Last Friday I wrote about the law library that was available to federal prisoners and I suggested that prisoners use it to educate themselves. This morning, after my exercise, I spent some time reading about procedural hurdles I would have to overcome in order to seek judicial relief. I have an issue concerning the sentence my judge imposed more than 22 years ago. The law changed before my judge imposed the sentence, but Judge Tanner had ruled based on his opinion that the new law was invalid. Because of his ruling, he disregarded the new law.
One or two years after my sentencing judge made his ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the new sentencing laws were valid and did not violate the constitution. Had I sought review of my sentence immediately after the Supreme Court decision, the judge who sentenced me would have had to re-sentence me in accordance with the new law. But I did not seek a re-sentence then. I was too absorbed with my preparations for a law-abiding life upon release to bother with sentencing issues.
Now that I’m in the final stages of my imprisonment, I’m spending more time thinking about steps I could take to advance my release date. That sentencing issue would be a long shot because the error happened in the late 1980s—longer than 22 years ago. Still, a sliver of potential exists, and I spent time reading about procedural complexities in the law.
“Procedures” are the rules an individual must follow in order to initiate an action in court. In a game, players must understand the rules, and those of us in prison must understand the rules in order to seek review from a court. Those rules make it difficult for defendants who have been incarcerated for lengthy periods. A few years after an individual has been sentenced, courts are reluctant to review decisions. A procedural hurdle exists that would be difficult to overcome for me as a consequence of the decades I’ve already served.
I spent this morning before my visit with Carole reading about these procedures. I will return to read more legal decisions over the weekend as this possibility for relief interests me.
I ran four miles this morning and followed the run with 200 pushups.
[consecutive running log: 3,790 miles over 427 days]
[pushups in 2010: 15,000]
Friday, 12 February 201]
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