ROBERT H. DAVIS, APPELLANT,
v.
BOARD OF PAROLE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES, APPELLEE

D.C. Cir. | 1962-06-28
No. 16933
306 F.2d 801 United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (1962) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.


Holding

The District Court properly exercised its discretion in dismissing the prisoner's complaint for a declaratory judgment and mandatory injunction.


Facts & Procedural History

A federal prisoner sought a declaratory judgment that he had served one-third of his sentence and was eligible for parole consideration, based on oral…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal from an order of the District Court dismissing on motion of the Board of Parole of the Department of Justice of the United States, defendant in the District Court, a complaint for a declaratory judgment and mandatory injunction. The order recited that it appeared to the court that it should not exercise its discretion to entertain the complaint. The plaintiff, our appellant, is a prisoner in the Federal Penitentiary at Atlanta, Georgia. By his suit he seeks a determination, with consequent relief, that he has served one-third of the sentence imposed upon him by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, and that he is therefore eligible to apply to the Board and be considered for parole, a position which the Board has declined to entertain. His claim that he has served one-third of his sentence is based upon his position that the Judgment and Commitment of the sentencing court, which in terms refers to his sentences as “consecutive,” should be construed as “concurrent” in view of oral statements of the sentencing court made at the time of sentencing.

That a “judicial discretion” resides in the court not to entertain a suit for a declaratory judgment is well settled. The subject was recently discussed in the opinion of the Supreme Court in the case of Public Affairs Associates, Inc. v. Rickover, 369 U.S. 111, 82 S.Ct. 580, 7 L.Ed.2d 604.

Since the interpretation or correction of the Judgment and Commitment, or of the sentences, of the court which tried and sentenced appellant, is obviously more appropriate for that court than for the District Court of this jurisdiction, cf., e. g., Rule 36 Fed.R. Crim.P., 18 U.S.C.A., our District Court properly exercised its discretion not to entertain the complaint.

Affirmed.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw