Edwards v. Cross, No. 14-2205 (7th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseIn 1985 Edwards was convicted of cocaine distribution and sentenced to imprisonment, followed by 10 years of “special parole,” an additional penalty for drug offenses. If an individual was reimprisoned for violating special parole, when he was released he had to serve the entire original term of special parole with no credit for “street time” spent on special parole before the violation. The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 eliminated special and regular parole, replacing it with supervised release. The Parole Commission still exercises jurisdiction over individuals, like Johnson, who committed a federal offense before November 1, 1987. In 2000, Edwards began special parole. In 2007, Edwards pleaded guilty to wire fraud. He completed the wire fraud prison term, but remained in prison because the Commission revoked his parole. Because he had been on special parole when he pleaded guilty, the Commission added six years to his sentence to account for the forfeited street time between his 2001 release and his 2007 conviction. He was released on in 2010 but returned to prison in 2013 for violating his wire fraud supervised release. The Commission issued a detainer pending completion of his sentence for violating the supervised release. Edwards sought to compel the Commission to terminate his parole violation status and suspend his supervision. The district court denied relief. The Seventh Circuit vacated, holding that the Commission could not reimpose special parole following his third violation. Under former 21 U.S.C. 841(c) a revoked special parole term becomes a term of imprisonment that is followed by regular, not special parole
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