United States v. James, No. 15-1088 (6th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseSeventeen days into his parole for a state drug conviction, James was caught selling drugs while carrying a pistol. Michigan revoked his parole, returning him to prison for five more years. The federal government indicted him for carrying a firearm while drug trafficking, which has a mandatory minimum five-year prison term and potentially a life sentence. Months later, James was transferred to federal custody. A federal court imposed a below-guidelines 15-year sentence, concurrent to James’ pre-existing state sentence; James would serve the beginning of his federal sentence in state prison. The court stated that he would receive “credit” for time “in custody of the federal marshal.” Later, the federal Bureau of Prisons told James that he would not receive credit for presentence time in federal custody because it, not the court, calculates presentence credit, and awarding James such credit would “double credit” him since Michigan had given him state credit for the same time. On James’s motion, the court added to the original judgment that James “shall get credit for time served beginning July 20, 2006, to January 4, 2007.” Worried that the amended judgment failed to “credit” his time in state prison after January 4, 2007, he appealed. The Sixth Circuit dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, finding that James had no injury.
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