Denoyer v. U. S. Parole Comm'n ( 1999 )

F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
NOV 10 1999
TENTH CIRCUIT
PATRICK FISHER
Clerk
DALE EARNEST DENOYER,
Petitioner-Appellant,
v.
UNITED STATES PAROLE
No. 99-1312
COMMISSION, Warden Complex;
(Dist. of Colorado)
UNITED STATES PENITENTIARY
(D.C. No. 98-S-1254)
IN FLORENCE, COLORADO,
Director of the Bureau of Prisons;
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF
JUSTICE, Attorney Generals Office,
Respondents-Appellees.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
Before TACHA, McKAY, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.
After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined
unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist the determination of
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the
doctrines of law of the case, res judicata and collateral estoppel. The court
generally disfavors the citation of orders and judgments; nevertheless, an order
and judgment may be cited under the terms and conditions of 10th Cir. R. 36.3.
this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is
therefore ordered submitted without oral argument.
Dale Ernest Denoyer appeals from the district court’s dismissal of his
28 U.S.C. § 2241 habeas petition. This court exercises jurisdiction pursuant to
28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirms.
Denoyer pleaded guilty in 1985 to one count of burglary in violation of the
Indian Major Crimes Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1153, and South Dakota Criminal Law §
22-32-1, and one count of escape from custody in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 751(a).
He was sentenced to five years on the escape count and twenty-five years on the
burglary count. Denoyer applied for parole in 1995. The Parole Commission
(“PC”) applied the parole guidelines and concluded that Denoyer should serve
194 months before he was eligible for parole. Accordingly, the PC set a
presumptive parole date of April 14, 2000. After exhausting his administrative
remedies, Denoyer brought the instant § 2241 petition. In his petition, Denoyer
alleged that the PC had erred in calculating his parole eligibility date according to
the United States Sentencing Guidelines rather than South Dakota law. 1 In two
well-reasoned and thorough orders a magistrate judge and the district court
1
In fact, Denoyer raised three claim in his § 2241 petition. All three
claims, however, relate the propriety of the PC calculating Denoyer’s parole
eligibility date with reference to the parole guidelines instead of South Dakota
law.
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rejected Denoyer’s claims. Both noted that in contrast to Denoyer’s assertions,
the PC had not set his parole eligibility date by reference to the United States
Sentencing Guidelines, but had instead relied on parole guidelines promulgated by
the PC. Furthermore, in response to Denoyer’s claim that state law applied the
parole eligibility factors for defendants sentenced to prison for violations of the
Indian Major Crimes Act, both the magistrate judge and district court cited to
case law from this Circuit and others holding that neither federal courts nor the
PC are bound by state parole policies for setting punishment of federal law, even
when federal law incorporates substantive provisions of state law providing the
definitions of the crimes. See United States v. Garcia, 893 F.2d 250, 254 (10 th
Cir. 1989) (holding that “federal courts need not follow state parole policies” in
sentencing a defendant for violations of the Assimilative Crimes Act); United
States v. Norquay, 905 F.2d 1157, 1162 (8 th Cir. 1990) (“The incorporation [of
state law in the Indian Major Crimes Act] does not go beyond that state law which
establishes the elements of the offense and the range of punishment. . . . Before
the Sentencing Act eliminated the parole system, several circuits held that federal
courts sentencing a defendant under the Assimilative Crimes Act should follow
federal law concerning parole eligibility rather than state law.”).
This court has undertaken a detailed review of the parties’ briefs and
contentions, the magistrate’s report and recommendation, the district court’s
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order, and the entire record on appeal. In light of that review, this court
AFFIRMS the district court’s dismissal of Denoyer’s § 2241 petition for
substantially those reasons set forth in the magistrate’s report and
recommendation dated June 3, 1999, and the district court’s order dated July 2,
1999. In light of our affirmance of the district court’s dismissal of Denoyer’s
petition, we DENY as moot Denoyer’s Motion of September 12, 1999 seeking a
transfer to a different penal facility pending the resolution of the appeal.
ENTERED FOR THE COURT
Michael R. Murphy
Circuit Judge
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