18 U.S.C. § 924(a)(2) (the penalty
for an offense under Section 922(g) is “not more than
10 years”) and 18 U.S.C. § 3581(b)(3) (an offense
for which the statutory maximum sentence is between six and
twelve years is a “Class C felony”). The term of
supervised release to follow imprisonment for a Class C
felony is “not more than three years.” 18 U.S.C.
§ 3583(b)(2). This Court sentenced Hall to the maximum
amount of supervised release allowable for his offense of
conviction. (doc. No. 30).
Petitioner
contends that “the maximum AGGREGATE term of
confinement on revocation of supervised release [is] two
years” because his underlying conviction is a Class C
felony. (doc. 74, p. 4). Hall directs this Court's
attention to 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e), which states:
(e) Modification of Conditions or
Revocation.-The court may, after considering the
factors set forth in section 3553(a)(1), (a)(2)(B),
(a)(2)(C), (a)(2)(D), (a)(4), (a)(5), (a)(6), and (a)(7)-
(3) revoke a term of supervised release, and require the
defendant to serve in prison all or part of the term of
supervised release authorized by statute for the offense that
resulted in such term of supervised release without credit
for time previously served on post-release supervision, if
the court, pursuant to the Federal Rules of Criminal
Procedure applicable to revocation of probation or supervised
release, finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the
defendant violated a condition of supervised release, except
that a defendant whose term is revoked under this paragraph
may not be required to serve on any such revocation more than
5 years in prison if the offense that resulted in the term of
supervised release is a class A felony, ...