United States Parole Commission v. Geraghty

445 U.S. 388 (1980)

Purchase the Printed Copy at bsmsphd.com

Nature of the Case

To access this section all you need to do is click here and register.

Facts

The Parole Commission (D) adopted explicit release guidelines for adult prisoners in 1973. In 1976, Congress enacted a reorganization of the parole commission and required the new Parole Commission to promulgate rules and regulations for parole of any eligible prisoner. Geraghty (P) was convicted of conspiracy to commit extortion and of making false declarations to a grand jury. P was sentenced to concurrent prison terms of four years on the conspiracy count and one year on the false declaration count. P moved under Rule FRCP 35 and got the sentenced reduced to 30 months. P then applied for release on parole, and that was denied; under the rules, he could not get parole before he served his entire sentence. P applied again, and the application was denied for the same reasons as the first. P then sued under a class action challenging the parole guidelines. The request for class certification was denied. P appealed. On June 30, 1977, P was released from prison by serving 22 months and the earning of good time credits. D then moved to dismiss the appeal as moot. The court of appeals ruled that the litigation was not moot.